A volume in Research in Educational Policy: Local, National, and Global Perspectives Series Editor Kenneth K. Wong, Brown University This compendium of papers documents educational ICT policies and practices in 37 countries, making it a valuable resource for understanding and comparing ICT-related national policy developments in education. We believe that this work offers a unique in-depth examination of the trends within major education systems and how they have adapted to and taken advantage of the challenges and opportunities posed by the new information and communication technologies. A special feature of this edition is that it allows for interesting comparative analyses of sub-groups of countries, as many Asian, European Union, and former eastern-European countries, as well as the United States and Canada (among others), are included in the book. But it allows also for other than regional comparisons given that a number of newly industrialized countries (such as Brazil, Chile, Malaysia, and South Africa) are represented in this book, together with many OECD countries. This book is the result of the effort and hard work of the contributing authors, many of whom are the National Research Coordinators for the Second IT in Education Study (SITES) conducted under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) for which the data collection took place in 2006. The structure of this book is similar to the previous edition published in 2003 in that it contains both country chapters and summary chapters. The country (or education system) chapters demonstrate the rich variation in policies and strategies on ICT in education around the world. To allow for comparisons across countries, all authors followed an outline consisting of the following main topics: the structure and nature of their educational system; ICT-related policies (illustrated with examples); special issues (such as equal opportunities or problems with sustainability); current trends in policies and practices; and expectations for the future. There are clear differences between countries in economic condition, information technology development, and historical background. In essence, the approach followed resulted in a set of country papers that show a number of commonalities but also reflect the cultural richness and variation.

The key idea of the book is that scientific and practical advances can be obtained if researchers working in traditions that have been assumed to be mutually incompatible make a real effort to engage in dialogue with each other, comparing and contrasting their understandings of a given phenomenon and how these different understandings can either complement or mutually elaborate on each other. This key idea applies to many fields, particularly in the social and behavioral sciences, as well as education and computer science. The book shows how we have achieved this by presenting our study of collaborative learning during the course of a four-year project. Through a series of five workshops involving dozens of researchers, the 37 editors and authors involved in this project studied and reported on collaborative learning, technology enhanced learning, and cooperative work. The authors share an interest in understanding group interactions, but approach this topic from a variety of traditional disciplinary homes and theoretical and methodological traditions. This allows the book to be of use to researchers in many different fields and with many different goals and agendas.

How is information and communication technology (ICT) changing teaching and learning practices in secondary schools worldwide in the 21st century? This is the central question addressed by researchers involved in the series of surveys comprising the Second Information Technology in EducationStudy (SITES ). The question is a multifaceted one, with each facet raising additionalq uestions relating to both theory and practice. These include the following: * What traditional and new pedagogiesare evident in the 21st century? * What is the role of ICT in the teaching and learning process? * What ICT infrastructure is available in schools? * How can teachers and their administrators be prepared for effective practice? * How have these conditions and considerations changed since the first SITES survey in 1998? * What are the trends within and between national education systems? * What do the differences and similarities between these systems suggest? * How shouldchange be promoted in education in order to support teachers in their work? * Is there evidence that key strategic factors commonly found in ICT related educational policies do influence teachers' pedagogical use of ICT? Because these questions are interconnected, the SITES 2006 researchers recognized that if we are to make sense of changes in pedagogical practicesas a result of IC T use, then we need to view those practices in terms of the interacting layers in the 22 education systems surveyed.

The text explores the concept of innovation, and analyse and compare different dimensions of innovation found in the various case studies; the transfer of innovation and the mechanisms of change; on an innovative online case study database on education innovations that has been designed to be used by education practitioners to support organizational leadership, international collaboration and reflective practice in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) eEducation Leadership initiative; on a project aimed to support the establishment of communities of practice for education practitioners facilitated through an extendable online database that can be used to contribute and share case studies of their own ICT-supported pedagogical innovations. It discusses roles of the teacher and the anticipated changes to the education profession at a system level, in the coming decade on the basis of emerging changes observed in the case studies, and leadership issues at the school level. The book analyses change mechanisms for different kinds of innovation and how different contextual and cultural factors interact to bring about the changes observed.

The text explores the concept of innovation, and analyse and compare different dimensions of innovation found in the various case studies; the transfer of innovation and the mechanisms of change; on an innovative online case study database on education innovations that has been designed to be used by education practitioners to support organizational leadership, international collaboration and reflective practice in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) eEducation Leadership initiative; on a project aimed to support the establishment of communities of practice for education practitioners facilitated through an extendable online database that can be used to contribute and share case studies of their own ICT-supported pedagogical innovations. It discusses roles of the teacher and the anticipated changes to the education profession at a system level, in the coming decade on the basis of emerging changes observed in the case studies, and leadership issues at the school level. The book analyses change mechanisms for different kinds of innovation and how different contextual and cultural factors interact to bring about the changes observed.

A volume in Research in Educational Policy: Local, National, and Global Perspectives Series Editor Kenneth K. Wong, Brown University This compendium of papers documents educational ICT policies and practices in 37 countries, making it a valuable resource for understanding and comparing ICT-related national policy developments in education. We believe that this work offers a unique in-depth examination of the trends within major education systems and how they have adapted to and taken advantage of the challenges and opportunities posed by the new information and communication technologies. A special feature of this edition is that it allows for interesting comparative analyses of sub-groups of countries, as many Asian, European Union, and former eastern-European countries, as well as the United States and Canada (among others), are included in the book. But it allows also for other than regional comparisons given that a number of newly industrialized countries (such as Brazil, Chile, Malaysia, and South Africa) are represented in this book, together with many OECD countries. This book is the result of the effort and hard work of the contributing authors, many of whom are the National Research Coordinators for the Second IT in Education Study (SITES) conducted under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) for which the data collection took place in 2006. The structure of this book is similar to the previous edition published in 2003 in that it contains both country chapters and summary chapters. The country (or education system) chapters demonstrate the rich variation in policies and strategies on ICT in education around the world. To allow for comparisons across countries, all authors followed an outline consisting of the following main topics: the structure and nature of their educational system; ICT-related policies (illustrated with examples); special issues (such as equal opportunities or problems with sustainability); current trends in policies and practices; and expectations for the future. There are clear differences between countries in economic condition, information technology development, and historical background. In essence, the approach followed resulted in a set of country papers that show a number of commonalities but also reflect the cultural richness and variation.