The unfulfilled promise of ICT in education: teacher education, new learning, and 'classrooms' of the future in the Asia-Pacific region

Increasingly, ICT (Information Communication Technology) has taken on an importance in formal education that is recognized around the world by governments in policies emerging from new learning theories and the requirements and possibilities afforded by a global economy and knowledge society (Papert & Cavallo, 2001). However, many wealthy or developed countries find that neither policy innovations nor large financial investments in ICT infrastructure for schooling are sufficient in themselves for effective integration of ICT in education. This paper will enquire into the paradox of how many of the unfulfilled promises of ICT in education represents a dilemma for formal education generally, and teacher education more specifically. Conversely, there are some useful projects in developing countries which remind us that necessity can be the mother of invention in more informal contexts of learning where people attempt to do a lot with very few ICT resources (e.g. the Ganokendra Centres in Bangladesh and the Jai Village project in Laos) - especially where educational purposes are seen as connected with wider community contexts and development