It was a novel and interesting exercise to form a network of students from the OECD Member countries. These were young people whose user-opinions on the educational use of ICT were important, but who had no great experience in communicating their views, nor indeed in analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the education they had experienced. In the event, therefore, what is particularly impressive is the cogency of these views and the remarkable homogeneity amongst them. Whether the students come from North America, Europe or the Pacific, there are strong similarities in their assessment of the effectiveness of ICT for learning in school/post-school and at home.
Why should the students have experienced the same positive and negative aspects of ICT use for learning, as seems to be the case? One explanation could be that much ICT is identical all over the world - the software tools with which computers are equipped, the Internet content and
CD-ROMs that can be accessed. Another might be the level of home support in using ICT, seen to be a strong determinant. Students in the OECD countries identified the existence of a digital divide between school and home, because some homes had computers and Internet access that were used to support school work, while others did not. Whatever the level of a country's economic development, some students are for this reason favoured more than others.
Following each section of the chapters of this report, student views on the value and disadvantages of ICT for learning have been encapsulated in Points for further consideration. There is attention to many related factors - hardware and software, teacher professional development, learning and curriculum issues, institutional management, commercial and economic aspects, social and even philosophical issues. Significantly, student views strongly support the conclusions which emerge from elsewhere within the education system, for instance on the need for an adequate supply of quality hardware and software, and appropriate support systems. But three clear and inter-related conclusions can be signalled, which emerge with particular and compelling emphasis here.
The first is the need for teachers to undergo comprehensive in-service development, not only in respect of gaining the technical competence to use ICT effectively, but no less importantly, to acquire the necessary pedagogic skills. Whilst this recognition is not new, it is underscored when we hear from students of classes which were unsatisfactory or descended into disorder. It is in such circumstances that ICT is seen to be diminishing the educational experience of students rather than enhancing it. The question arises whether in-service education and training in ICT should become a necessary and recurrent professional activity for a teacher - on a lifelong learning basis - just as it is by now generally required in pre-service courses. Students in all countries were united in identifying this need. If it is not addressed, powerful hardware and quality software will remain unused or badly used.
Second is the need to recognise and respond to the digital divide that exists among students, according to whether or not they have access to ICT at home and encouragement to use it wisely. As perhaps the most easily effected remedial measure, local, regional, or national authorities could ensure that the have-nots can easily access public ICT facilities, at little or no expense. This may mean radical organisational changes in school/post-school establishments, including public libraries or other centres (public or private) dedicated to ICT, whereby computers and back-up support are made widely accessible over an extended period of the day. As the report indicates, a student mentioned (not atypically), a university that makes the computing facilities available at night, thus offering a full 24-hour service. A separate and worthwhile objective is the provision of a portable computer per student, perhaps through co-operation between the public and the private sectors.
Finally, a resolution is required of the tensions between the traditional curriculum and the opportunities and constraints brought about by ICT. The formal education system has difficulties in adapting to the new ICT culture of students, their wish for a more interdisciplinary approach to understand the world of today and their need to master higher-order thinking skills for modern professional life. Conversely, as the students themselves observed, the world of virtual reality may be inimical to real social interaction, and there is more to life than being in front of a screen. The curriculum needs to be redefined, both to take advantage of the huge opportunities brought by ICT , and to safeguard what is and will be best dealt with by other means. It must provide a better balance between traditional subjects and interdisciplinary work, between cognitive and meta-cognitive skills. Without attention to such balance, the risk is of a growing digital divide between students and teachers, that will have serious consequences for the credibility of the education service at whatever level.