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Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have produced rapid changes in society by fundamentally transforming the way people communicate, have access to information and entertainment, and doing business, administration, research etc. In addition, ICT are perceived to be inherent to the educational reform efforts necessary for the 21st century society, since they have changed the key aspects of the nature of knowledge and the way we access it. The tremendous development and diffusion of new generation (Web 2.0) technologies is expected to exert a significant impact on instruction and learning by Dede (2008) and McLoughlin and Lee (2010)
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Promoting students’ motivation, engagement, communication, self-directed and collaborative learning
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Offering better access to information, and shared content and working resources
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Helping students to think and communicate creatively, and learning to take place beyond the walls of the traditional classroom environment.
In recent years, technology integration has been recognized as the key lever for improving instruction and learning, and has been regarded among the first priorities in educational policy, fund planning, and curriculum development in many educational systems in the EU area and around the globe (Becta, 2008; EC, 2007; OECD, 2006; 2009; OFSTED, 2011; P21CS, 2011). At the same time, governments launched major initiatives and directed considerable funding to build ICT infrastructures in the schools and prepare teachers to effectively use ICT for educational purposes.
However, the intention to transform teaching and learning and achieve educational reform, through the integration of ICT in classroom settings, has not so far been sufficiently applied. Despite educational policy huge efforts and directives (ICT infrastructure in the schools, teacher preparation initiatives etc.), ICT failed to induce a major impact in the schools compared to other disciplines in our modern society (administration, business, labor, research, etc.). Existing literature shows that the application of ICT in educational settings is rather peripheral acting, in most cases, as an isolated ‘add on’ effect to regular teacher-centered classroom work. It remains a common practice, for most teachers, to use ICT primarily for low-level formal tasks (e.g., content delivery or getting information from Web resources) and for administrative purposes (developing lesson plans and student worksheets, accessing course materials etc.) rather than as a learning tool to support students’ active learning (Russel et al., 2003; Waite, 2004; Levin & Wadmany, 2008; Jimoyiannis & Komis, 2007; Tondeur et al., 2007; 2008; Holden et al., 2008; Wikan & Molster, 2011). It seems that teachers’ attitudes and educational intentions to make effective use of ICT in everyday classroom practice still remain a barrier for the integration of ICT in the schools.