ICT and pedagogy: opportunities missed?

The pace of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) development necessitates radical and rapid change for education. Given the English prevalence for an economically determinist orientation for educational outcomes, it seems pertinent to ask how learning in relation to ICT is to be conceptualised. Accepting the view that education needs to both transform and be transforming, simple input-output methods by which professionals might judge the veracity of learning–teaching moments need to be challenged. Considering new technologies, it could be said that proponents of input-output rhetoric suggest that the acquisition of technologically oriented skills and behaviours is an educational end in itself. In contrast, others adopt the position that technological advances are important for what they have to offer as means to transform the learner. This paper considers this dualism and proposes that new technologies offer exciting ways to understand and repopulate professional discourse on learning and teaching.