Theoretical and Methodological Significance of Information and Communication Technology in Educational Practice

Abstract

In September 1998 the Research Network ‘ICT in Education and Training’ was initiated at the conference of the European Educational Research Association (EERA). The new network reflected the recognition and growing importance of information and communication technology (ICT) with respect to education and learning processes. ICT was, for example, expected to aid in transforming education, to better fit the learning of various types of pupils, and to assist in the prevention of school demotivation and drop-out. Moreover, ICT was assumed to help in overcoming negative consequences of organizational differences between schools and in improving learning processes and effects of learners both in and out of school. Since the initiation of this network, a stable number of more than 50 ICT-oriented contributions from all over Europe and abroad have been presented yearly at the educational conferences of EERA. Each year rather different themes and particularities can be noticed, but it also seems that some specific topics come up again and again. In my opinion these recurring themes reflect the possibility of fulfilling at least part of the original expectations and promises associated with the introduction of ICT in education and training. These issues have to do with the theoretical foundation of transformational aspects of ICT, in particular of Internet-based ICT; with various methodological aspects which are related to these transformational potentials of ICT; and the development and implementation of such aspects and potentials both in and outside school practice; and the experiences or results of these ICT-based approaches compared with more traditional educational processes and effects. To further develop such topics in the European context and to promote the possibilities of their development and realization in research and in practice, I selected some exemplary contributions to the EERA conference in 2005. The focus was on promising theoretical and methodological papers that could make the future-oriented transformation claims more concrete, as much as possible in reliable and valid ways. This includes a concentration on theoretical analysis and reflection, the necessary systemic design of education to promote and optimise learning processes and effects, the integration of multilevel organizational and managerial support facilities, and appropriate procedures to administer or monitor and evaluate learning in and outside school. Although more contributions on the 2005 conference seemed relevant, for pragmatic reasons four contributions were chosen to represent the aforementioned focus on the ‘transformation’ role of ICT in education and training. The goal of their presentation in this issue of European Educational Research Journal (EERJ) is to promote their impact and illustrative role in both the European research agenda and – possibly – forthcoming EERA conferences. In the first article Colin Harrison pays attention to what he calls ‘postmodern research and elearning’. He clarifies that, by taking another position or another view, we see other things than before, or represent the world in other ways than we were used to. The result is that we get along