'The Vision Thing'

In this paper we begin by outlining the Government's vision of ICT and education, arguing that this is a deeply determinist vision which severs technology from the context of social practice. For example, it ignores the importance of the specificities of time and place, how ICT is promoted and made sense of in different contexts, the intentions of different users, how it becomes attached to particular agendas and so on. Drawing on three case studies, we go on to examine what happens when schools and technology are brought together in practice. In doing so we argue that, counter to the Government's vision, technology does not simply impinge on society from outside or follow a predetermined course but rather that ICT emerges as a very different tool in different communities of practice as the place, schools, teachers, children, community and technology mutually enrol, constitute and order each other.