Like in foregoing years, in 2005 the main activities of the ICT network were concentrated on organizing and streamlining more than 55 proposals for the conference in Dublin.
Some of these papers will be used to prepare an issue for the EERJ.
Based on the discussions during the Dublin conference, it was decided to concentrate the work in the network on some main topics.
Given the present state and expected development of ICT in education and training, four topics were thought to be essential:
- Theory and research to pedagogically optimise ICT-based instruction and learning;
- Cognitive, social, and motivational processes in ICT-supported learning environments;
- Assessment, evaluation and research by using ICT in education and training;
- Construction and use of ICT benchmarks in (inter)national research.
These four topics will be used as criteria to structure the work of the network.
Moreover, in the network meeting in Dublin some appointments were made with respect to the ECER in 2006.
To take more account of quality differences in the presentations, the next conference activities will be processed as follows:
- an invited symposium of about six related papers on pedagogical theory, modelling and transformation of learning practice, and integrated ICT-based research including assessment and evaluation in education;
- if possible: a symposium in combination with network 9 on student assessment;
- some paper sessions with high-standard qualities (introduction, theory, method, results, and discussion);
- some poster sessions with about 10 posters per session, to combine and present interesting pieces of work.
This scheduling will provide a better balance between structuring and participation in the ICT-network and the efficient use of time.
This means that potential contributions to the conference in 2006 will have to be related to these topics and will be organized according to these presentation modes.
During the conference in 2006 we will again evaluate this approach.