Enormous investments are being made in computers and Internet connectivity for schools. The aim is to provide high-quality learning and teaching and equip young people for the knowledge society. But how are the benefits of this educational investment to be realised? It calls for much more than installing the hardware, and is not simply a matter of using ICT to do traditional things in different ways. Schools have to learn to change and to change to new ways of learning.
There is an urgent need for quality software and digital materials for use in schools. Teachers - and students - must become discerning and knowledgeable ICT users. The school environment has to be fully supportive of ICT, making available expert assistance and advice to the teacher in this rapidly-changing field. New forms of curriculum and assessment are called for, new ways of organising schools, if the dramatic educational potential of ICT is to be delivered and realised.
Such a demanding "learning to change" agenda is the subject of this international report. It is illuminated by the views of individual students, who used ICT enthusiastically in their own learning, and shared their experiences in an OECD international network. The report looks at the vast educational possibilities arising from the Internet, bringing together the school, the home and the wider community. It examines how ICT, which is the subject of teacher professional development, can largely be the means for its delivery. There are numerous examples of promising practice and principles for the future.