A recently released repot from BECTA makes for some interesting reading. Titled, The impact of technology: value-added classroom practice, the report is made up of an analysis of 85 lesson logs in which teachers recorded their use of space, digital technology, and student outcomes in relation to student engagement and learning.

Lesson activity reported by teachers using ICT has been classified using a taxonomy of learning practices. It is argued that ICT reconfigured classroom practice in important ways.

• ICT makes possible new forms of classroom practice as a result of reconfigurations of space, new ways of orchestrating class activities and new possibilities of representation
• ICT creates the possibility of a wide variety of learning practices such as exposition with multimedia facilities, independent research and construction with ICT tools.

A set of emerging themes also surfaced from interviews:

• Evolving vision and leadership
• Developing an infrastructure to enhance of out-of-school learning
• Multifaceted staff development and the role of students
• Redefining learning spaces
• Impacts of ICT on learning on four particular aspects: differentiation, inspiration, coherence and engagement
• Exploiting the affordances of new media in teaching and learning.