Affordance, opportunity and the pedagogical implications of ICT

Abstract

This paper provides a brief overview of the InterActive Education Project and an introduction to this special issue. At the heart of the project was a unique partnership between university researchers, teacher educators and teachers, who worked together to find out how ICT can be used in schools to enhance learning. Within this paper we argue that it is the relationship between the pedagogy within a subject area (the practice in the setting), the subject domain and its culture (the ecology of the setting) and the technology (the tool within the setting) that is crucial to engendering quality learning.

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on the work of the project ‘InterActive Education: Teaching and Learning in the Information Age’. This was a four‐year research and development project funded from December 2000 until August 2004 by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (Ref: L139251060) as part of Phase II of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (see http://www.tlrp.org). The project was directed by Rosamund Sutherland (University of Bristol) and co‐directed by Susan Robertson (University of Bristol) and Peter John (University of Plymouth).

Notes

1. For further information see www.interactiveducation.ac.uk.