Based on survey data from 612 pupils in five English primary schools, this paper investigates children's engagement with information and communication technologies (ICTs) inside and outside the school context. Analysis of the data shows pupils' engagements with ICTs to be often perfunctory and unspectacular, especially within the school setting,…

"Realising the potential of new technology" was one of the central educational themes of New Labour's 1997 election manifesto, with "information and communications technology" (ICT) established subsequently as a prominent feature of the Blair administration policy portfolio. As such New Labour can claim rightly to have made an…

In this article, the authors write about the myth of the "silver surfers"--those third-age learners adept at using the internet and other technologies for a mixture of formal and informal learning episodes. The notion of the silver surfer has endured since the latter half of the 1990s. It is sustained by the annual Silver Surfer week, media…

In last month's "Adult Learning," the authors introduced the notion of "the silver surfer", a third-age learner adept at using the internet and other technologies for a mixture of formal and informal learning episodes. They suggested that neither this image nor its obverse, the truly disconnected older adult, is helpful in understanding the ICT…

This paper explores the varied use of information technologies (ITs) such as the computer and Internet for self-education, highlighting how these technologies can facilitate and suppress such learning opportunities throughout the adult population. Based on data drawn from a large-scale study of adults in the West of England and South Wales, the…

Based on survey data from 1222 undergraduate students studying at UK higher education institutions, this article addresses students' engagement with the internet as a source of academic information for their studies. In particular the article explores how academic use of the internet is patterned by a range of potential influences such as…

Over two and a half years, the authors conducted a detailed survey of 1101 adults in England and Wales, 100 follow-up interviews and year-long case studies of 25 families. The data have led them to construct a rich and often thought-provoking picture of how adults are using information and communications technologies (ICTs) in their day-to-day…

Educational commentators have long feared a "digital disconnection" between emerging generations of technology-rich students accustomed to high levels of Internet use and their technology-poor schools. Yet few studies have empirically examined the existence and potential implications of such a disconnect from the students' perspective.…

The use of information and communications technology (ICT) to facilitate easy access to lifelong learning for all is one of the central tenets of the United Kingdom (UK) government's drive to establish a more inclusive learning society. Advocates have highlighted the need to free learning from the traditional confines of educational institutions…

This paper looks at private interest involvement in education Information and Communications Technology (ICT) policymaking and implementation in the United Kingdom, using the National Grid for Learning (NGfL), an initiative to connect every U.K. school to the Internet and create an online connected learning community of teachers and students with…