A discussion of the role of technology in teaching and learning in higher education focuses on obstacles to the successful infusion of information technologies in the classroom. It comes at a time when colleges and universities are poised for a giant leap forward into a variety of new technologies, a situation brought on by increasing societal pressure and continued advances in technology. Colleges and universities are faced with keeping pace with a technological revolution of mammoth proportions, but the pace of introduction of various technologies has moved slowly despite the increasing proliferation on the market of computing, audio, video, and such interactive technologies as videodisc and two-way audio-video systems. The role of information technology in higher education is discussed in terms of historical perspectives, and reasons for using or not using technology. Information on the obstacles to appropriate and effective instructional use of information technologies is presented in relation to on-campus learning (technical, structural, and attitudinal obstacles) and distance learning (with the same obstacles). Despite various complex, interrelated obstacles to technology use there are signs of genuine progress in the development of varying uses of technology in colleges and universities. It is time to encourage strategies to pilot developments, expand existing usages, and cooperate with the private sector in order to embrace the profit motive and the goals of education. (SM)