Conclusions – Strand 3

1. Teaching staff should play the leading role in all initiatives.

The teacher's role changes significantly when the new media areintroduced in the classroom, because new forms of collaborativepeer-to-peer learning arise among the students, who are veryfrequently skilled in the use of these media. The teacher is consciousof the need to use new teaching and communication strategies, thatthe old methods are no longer valid. We understand that there couldbe strong social pressure on the teacher, as a key element for theintroduction of ICT into the classroom, and educational authoritiesshould be aware of this situation and they should become theteachers' allies in managing the change.

2. Teacher training

The training of teaching staff for the didactic use of technology withstudents must be both technological and methodological, but itcannot be limited to traditional courses and/or e-learning. The newstrategies for the training of teaching staff in the use of the new mediapoint towards a collaboration in which expert teachers can be withteachers in the classroom when they start to work with them, to peer-to-peer or horizontal learning, to the use of collaborative socialnetworks and to the development of common curricular projectsacross the internet, so that the confidence needed to "achieve lift off"is reached.

3. Management of change.

There is a wide consensus on the need for adequate infrastructureand equipment in educational institutions in order to achieve thesuccess of any ICT project. One of the main objectives is toguarantee access to technological resources for students andteachers at any stage of the teaching process. But there alsoseems to be a consensus on the fact that, while this may befundamental, it is not sufficient. The educational authorities mustmake further efforts to convince the different actors that participatein the process (teachers, parents, headmasters and students) of theadvantages of incorporating these technologies into their centres, inorder to get these projects successfully accepted and adopted.

4. Digital inclusion

All the projects presented have shown the importance of achievingdigital inclusion, understood as the attempt to bridge the digital gapsthat appear in the social context, not just those related to the differentsocioeconomic and cultural conditions of the students, but also thoselinked to the fact that the students have developed different strategiesin their approach to technology. All ICT projects undertaken musthave a universal approach, aimed towards ALL the students, and caremust be taken to guarantee that the projects themselves are not thecause of new gaps.

5. Digital native students

A great opportunity lies in taking advantage of the digital skillsachieved informally by students when using the technology that theyusually have access to, and using them for educational ends.Furthermore, the resources and services designed for use in theteaching context should allow access through other land lines ormobile devices which are commonly used by the students. Anotherobjective would be to manage to make the educational materials asattractive and as gratifying to the user as the software they employ intheir leisure time. The students must get a sensation of continuitybetween the use of technology inside and outside of schools.

6. Laptop computers as a personal tool for students

A growing tendency has been observed in so called 1:1 projects, inwhich the pupils have the possibility of using the equipment both atschool and at home. This is due to the diminishing costs oftechnological equipment observed in countries with different levelsof economic development. A convergence towards this model has isforecast within the next few years.

7. Strategic planning

ICT integration in education should be tackled with an open mind inthe future. There is wide agreement that it is very difficult to guessthe technological scenario for the next decades, as well as theknowledge, abilities and skills that today's pupils will need.Therefore, planning models are required which do not excludeoptions for the world of tomorrow. The objective is to develop digitalcompetence which is independent of the software and hardware,and which centres on functionality and the skills needed to solveproblems, thus promoting creativity.

8.New instructions for infrastructures and equipment

It seems that each centre requires a minimum quantity of equipment(computers, digital whiteboards, … ) for the teachers to collaborateand make significant commitment and for the results to be worthy ofnote. Furthermore, the communication infrastructure gains criticalimportance because learning resources and services for teachersmust always be available, whether in a synchronous orasynchronous system. It also seems to be a good idea to involve thefamilies in looking after the equipment and using it correctly. In anycase it is necessary to have IT and maintenance services in theschool for projects in which a great deal has been invested.

9. Social involvement in projects

The educational authorities should involve all the social, economicand technological agents which can contribute to the developmentof the ICT integration projects undertaken. Companies in thepublishing and technology sector, governmental agencies, telecomcompanies, teacher training institutions and universities, parentassociations, volunteer teams… in some countries all these agentshave been involved in projects which have consequently achieveda great social impact, going beyond the school, and have becomepart of the whole educational community. Uruguay is a verysignificant example of this phenomenon.

10. Beyond e-education

The projects for the introduction of information and communicationtechnologies have gone beyond the category of e-education andhave become what they really are: educational innovationprojects, in all their many dimensions.