Conclusions – Strand 3
1. Teaching staff should play the leading role in all initiatives. The teacher's role changes significantly when the new media are introduced in the classroom, because new forms of collaborative peer-to-peer learning arise among the students, who are very frequently skilled in the use of these media. The teacher is conscious of the need to use new teaching and communication strategies, that the old methods are no longer valid. We understand that there could be strong social pressure on the teacher, as a key element for the introduction of ICT into the classroom, and educational authorities should be aware of this situation and they should become the teachers' allies in managing the change.
2. Teacher training The training of teaching staff for the didactic use of technology with students must be both technological and methodological, but it cannot be limited to traditional courses and/or e-learning. The new strategies for the training of teaching staff in the use of the new media point towards a collaboration in which expert teachers can be with teachers in the classroom when they start to work with them, to peerto-peer or horizontal learning, to the use of collaborative social networks and to the development of common curricular projects across 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 infrastructure and equipment in educational institutions in order to achieve the success of any ICT project. One of the main objectives is to guarantee access to technological resources for students and teachers at any stage of the teaching process. But there also seems to be a consensus on the fact that, while this may be fundamental, it is not sufficient. The educational authorities must make further efforts to convince the different actors that participate in the process (teachers, parents, headmasters and students) of the advantages of incorporating these technologies into their centres, in order to get these projects successfully accepted and adopted.
4. Digital inclusion All the projects presented have shown the importance of achieving digital inclusion, understood as the attempt to bridge the digital gaps that appear in the social context, not just those related to the different socioeconomic and cultural conditions of the students, but also those linked to the fact that the students have developed different strategies in their approach to technology. All ICT projects undertaken must have a universal approach, aimed towards ALL the students, and care must be taken to guarantee that the projects themselves are not the cause of new gaps.
5. Digital native students A great opportunity lies in taking advantage of the digital skills achieved informally by students when using the technology that they usually have access to, and using them for educational ends. Furthermore, the resources and services designed for use in the teaching context should allow access through other land lines or mobile devices which are commonly used by the students. Another objective would be to manage to make the educational materials as attractive and as gratifying to the user as the software they employ in their leisure time. The students must get a sensation of continuity between 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, in which the pupils have the possibility of using the equipment both at school and at home. This is due to the diminishing costs of technological equipment observed in countries with different levels of economic development. A convergence towards this model has is forecast within the next few years.
7. Strategic planning ICT integration in education should be tackled with an open mind in the future. There is wide agreement that it is very difficult to guess the technological scenario for the next decades, as well as the knowledge, abilities and skills that today's pupils will need. Therefore, planning models are required which do not exclude options for the world of tomorrow. The objective is to develop digital competence which is independent of the software and hardware, and which centres on functionality and the skills needed to solve problems, 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 collaborate and make significant commitment and for the results to be worthy of note. Furthermore, the communication infrastructure gains critical importance because learning resources and services for teachers must always be available, whether in a synchronous or asynchronous system. It also seems to be a good idea to involve the families in looking after the equipment and using it correctly. In any case it is necessary to have IT and maintenance services in the school for projects in which a great deal has been invested.
9. Social involvement in projects The educational authorities should involve all the social, economic and technological agents which can contribute to the development of the ICT integration projects undertaken. Companies in the publishing and technology sector, governmental agencies, telecom companies, teacher training institutions and universities, parent associations, volunteer teams‌ in some countries all these agents have been involved in projects which have consequently achieved a great social impact, going beyond the school, and have become part of the whole educational community. Uruguay is a very significant example of this phenomenon.
10. Beyond e-education The projects for the introduction of information and communication technologies have gone beyond the category of e-education and have become what they really are: educational innovation projects, in all their many dimensions.