ABSTRACT
For the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development there exist three overlapping and converging reasons for the inclusion of ICT in education (OECD, 2001a). Economically, learning about and through ICT improves pupil employability and national prosperity. Socially, ICT capability is a prerequisite for participation in both society and the workplace, and its inclusion in the curriculum offers a means to ameliorate any possible digital divides between the haves and the have-lesses that exist within populations (Selwyn & Bullon, 2000; OECD, 2001b). Pedagogically, ICT offers practitioners and pupils opportunities to increase the breadth and richness of learning, including the development of higher-order thinking skills such as analysis and synthesis. ICT can facilitate learning in different locations (both real and virtual) and offers the possibility of empowering the learner by accommodating different learning styles and preferences (OECD, 2001c).
