The Place of NET in schools

Communication and the establishment of networks of learners and teachers is turning out to be one of the major benefits that NET can provide for education.
The technology itself is neutral. It can be used to deskill jobs, to fragment them and to increase routinisation and repetition. It can also be used to enhance them to provide more opportunities for the exercise of skill and responsibility.Jones (1980) - quoted in S. Dunn & V. Morgan, The Impact of the Computer on Education: a course for teachers (London, 1987)
It is up to schools and teachers to recognise the potential of developments in ICTs to affect learning experiences in a positive way. The most common way for ICTs to be implemented.
Electronic registration, word-processed worksheets, and e-mail, Powerpoint, skype, podcasting, presentations, wikis, blog are all examples of e-Learning in my school
An interesting study is reported upon in Education and Technology: reflections on computing in classrooms (1996). The ‘Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow’ initiative was evaluated retrospectively, with comments made upon how teachers adapted to the availability of reliable, plentiful technology in the classroom environment:
I have seen in my school teachers had taken the role of expert in the classroom. Some students quickly became more knowledgeable than both their peers and their teachers in using particular computer applications or hardware. Eventually, teachers not only accepted students’ expertise but capitalized on and expanded the roles of student experts in their classrooms, relinquishing their emphasis on teacher-directed activities. It has been discovered that students who had been perceived as slow or reluctant learners often blossomed when given an alternate means for displaying their abilities.I. Haymore Sandholtz & C. Ringstaff, ‘Teacher Change in Technology-Rich Classrooms’ (in C. Fisher, D.C. Dwyer & K. Yocam (eds.), Education and Technology: reflections on computing in classrooms (San Francisco, 1996), p.283-4
This, I think, is the potential of ICTs: the ability to balance structured and unstructured learning experiences. The ability to be able to record and research within a Personal Learning Environment whilst having the freedom to work in different ways and the authority to share one’s findings with others. ICTs, as Robinson (1997)B. Robinson, ‘Getting Ready to Change: the place of change theory in the information technology education of teachers’ (in D. Passey & B. Samways (eds.), Information Technology: supporting change through teacher education (London, 1997), p.41 states, ‘poses an enormous, possibly unique, challenge as a resource to the teacher because its use demands considerable shifts on all fronts.’ It is up to us to make sure that we embrace new ways of working and opportunities to allow pupils to learn in different ways, even if it means a shift in the traditional authority of the teacher as the fount of all knowledge.
An important use of technology is its capacity to create new opportunities for curriculum and instruction by bringing real-world into the classroom for students to explore and solve. Technology can help create an active environment in which students not only solve problems, but also find their own problems.J.D. Bransford, A.L. Brown, R.R. Cocking (eds.), How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School (Washington D.C., 1999), p.195
The Google Earth type viewers
contribute to many pupils’ understanding of the inter connection of places, including to a sense of
their place in the world. The most common activity of anyone using Google Earth for the first time
is to go straight to their own home, an activity which can be enlightening, upon discovery that the
home area is actually more wooded, or crammed with houses, or near a factory than realised.
From personal experience it led me to discover, after several years, a local park ten minutes walk.from my home. Children love seeing their homes on the internet.
The contribution of Google Earth and similar viewers which create virtual worlds
for pupils to explore.
The potential of ICTs to change learning experiences should not be constrained by the mind of the inventor or, for that matter, the teacher!

If we’re interested in helping students develop and refine relevant literacy skills in the 21st century, we HAVE to be using digital tools and resources regularly in our classrooms and homes. Learning how to appropriately and effectively teach and learn with multimedia technologies should not be an option in our schools and classrooms.

We are all learners. We are all teachers.