| I keep six honest serving men (They taught me all I | | | | Technology) ... and one can read in the educational |
| knew); Their names are What and Why and When | | | | press of ICT and non-ICT activities! So games must |
| and How and Where and Who | | | | have become a non-ICT activity!! |
| Rudyard Kipling: The Elephant's Child | | | | Of its value there can be little doubt. IT has made our |
| Asking and answering questions in the pursuit of our | | | | lives immeasurably easier ... but are we any less busy? |
| own training and development matters -- but having a | | | | I think not. Quite simply, we have created more time to |
| balanced approach is equally important. The frenzied | | | | ... do more work! In education there are mountains of |
| feeding of the press off the tables of politicians, gurus | | | | software to choose from - some very good, much of |
| and advisers has resulted in a deluge of information | | | | it very mediocre. |
| frequently presented as 'gospel'. It has become more | | | | The Internet is a wonderful tool, but there is also a |
| and more difficult for us on the receiving end to | | | | great deal of misinformation, prejudice, and downright |
| discern where real value lies and extract fact from | | | | porky pies lurking around the next portal. You can find |
| fiction. As a result we tend to become increasingly | | | | professional-looking sites telling you, in a very plausible |
| more cynical or, at times, more fearful. | | | | fashion, that smoking does not cause cancer, that milk |
| The digital explosion is one example. If you are not 'up | | | | is dangerous to your health, and that the Holocaust |
| to speed' or in the 'know' you're likely to feel a little | | | | never happened! And I dare say, if I looked long |
| baffled ... and somehow made to feel a little inferior. | | | | enough, I'd find a multitude of even quirkier sites. |
| Presented with superhighways, the National Grid for | | | | Perhaps it's time to introduce a new core subject in |
| Learning, interactive multimedia communication, spam | | | | our schools - Skepticism. |
| mail, bandwidths, myriad virus warnings, core protocols, | | | | "What are we going to do?" Baby Tiger cowered |
| gateways and virtual private networking (amongst | | | | behind her mother. "The hunter has a high-powered |
| others), one can be forgiven for feeling a little | | | | rifle with laser sites, a night scope and a computerised |
| apprehensive. | | | | tracking device." "Hush" replied Mama Tiger and |
| The relative importance of Information Technology (IT) | | | | showed her child how to creep around behind the |
| in education is evident in the Government's New | | | | hunter and pounce. The hunter was never heard of |
| Opportunity Fund of £230 million earmarked for | | | | again. Which goes to show that technology may be |
| the training of 400,000 teachers. Interestingly, within | | | | fine, but it will never be a substitute for a good, basic |
| education, it was decided to change the acronym from | | | | education. |
| IT to ICT (Information and Communications | | | | |