INTERNATIONAL REVIEW The content of educational technology curricula: a cross-curricular state of the art Koen Aesaert • Ruben Vanderlinde • Jo Tondeur • Johan van Braak Ó Association for Educational Communications and Technology 2013 Abstract The purpose of this study is to analyze the content features of educational technology curricula for primary education developed by national governments. A quali- tative cross-case document analysis of the national educational technology curriculum of Norway, Flanders and England was conducted. The analysis focuses on the underlying visions, specific aims and instruction related aspects that are integrated in the national educational technology curricula of the three cases under investigation. The results indicate that specific aims mainly focus on the critical use of educational technology; safe and responsible use of educational technology; information retrieval, processing and produc- tion; communication by use of educational technology; and use of educational technology for subject learning. It is possible that a discrepancy exists between the concepts of digital literacy and the specific aims that are addressed in educational technology curricula. Moreover, the rationales that underlie educational technology curricula represent a cata- lytic and social point of view rather than an economic one. The implications of our findings for curriculum developers and researchers are discussed. Keywords Curriculum analysis Á Digital literacy Á Primary education Á Technology curriculum Á ICT frameworks Introduction Nowadays, it is widely accepted that technology plays a significant role in the educational, economic and social changes that characterize our present knowledge society (Kozma 2008). Within the context of technological interactionism (De Mul 2002), technology not only enables these societal changes, but people also depend on technology in order to cope with them. Often labeled as digital natives, evidence mounts that students’ technology use K. Aesaert (&) Á R. Vanderlinde Á J. Tondeur Á J. van Braak Department of Educational Studies, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium e-mail: Koen.Aesaert@UGent.be R. Vanderlinde Á J. Tondeur Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Ghent, Belgium 123 Education Tech Research Dev DOI 10.1007/s11423-012-9279-9