While educational technology applications in higher education have grown dramatically during the past 20 years, significant disagreements exist as to their effectiveness and impact. Advocates and critics tend to advance competing positions, but little evidence of technology's impact derived through disciplined inquiry has been presented in support of either position. The research that has been conducted has rarely been shared across the diverse disciplines represented in postsecondary settings, so little collective impact has been possible. In this paper, we introduce evidence related to the promise and performance of educational technology, identify problems and issues inherent in educational technology research, and propose a working framework for studying the learning effects of, and with, technology.