ABSTRACT
When schools first started to acquire computers, they were often treated like new toys, and were rarely integrated into mainstream lessons. An enthusiast on the staff was often given the task of looking after the technology. Even as schools became linked to the Internet, following a major drive in the late nineties, the position was slow to change. However, the new century has brought a rapid expansion in the applied use of ICT throughout the curriculum. Most secondary schools have seen how interactive whiteboards can transform lessons – when used, it should be said, by an effective teacher. School trips can sometimes be virtual instead of physical, though nobody wants to lose the thrill of the latter. Classes can be shared across counties and continents. Video-conferencing, combined with broadband technology which all schools are supposed to have by 2006, is making this possible, just as some schools can expand their curriculum with the technology, offering masterclasses provided by universities or lessons delivered from public records offices, museums, galleries or zoos. None of this is a substitute for an effectively planned and delivered lesson. But the technology makes it possible to bring that lesson to life in ways that might once have required a field trip.
