With the increase of online language teaching the training needs of teachers have long been established and researched. However, the training needs of students have not yet been fully acknowledged. This paper focuses on learner training as preparation for language classes where online synchronous conferencing is used. It presents an action…

The article adopts a narrative inquiry approach to foreground informal learning and exposes a collection of stories from tutors about how they adapted comfortably to the digital age.We were concerned that despite substantial evidence that bringing about changes in pedagogic practices can be difficult, there is a gap in convincing approaches to…

The pace of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) development necessitates radical and rapid change for education. Given the English prevalence for an economically determinist orientation for educational outcomes, it seems pertinent to ask how learning in relation to ICT is to be conceptualised. Accepting the view that education needs to…

In both schools and homes, information and communication technologies (ICT) are widely seen as enhancing learning, this hope fuelling their rapid diffusion and adoption throughout developed societies. But they are not yet so embedded in the social practices of everyday life as to be taken for granted, with schools proving slower to change their…

Everyone knows that lack of internet access can reinforce the social and economic disadvantages already facing some older people. Recognising the divisive nature of digital exclusion, the government has invested 2.8 million British Pounds in Get Digital, a project that will enable sheltered housing residents to develop computer and internet…

Web 2.0 technology not only offers the opportunity of massively parallel interconnected networks that support the provision of information and communication anytime and anywhere but also offers immense opportunities for collaboration and sharing of user-generated content. This information-rich environment may support both formal and informal…

This research review reports on articles presenting empirical research in the area of how teacher-training institutions work on preparing future teachers for the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) in their future classrooms. It was conducted mainly in English and French and covers research in 11 OECD-countries during…

Attitude, experience and competence (broadly covered by the European Computer Driving Licence syllabus) in information technology (IT) were assessed in 846 1st-year Medical Sciences Division undergraduates (2003-06) at the start of their first term. Online assessments delivered during induction workshops were presented as an opportunity for…

The learning and teaching relationship, whether online or in the classroom, is changing. Mentis offers a typology of teacher roles gathered from current literature on e-learning including instructor, designer, guide, mediator, curator and mentor, which offer the university teacher a striking range of ways in which to develop relationships with…

This paper aims to move away from the notion of a digital divide premised on technology "haves and have-nots" to a more nuanced understanding based on technological practices. It draws on empirical research from interviews with eight case-study families about the ways in which information and communication technologies (ICT) fit into…

The Department for Education and Skills currently shows a high regard for the potential of technology transforming the British education system. Government White papers demonstrate e-learning based unification strategies that reinforce the message that introducing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will raise standards in schools. This…

This article considers how media educators can respond to the new challenges and opportunities of the Internet, and of digital media more broadly. It begins by exploring the value and limitations of the notion of "literacy" in this context. It argues that "competence-based" definitions of literacy tend to neglect the social…

This article describes the development of a framework for e-learning and presents the findings of a study investigating whether the use of blended learning can fulfil or at least accommodate some of the human requirements presently neglected by current e-learning systems. The study evaluated the in-house system, Teachmat, and discussed how the use…

This report contains excerpts from papers and summaries of discussions and program actions carried out during a series of seminars held to establish research priorities under the Information Technology and Education Programme (ITE) in the United Kingdom. The seminar on "Information Technology" (IT) included Kenneth Ruthven's…

This paper will present a Marxist analysis of the current function and role of information and communication technology (ICT) in education, with specific reference to schooling in the UK. Over the past five years the UK government has spent in excess of 2.5bn British Pounds on ICT equipment for schools and in "training" teachers to use…