01. Literature Study

University of Professional Education/Hogeschool van Utrecht, Netherlands

Faculty of Education al/ Faculteit Educatieve Opleidingen

Cardiff University, Wales

School of Social Sciencies

Universitat Autonoma Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain

Faculty of Education / Facultat de Ciències de l’Educació

University of South Alabama, USA

Introduction *

Chapter One *

Chapter Two *

Chapter Three *

Chapter Four *

References *

For the last decade developing nations have recognised the need for schools to prepare students that are information literate. The answer has often been to provide the information communication technology (ICT) to schools, and training programs to teachers. However, results on appropriate integration of these tools into school curriculum are bleak. Schools of education are also thus addressing the issue of ICT integration by responding with programs inclusive of ICT tools in efforts to pass the learning on to primary, secondary and vocational schools. Online communities of learning have been designed to promote the sharing of ICT resources and ideas, and offer viable alternatives to the traditional teacher focused curriculum which can isolate teachers and students in a world of theory separated form the real issues in the classroom. This article explores the need for online communities of learners facilitated by web portals in an effort to sufficiently build a web portal for an international community of learners.

This paper has four chapters. Chapter one relates the Pronett project to the objectives of the Socrates Minerva program. Pronett is based on four key assumptions that are identified in the first chapter. . In chapter two and three these assumptions are examined against the supporting national and international literature. In chapter four, a formulation of the specifications is offered against a supporting rationale for the Pronett Project.

PRONETT (Professionals Networking Education and Teacher Training) is a project integrated in the Socrates Minerva program of the European Union (reference 90819-CP-1-2001-1NL-MINERVA). It began the 1^st October 2001 and is due to end the 1^st October 2004. Its members are the Hogeschool van Utrecht (Holland), who acts as co-ordinator, and the Cardiff University (United Kingdom) and the Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona (Spain).

[pronettprofile1.doc]The key objective of the project was (is) to build a web portal to create a dynamic interactive virtual learning environment to support trainees, trainers, and teachers. The project outcome should offer a VLE platform through which a substantive knowledge base could be collaboratively created of useful local and trans-national cross curricula ICT based resources whilst at the same time providing a forum to develop new models of online pedagogy, assessment and collaborative participation.

Our experience as teacher trainers, related from the beginning to the enhancement of ICT in the institutions where our students would work as well as in our own Faculties, led us to propose four key assumptions:

1. The use of ICT in schools and other institutions is ubiquitous; however the utilisation of ICT is hindered by an apparent strong and identifiable under current of conservative adherence to traditional curriculum and teaching approaches in many spheres of activity. Many teachers are still struggling on securing ICT skills and are often not in the position of exploiting the use of ICT skills into new methodologies of learning and teaching in curriculum practice for a variety of reasons.

2. ICT as an educational medium appears to be used predominantly for information retrieval, presentational and illustrative purposes whilst its potential for changing the pedagogy of teaching and learning has yet to be fully exploited and implemented within educational environments.

3. The social and cultural construction of educational provision provides an excellent base for the realisation of constructivist principles upon which new pedagogical activities can be based.: Notably shared experiences, collaborative activities and the creation of collective new knowledge.

4. New web portal software innovations now provide exciting instruments by which collaborative learning, problem solving and demand for information can be met through a common gateway and interface whilst serving dispersed groups and communities with shared interests and common objectives.

So we arrive at the idea of innovatively enhance, promote and build a European web portal community of Teachers and Trainees in Primary, Secondary and Vocational Education who will be able to collaboratively share experiences and gain expertise in the application of Information Communication Technology in teaching and learning. Central to its function is the notion of a community of teachers and trainees who can have access to online materials and receive task orientated feedback on their projects and work. Selective tools and workspaces allow for this according to need and application.

PRONETT will equip participating practitioners with a clustered forum and knowledge databases so that shared and best practice can be disseminated between registered associate and affiliated teacher trainee placement partners. A public and members forum will be available so that minority and specialist groups and individuals can register their needs and contribute to important development functions.

PRONETT functionality will be achieved by encouraging collaborative participation. Sustainability will be promoted by fostering common assessment standards, ownership by stakeholders and by implementing generic, relevant protocols, common applications and pedagogical models to working solutions. Dissemination will be an essential, focal and vital product and function of the web portal. Quality assurance will be correlated with national teaching standards and the collective findings of action research.

Pronett is about supporting teacher trainees and their use of information communication technology (ICT) in the classroom and everyday professional practice. Its focus is on working with others to promote resources and develop ideas. The overall portal scheme has as its focus the exchanging of ideas and resources. The ideas explored are those central to a community of practice. In essence it is about practitioners in education wanting and willing to share and work together. An important aspect of the scheme is that users can share understandings concerning what they are doing and how it should be done at levels which they deem they are competent to engage in. Stereo type views of status, place and role in education are not important to Pronett functionality. Pronett is for everybody who wishes to be "situated" in learning about ICT and how to use it in their work and practice. Pronett is about establishing and providing useful connections that assist collaborative approaches. It is about having access to "expert colleagues" who often can be found beyond the classroom and in other workplace settings. The richness of the scheme lies in the possibilities which peers and co-learners (which includes all educational professionals) can provide by having and creating the opportunities to explore and engage in sharing work for a variety of uses and settings using the key elements in the exchange scheme. Outcomes hopefully will reflect contact at different levels of application, with different groups and individuals. Equally, the exposure to approaches in other languages and national curriculum areas will make sharing and working together unique and rewarding.

Learners need to be led through a structured developmental cycle for online learning to be successful and happy.

The Key to Active Online Learning

As partners we could not attempt to build the PRONETT portal project without a vision of the future. So we need to look where we are and where we are going in our countries.

A survey on ICT use in schools in the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom (the three countries involved in the Pronett Project) shows that, while facing different realities, and with different resources, some problems reappear and don’t differ from those stated until here. This survey, leaded by the IPETCCO Consortium, refers to Primary Education, but the conclusions offered here can be applied to our field; it also refers to the Netherlands and Spain, among 5 countries (the study includes Greece, Portugal and Italy). Thus, Pedró and Sada (2001), members of the IPETCCO Consortium, reach some interesting conclusions:

Reinforcing ICT in teacher education programs as well as giving in-service teachers additional means (time, help…), could face the difficulties. But in a later study, the same IPETCCO Consortium detects a sounder problem:

And when those "innovative teachers" are asked about the roles of ICT in primary education, the Consortium observes that in their answers

Put it in more crude terms by a student teacher:

These words can be found in Case Study 4 (Spain), referring to primary education, but in some aspects they reach the kernel of ICT use in most schools of the three countries we are studying in both primary and secondary level.

In Spain, a inform about the situation in Catalonia (NE region in Spain), The Astrolabi inform concludes that:

A report from the Dutch Inspectorate (Onderwijsverslag 2001) referring to secondary education (?) remarks that, while some features have improved (hardware, use of ICT in daily practice…), there is a "critical issue" in "the scarce presence of ICT use for pedagogically innovative approaches". Discarding the "relatively great number" who does not appreciate the contribution of ICT, there are a number of teachers that, while being interested in it, "do not feel confident to integrate ICT in their lessons".

The ImpaCT2 report in the UK, which gathers data from 1999 and 2000, also points out that "many [teachers] do not yet use ICT confidently in their lessons. Classroom observations indicate that relatively few teachers are integrating ICT into subject teaching in a way that motivates pupils and enriches learning or stimulates higher-level thinking and reasoning." . This "lack of confidence" can be more remarkable when the same inform reports on a worrying, yet predictable contrast: on the one hand, "many teachers have yet to develop confidence and competence in ICT"; on the other, "the majority of pupils have a rich ICT experience at home, predominantly on the Internet and with games." .

And then, even in the more ICT focused classes: "Classroom observations indicate that when teachers use ICT in lessons (such as English, science or history) they often focus on basic rather than higher-order thinking and reasoning skills." . Which brings us back to the conclusions reached by the IPETCCO Case Study

In Spain, ICT studies face three main problems

• they are not relevant: 45 hours out of 1800 (2,5% of the total amount of teaching time)
• "instead of being trained in an ICT-rich environment, initial teacher training considers ICT as a subject matter"
• most ICT training is "too focused on computer literacy" (Deliverable 2: 46)
• In The Netherlands, "primary teacher training in ICTs forms part of the compulsory courses throughout the degree" , which means that ICT training is more relevant than in Spain. Nevertheless, the "Opleiden voor de school" report points out in the conclusions two main problems:
• "The overall picture is that ICT as didactic tool has not been adequately integrated in the teacher training pedagogy."
• "Preparation for a future ICT-rich educational practice has, as yet, only a very limited place in teacher education programmes"

In the UK, the National Grid for Learning (1997) is symbolic of the public/private partnership pattern that has evolved and which has since developed and been applied to many new projects. The National Grid for Learning also includes a 'Virtual Teachers’ Centre' so that teachers can exchange ideas and a database set up by the Government’s Schools Standards & Effectiveness Unit. Other initiatives and projects are co-ordinated by BECTA, which was established in 1998.

Apart from private partnerships £300 million from lottery money has also been spent on training 500,000 teachers and librarians in the use of information technology. This New Opportunities Fund has since become known as NOF training.

In 2001 the Office for Standards in Education reported that the NOF initiative did not have the same impact as the National Grid for Learning, which had improved teaching as well as pupils' IT capabilities. Only about half of all teachers had enrolled for NOF training with only a minority completing it. OFSTED also noted that NOF training; when completed, had often-increased teachers' confidence in the classroom but only rarely did it add to their "pedagogic expertise".

In 1999, the number of PCs per 100 inhabitants was 36 (The Netherlands), 12 (Spain) for an average of 25 for the whole EU. The percentage of individuals using Internet in the same year were 35% (The Netherlands) and 8% (Spain). In 2001, in Spain, the percentage amounted to 21,2% (of the inhabitants of 14 and over) . The conclusion seems clear: "the chances for a Dutch teacher or a child to have a personal experience of the applications of ICT in daily life are, at least, twice or three times the ones for a child in a Southern European country." .

In the UK, the ImpaCT2 study suggests that "the high cost of UK Internet access is an issue where the digital divide is linked to socio-economic status." . This same report states the obvious but yet sometimes forgotten conclusions that "Sustainable funding for technical support and ongoing staff training is crucial for long-term positive impact." .

A recent study on technology in the United States Education system, which is in no inferior terms to the European ones, reaches the disappointing conclusion that:

In the three European countries under consideration, there seems to be a wide agreement that ICT funding can only be provided by government policies in the local or in the European level.

In The Netherlands and Spain, "a European-level policy has been implemented in fostering use of new information and communication technologies in education." This policy aims to

• "speed up access to the information society for schools"
• "promote the spread of multimedia pedagogical practice"
• "reinforce the European dimension in education and training by means of information society tools."

As for the political responsibiliy for education, both in The Netherlands and Spain "there is a central locus of political decision in education. But the extent to which this central locus is critical for the daily running of schools is rather diverse in these countries."

Yet, as Snoek and Wilelenga (2001) remark, stimulation must come from the government and from institutions for teacher education, stressing either organisational or educational motivations.

ICT and ILT are core items on the educational agenda of the Welsh National Assembly. This is in part a response to the numerous central government initiatives and policy statements that have driven IT since the late 1990’s.

Centrals to the development of ICT in the curriculum have been the major (UK) National ICT policies, projects and initiatives. Most of these stem from The Education Departments' Superhighways Initiative (EDSI) that explored the potential of communications technologies in education. This point in time can be considered to be the benchmark where networking took off in education. Ironically, in 2002, the UK still appears to be behind smaller countries like Finland, New Zealand, Sweden and Denmark.

Information Communication Technologies (ICT) are receiving increasing attention as tools for management and instruction within the area of education. ICT is defined as "the range of tools and techniques relating to computer based hardware and software; to communication including both directed and broadcast; to information sources such as CD-ROM and the Internet, and to associated technologies such as robots and, video conferencing and digital TV" (Department for Education and Employment, 1999). In some countries and in some contexts, most things concerned with IT in education are referred to as ILT i.e. Information and Learning Technology (see, for instance, this term used by the Library association as cited in [Seale, 2001 #35: 10]), but in this paper we will keep using the term ICT.

As such tools are appropriate for developing minds and organising large amounts of data, skills in ICTs are a top priority for most employers today. It is becoming a universal demand that employees demonstrate the ability to use technology to find, synthesise, and communicate knowledge, and it is up to our educational institutions to provide teachers with the ability to incorporate ICTs as an interdisciplinary tool in the everyday curriculum. This literature review briefly covers the need for ICT in the information society, the need for inclusion in teacher education programs throughout the world, and the development of web portals designed to meet the needs of professional organisations. The literature review will support and validate the development of PRONETT project, an international attempt to incorporate ICTs into teacher education programs via the use of an internet portal designed as an online learning community of professional practice.

It is important for the reader to understand the two areas in which we will refer to ICT. First, ICT will be discussed as it relates to an interdisciplinary subject area that should find itself into curricula at all levels of education. Second, ICT will be discussed as a viable "information source" (using the terms stated above) and a "communication tool", namely in the form of web portals that facilitate the development of online communities of learning for the promotion of teacher development in the formerly designed area (i.e. ICT in education) in the area of ICT in education. It is important to understand that the portal is only the device providing the functions for a community to interact online – the portal is not the community but where the community resides. This portal is, then, a tool that supports a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), which is an "online course material and resources. (…) VLEs support the teaching and learning process within a single software environment." [Seale, 2001 #35: 15].

Peter F.Drucker, author of Management Challenges of the 21^st Century and management expert of the 20^th, century, outlines the issues that are changing the nature of the workforce both in business and social sectors. The countries of the developed world no longer need manual labour as much as they need knowledge workers. It is no longer necessary to depend on those with repetitive skills. On the contrary, the greatest commodity in our society is the knowledge worker who can locate, integrate, transform, and synthesise information to solve problems and make decisions. Much of the ability to do this depends on the individual’s access to information and technology and their his/her skills at communicating these ideas with other workers. The ability to utilise ICTs is a key component of using information to gain and transfer knowledge. Knowledge workers can survive in a variety of environments because they take the ability to work with information and solve problems with them. The knowledge worker is as are n information literates. They are able to access, evaluate and use information from a variety of sources. Those that are information literate can identify needed information, locate, organise and present it in an articulate manner to a variety of audiences (Hashim, 1986). These concerns are echoed in countries across the world, as governments struggle to create schools that prepare teachers and students for tomorrow’s work. Governments are racing to set standards, provide technology, and evaluate the investments before too much time, energy, and money is lost to inappropriate agenda or implementation.

In an attempt to create ICT literate citizens, developed nations are slowly changing their ideas about learning by shifting to a more student centred environment where students control their own processes in order to learn how to think and not what to think. The interesting thing about this shift is that it is driven by suggestions of the future and not by failures of the past (Snoek, Wielenga, Aardse, and Voogt, 2000). If we take the stand that giving students more control over their learning should be a focus in the development of knowledge workers, then it is wise to look for a different paradigm in education. And here ICT can help to implement these new educational models as it offers mind tools and facilities for collaboration.

ICTs provide unlimited access to information, and give allow students more control over information its interpretation allowing for constructive, independent learning opportunities. ICTs put the teacher in the role of facilitator, allow for self-paced learning and concept formation, foster the sharing of ideas and co-operative learning which in turn offer chances for reflection, and stimulate interest in learning creating life-long learners. All of these skills are needed in the information age (Office of Educational Research and Improvement [ED], 1994). Along with aiding the development of higher order thinking skills, web-based K-12 resources are excellent tools for acquisition and drill and practice activities that are associated with the lower level of Bloom’s taxonomy (Moore, 2000). With all the demands that businesses society isare now placing on individuals to use ICTs, schools should be making every effort to enable students to meet these demands. If ICTs are integrated seamlessly into the curriculum of students, they will be more prepared to meet the demands of today’s workforce. And that means a change in terms of teaching, too, as we will see later.

No wonder then, that government policies invest in ICT; the UNESCO World Communication and Information Report for 1999-2000 states that schools world-wide are increasingly being equipped with ICTs (Blurton, 2000). The Key Data on Education in Europe report, published in Europe since 1994 and appearing once every two years, covers the inclusion of ICTs in the schools systems of 29 countries. All 29 of these European countries have official legislation outlining the use of ICTs within the lower secondary level curriculum and the trend is towards making ICT skill development and inclusion an educational priority at the lower and upper level (EurodiceEurydice, 2000). Regarding connectivity to the Net, most schools in the European Union are connected but many pupils do not have access to the Internet regardless of school connectivity status (Commission of the European Communities, 2001). Unfortunately, even with all this attention and money, there is little evidence to show that schools are keeping up with the demands of the information age. Efforts towards reform are doing little to change the curriculum in schools. The American Library Association Presidential Committee on Information Literacy put out a report in 1989, which recognised the need in a restructuring of the learning process in an effort to create more interactivity with information by students (American Library Association Presidential Committee on Information Literacy [ALA], 1989, p.12). In 1998 still, there showed little progress was shown in the inclusion of information literacy into curriculums curricula following the 1989 call by the ALA (Association of College and Research Libraries, 1998, p.5). In 1998 the Hong Kong Special Administration Region (HKSAR) launched a five-year plan designed to promote the use of information technologies in education in order to create technologically literate students able to compete internationally (as cited in LI, LAM, LI, and WU, 2000). In April 2001, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) mentioned suggested complimenting investments in technology should compliment with teacher training, believing this latter item to be at the heart of school reform. Technology has been under-exploited in promoting new approaches to improve quality of teaching and learning (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2001)

Most phenomena concur that in explaining why schools have failed to use the technology resources they have been provided, but anyway it seems clear that teachers, especially at the elementary level, have failed to take advantage of ICT equipment : as an expressive title puts it, "Technology has found its way into our schools… Now what?" (Cole, 2000).

It is not only school systems that are revisiting their vision statements in order to reflect the age of information, but libraries as well. SCONUL, an UK library organisation, is restructuring their vision statements to accommodate the information age. Developments in the e-book industry now target students and learners, illustrating the paradigm shift from teaching to learning. Plans also highlight the future of library and internal and external information systems. These plans serve to strengthen the argument that schools should prepare students to manipulate such systems of information. SCONUL also provides a vision for the future. They foresee the development of web portals in which students and staff interact and in which the library plays a major role as an information source (SCONUL, 2002). Here we see a trend in the development of networked learning communities incorporating many institutions, ages, and nationalities of humans seeking to gain, transfer, and communicate information.

There seems to be little argument against the opinion that ICT are powerful new tools for teachers. The manipulation of knowledge now made possible by the existence of various ICTs allows for teachers to mould the individual learning experience of each student. ICTs make it possible to create an environment of constructive learning where learners search through a variety of sources for answers and ideas, communicate with others beyond the classroom walls, and mould information which answers the questions they have personally formulated. The Dearing report (National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education [NCIHE], 1997) believes that student centred, resource based environments are the answer to an increasingly diverse and non-traditional student population. Experiential Learning theory holds that learning occurs when subject matter is relevant to the students’ interests, and provides student control over the context and subject (Kearsley, 1999). This can be done by allowing students to select readings on a chosen subject with the teacher acting as a means of emotional and intellectual coach (Chisholm, 1999). Constructivist theory can also give us direction for ICT use. Constructivist theory holds that learning is an active process occurring when students create their own knowledge by building on past events and engaging in dialogue.

So far however, most reports about the international state of ICT inclusion by teachers is not inline with our expectations for school transformation we had in the 1980’s (Goodland, 2000). The lack of ICT use by teachers is a huge waste of expensive resources and time. Computers sitting idle in classrooms or used for surfing the net is not optimal use of hard-earned technology resources. Teachers need to understand the pedagogical uses and advantages of information resources. Butler (2000) shows strong achievements with teachers and ICT inclusion when teachers are provided with laptops instead of the desktop PC. Allowing teachers to take the computers home to tinker and practice with, instead of letting PCs staying at school after a full day of work, created a high degree of ICT fluency and confidence with the technology. This was especially true with beginners who could try things out at their own pace.

Which aspects of ICT should be included and in which subjects and classes is a big question which can be daunting to even an experienced teacher, much more even to a pre-service teachers unfamiliar with the realistic environment of schools (Wessel, 2000).

Some contents, like ICT as a subject, should not be included among the relevant domains; some are provisional, like the study of ICT as a tool (e.g. wordprocessing, information retrieval…), which will last until students don’t arrive at Faculties of Education fully literate; some, like ICT as facilitator of school management process, are more interesting to in-service teachers that have specialized in administration; some are hardly arguable, like ICT as aspect of the teaching profession, which clearly distinguishes ICT learning in Faculties of Education from ICT learning in schools.

Many countries have responded to the lack of ICT use by teachers and schools by turning to the colleges and universities that educate teachers. In order to supply knowledge workers experts to governments, businesses, and social institutions schools of education must provide new teachers in training with ways to use ICTs both in and out of the traditional classroom. It should no longer be considered novel, but necessary that we provide teachers with the training, technology, and collaborative resources to use ICTs in their classrooms, both for management and teaching. The United States and most European countries are now making efforts to integrate ICTs into the teacher education curriculum. In a recent paper describing teacher education in the Netherlands, Snoek and Wielenga (2001) recognise the need for a new type of student – the knowledge producer and their conception. The schools of teacher education hold the responsibility to create teachers that will in turn create the environment that encourages constructive interaction with students (i. e. knowledge producers) students at the centercentre. Teacher education programs should also allow future teachers to create a learning environment exclusive to their learning styles, abilities, and interests (Snoek et al., 2001). Schools of teacher education need to advertise the opportunities that ICTs provide for building motivation into the classroom as few teachers are using ICT in ways that motivate students (Johnston, 2001).

As well as provide meaningful training in ICTs, both pre-service teachers and in-service teachers can benefit greatly from the development of online resources and collections of networked information (NCIHE, 1997). This would include online-tutorials, databases, and communication venues attentive to teachers needs.

The University of Georgia reports on a triad model approach to integration of ICT. This identifies three areas of technology infusiondiffusion: communication, research and instruction, and productivity as three interrelated components. This model may not seem so different from the traditional teacher education model of class instruction, collaboration on projects followed by a development or lesson. However, the focus here is on using this model with technology integration at the centre of the triad. Communication in this case makes use of ICT capabilities an;d the productivity model is was used for the development of digital resources and documents, and the research component involves using the Internet to locate and analyse information (Wilkerson, 2000).

Teacher educators must also have the skills to model effective use of technology resources. : behaviours are observed and modelled, as sSocial learning theory is based on the idea thattells us behaviors are observed and modeled (Bandura, 1971).

Technology must be integrated into course content, as stand-alone technology courses have not produced adequate results. It is not something one does separately, but part of the daily activities taking place in the classroom. Another suggestion inThe best model for effective integration is seems to be the partnering of pre-service teachers with in-service teachers who use technology effectively in their classrooms (Moursund & Bielefeldt, 1999). Nocente (2000) describes a program in which the in-service teacher provided the content and outline for a related technology product, and the pre-service teacher was responsible for the development with where a faculty member served as advisor to the process. This serves two purposes, the pre-service teacher had a real world problem to address and the in-service teacher received a product for her curriculumdaily class. In this way students are immersed in the actual curriculum of schools and must be familiar with the individual needs of classrooms. This process also provides a valid evaluation context for product assessment. Morgan (2000) provides a similar structure for integrating technology into teacher education programs in which the in-service teacher, faculty member, and pre-service teacher form a learning community centred on technology, professional growth and reflection. This triangle of practice can serve as a reflective communication base for all three groups involved. Furthermore, Foegen et al. suggest that efforts should move beyond technologies to supplement instruction and onto solving current challenges in teacher education. These efforts should include all future teachers and not just instructional technologists (2000). Perhaps David Jonassen (1995) provides the most complete description of the seven aspects that produce environments ripe for technology inclusion. This environment is: (a) active with students participating in mindful information processing; (b) constructive with students integrating new ideas into their prior concepts; (c) collaborative with students working on groups; (d) intentional with students achieving cognitive goals and objectives; (e) conversational with students as part of a knowledge building community exchanging ideas; (f) contextual ised with students encountered assignments based in real world tasks; (g) reflective with students reviewing the processes completed and decisions made. In each of these seven aspects the computer should play a major role, locating information, facilitating dialog and presenting projects and points of view.

Up to this point, we have referred widely to "ICT", but a basic distinction must be made between ICT-mediated instruction and ICT-enabled instruction, the later being "teaching activities which would not be possible without modern ICT" , which implies the use of technological channels such as television, radio or a computer networks. Literature does not always specify whether it refers to the former or the later type, nor, when referring to ICT-enabled instruction, whether it refers to synchronous (i.e. most radio and TV models, videoconferences or chats) or asynchronous communication. It should be clear from now on that we refer to ICT-enabled asynchronous and synchronous instruction (mainly, computer-mediated and web-based). Now, this area, because of its relative novelty, has not been studied as intensively as others have in the main ICT area. Research into reactions of teachers to on-line communication, for instance, is still lacking or, at least, not as developed as research into students’ reactions ; and research methods on web-based instruction do not seem refined enough . In studies of online classes taught to pre-service and in-service teachers, the literature does reveal an increase in ability and attitude toward using a computer, and an altered thinking about the use of computers for teaching for both the instructor and students. The use of online systems can also increase diversity awareness, but of course this must be a directive of the instructor. Perhaps the most beneficial outcome was the increase in student /instructor communication (Chisholm, 2000). We believe that all of these achievements are the result of the leadership inherent in the community and cannot be guaranteed without skilled, communicative, interactive, responsive, and engaging leadership in the online environment.

Most likely the greatest obstacle to ICT use is a lack in teaching philosophies and methodologies that support ICT incorporation. It is not only important for teachers to have the knowledge and skills to use ICT, but also must learn a new approach to teaching (Snoek et al., 2000). Teachers in training often model the behaviour of their teachers at the Faculty and even an outdated use of technology inclusion is non-existent in most cases. The teacher education program at the University of Zurich approaches this problem by building in experiences in the education program that students can copy later (Kuster and Scmid, 2000). Constructivism provides a sound base, especially in aspects such as collaborative learning and interaction in classrooms. Many Faculty teachers educators are comfortable in their roles of lecturer and unwilling or uninformed about the relationship between ICT use by students and a constructivist-student centred teaching style. Snoek et al., (2000) reports that efforts to create learning environments that are student centred are not always coupled with students who are ready to take control of their learning and the instructors are insufficiently prepared to guide them. Changes in this core relationship are necessary for student and Faculty teacher collaboration as learning partners constructing knowledge (Ritchie & Wiburg, 1994). A collaborative approach is what is needed when the Faculty teacher is no longer the expert. This is the case with ICT inclusion as most faculty do not use technology (NCATE, 1997). Possibly the use of ICT to teach ICT inclusion in schools is the most integrated way to prepare our teachers, faculty and future teachers to create knowledge workers. We believe ICT to be an effective catalyst for movement into this area, and specifically, web portals that both offer communication functions and store professional artefacts such as ICT-rich lessons and related products. Pre-service teachers involved in programs that have direct contact with schools and technology showed increased awareness of technology in a hands-on environment (Zimmerman and Greene, 2000).

In order to avoid the lack of ICT use by future teachers, efforts should concentrate in pre-service teachers.

This does not mean only training in ICT, but also learning the use of ICT to produce knowledge.

"Learning communities" are a good way to produce knowledge through ICT, thus transforming students into "knowledge producers".

A learning community type should include pre-service teachers, in-service teachers and faculty members (trainers, professors…).

By working in this community, pre-service teachers find real world problems to address, in-service teachers elaborate products for their classes, and faculty members improve their transformation from mere lecturers to builders of knowledge.

Pre-service teachers will integrate ICT if they see it effectively used by-in-service teachers and faculty members.

To meet the needs of including ICTs into the teacher-training curriculum, there have been several attempts at creating interactive campus portals. This is defined by David Eisler as "a single integrated point for useful and comprehensive access to information, people and processes" (2000 p.1). Eisler suggests that as well as being a place for community building; a portal can simultaneously offer opportunities for personalization. Through the use of the Internet as an interactive working arena, the Internet becomes more than a delivery system of information, it becomes a place of active learning via the manipulation of the information. Web portals provide promise to schools of education as a powerful way to communicate ideas, provide support, assess work, create mobility into new environs and support a growing database of lesson plans, which students can re-use and adapt to other curriculum. Web portals provide a strong platform for (a)synchronous multi-participant communication among individuals who would otherwise not meet (Lee, Armitage, Groves & Stephens, 1999). They can be designed to mimic the real world having some areas for informal chat whilst others are designated for more task oriented or subject specific discussions, such as classrooms. These virtual rooms make students feel more comfortable and have a strong effect on the activities, which occur, in the various rooms (Harris, 1995). Another strong case for web portals is the availability of instant data on the person with whom you are dialoguing. As portals can provide access to members’ profiles they offer opportunities to efficiently trace professional colleagues with relevant expertise or special interests. This creates a powerful environment for professional development, and one that is not as quick to emerge in the real world. The value of computer-supported collaborative learning can also be recognised in the ability to allow flexible conditions in which learners can solve problems, and share ideas and interpretations. This in turn leads to a deeper level of cognitive processing of information (Wilson and Whitelock, 1998). The facilitation of collaboration on projects is especially appealing as teachers are always searching for processes, by which students can collaborate in an often-modularised classroom setting. Not only does the portal offer opportunities for group work, but also these groups can now be comprise of include individuals located around the world. Imagine the opportunities students can now have to meet with professionals in their fields of study. These professionals can then act as tutors and mentors and help students master a body of knowledge in an apprenticeship fashion in an engaged setting. The value of email and other forms of ICT communications in the ability to expand the reflection process. Pre-service teachers are often given feedback about their field experiences; conversations often concentrate on the events of the day. With the use of email, faculty members can successfully develop an environment of ongoing and reflective dialog with students that go beyond the observed events. Portals can provide the infrastructure (virtual workspaces with restricted (invited) access) to facilitate and structure conditions for this type of coaching activities. Reflection is an important process of linking theory to practice The practice of rReflection is an important process of linking theory to practice (Wentworth, Monroe, Orme, & Lynes, 2000). ICTs create environments in which in–service teachers can communicate and break the walls of isolation and promote collegial conversation to which teachers rarely have access to in their own environments (Topper, 2000).

Although several portals have been developed, there is little data available as to their value (Eisler, 2000). It is important to the progressive development of these portals that information on their successes and failures be shared. The following paragraphs reveal warnings from past attempts to develop the use if ICT.

A number of obstructions to online portals of learning have been detected. Some of them are related to the psychological troubles that asynchronous learning implies, as opposed to traditional, face-to-face communication . Some refer to technical problems: a world-wide survey among national representative samples of schools from 26 countries aimed to detect the obstacles to integration of ICT in education has observed that "the major obstacles were: lack of computers and lack of knowledge among teachers." . Factors that must be taken into account when considering the implementation of on-line training packages include familiarity with computers, satisfying web-design, and successful training . The top down approach met with at many institutions has also had its negative role in the development of web portal development. Often faculty develop web pages and resources, but when they try to upload to a web server, they are told they have no access, of or must undergo strenuous and timely review procedures before materials are added to the server (Ankeny, Barram, Delamarter, Headley, Kluge, & Osland, 1999)

Mulholland (2000) divides professional development networks into three categories: Facilities for interaction with artefacts, facilities for interaction with individuals and the third is a combination of the latter two, facilities for interaction with individuals and artefacts. These systems should enable drafting, brainstorming, annotating, reviewing, commenting, presenting, analysing, modelling, and sharing. They should have rich tools for document creation, elaboration, synthesis and analysis.

Often the time to develop, organise and maintain a web portal for learning is largely underestimated. Time is a crucial resource in designing the functions, identifying the correct materials, and organising online resources (Chisholm, 2000). Time is also an issue in regard to user acceptance of a new tool. Many portals fail because they do not allow users enough time to incorporate a system. Users take time to change their attitudes and adopt new tools of technology, and designers must be sensitive to the stages of adoption and change. Professional developers and integrators of technology use the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM). This evaluation design is sensitive to the levels of use that educators evolve through as they are faced with a new development. Suggestions are that it takes at least three years for before early concerns about using a system are adopted and the user emerges into a stage of successful use and integration. Teachers need to have their self-concerns addressed before they are ready to attend workshops. Management concerns last at least a whole year especially if teachers are incorporating the change into a year’s worth of curriculum (Loucks-Horsley, 1996). Rogers"’ (1995) diffusion of innovation theory states that innovation is communicated over certain channels over time among the various members of a social system. This is a communication of messages concerned with new ideas. There are five elements of diffusion outlined by Rogers’: (a) relative advantage – is the innovation better than what it replaces?; (b) observability – are the results of the innovation visible to others?; (c) Compatibility – how consistent is the innovation with the values and needs of the potential adopters?; (d) complexity – is the innovation easy to use, understand and maintain?; (e) trialability – can it be tried out on a limited basis and then dropped if it is not useful? New innovations such as web portals that do not meet Rogers’ criteria are likely to fail. It is important for anyone hoping to integrate a new type of technology into the education system to have a certain awareness of Rogers’ diffusion of innovation theory as well and the CBAM model. The integration process should involve attention to these areas. Of all the warnings about the integration of any ICT development involving schools and in-service teachers, one thing remains clear:, change takes time and individuals adept change at varying paces. The Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) project which began over ten years ago still provides useful information on the five stages in-service teachers go through in integrating computers into their practice: entry, adoption, adaptation, appropriation, and finally invention. Change occurs more readily when in-service teachers and facultiesy can talk about change and reflect on their practice in a way that is personal and meaningful. It is important to let the students and teachers decide what is important to their professional growth, to take a more constructive approach to integration. (Apple, n.d.). It is evident from the literature however, that the faculty faculties have a very important leadership role if the conversation is going to occur and at regular intervals. Faculty must encourage students to provide feedback in the form of peer review to other students. Also, faculty must encourage students and in-service teachers to upload link examples of best practice to the portal as the literature reveals that adding to lesson banks is not as common a task as the discussion based areas of a portal. The mistake of outsourcing technology design and implementation should not be made as this disempowers the participants using the system. The designer is tempted to loose focus of the participants’ particular needs while focusing on the power of the technologies capabilities (Ankeny et al., 1999).

The existence of low-end computers is also a problem one needs to consider. Often the institution involved in hosting and developing the portal has modern equipment and the assumption cannot be made that student participants in the portal have the same (Chisholm, 2000). This can translate to frustrating attempts at communication and the viewing of web pages.

The lack of identified needs of users or an inappropriate needs assessment can also be a cause for lack of use. Faculty needs are key to the success of any distance education program (Parisot, 1997), and we translate this to all online systems ancillary to the educational aims. A thorough needs assessment clarifying the faculties needs and intended uses for such systems should be included in the development process. Communication will only be effective if participants want to interact and communicate and systems should be designed to maximise benefits to all users (Jorn et al., 1996).

A useful guide for implementing a learning technology project can be found in Seale and Rius-Riu (2001) who propose five steps:

"defining", where they stress the importance of "identifying the pedagogical underpinning of the project" before other considerations

"planning", with two phases: "analyse the feasibility" and "design the project"

"design and implementation", which include several steps: "manage the development of the project, test it with real users (preferably students), support participating students and evaluate the results"

"evaluation", with five possible dichotomies: "intrinsic/pay off; quantitative/qualitative; formative/summative; internal/external; diagnostic/justificatory"

"dissemination", where they stress the importance of the lessons that can be obtained from our successes as well as from our failures.

"Teaching, more than many other occupations, is practised in isolation, an isolation which, is at times, crushing in its separateness" (Maeroff, 1988, p 3). Professional development in teacher education is unlike other professions in that it usually takes place in highly organised situations (Loucks-Horsly, Hewson, Love and Stiles, 1998). Furthermore, teacher education programs rarely provide pre-service teachers with experiences outside of the local school practicum environment (Fusco, Gehlbach, and Schlager, 2000). The results from a study on TAPPED IN (Fusco et al., 2000) showed that the more teachers and pre-service teachers used an interactive virtual communication system (i.e. an "online community"), the less isolated they felt in their environment. We attempt to unfold in the literature, the power of online communities as facilitators for communication and interaction. What is an online community? Experts in the field continue to define the term "online community"ies using a variety of terms and fractionalising to various degrees. Brown and Duguid (2000) make a distinction between communities of practice and networks of practice. Communities of practice being are those which have a common goal or task and are likely to meet face to face;, networks of practice being are those groupings of people connected by a common interest, not necessary a common goal or project and unlikely to ever meet face to face. For our purposes we are going to accept the term definition which Beetham (2001) believes the most commonly accepted, " a network of individuals with a shared means of communication, sharing elements of common practice and knowledge". In this review the shared means of communication is the web portal. Whatever the definition may be, one aim is common in online communities,: tthe community should be developed with the participants needs and social and educational context in mind. Like traditional communities, online communities have a distinct culture and the portal should understand the needs of the culture it is to serve, just as the culture should understand the design and constraints of the portal. Foster et al. (2000) refer to the degree to which a system can evolve with the needs of its participants as "designed" or "emergent". A system which is designed with little to no opportunities for manipulation by its community is a "designed system". Such a system might be a searchable database with a highly organised set of documents available to the professionals in the community. Pre-designed templates that can only be modified by the original author control interactions. A highly flexible system Anor "emergent system" is a highly flexible system that matures as participants interact and exchange ideas.

Foster et al. (2000) also suggests the portal be responsive to the participation levels of participants and incorporate the appropriate tools for communication and knowledge to be shared. If participants require a highly flexible portal for communication and knowledge manipulation then Foster et al. offer three design effects to consider: engagement, imagination, and alignment. Engagement refers to the opportunities available for interaction such as mentoring and knowledge exchange, templates and tools as well as terminology. Imagination refers to the ability to use the system to meet individual needs. This would include archiving personal objects of inters, facilities for research, exploration and sharing. Alignment refers to the systems attention to the participants localised responsibilities to the institutions in which they reside.

Regarding the term alignment, the idea of online communities serving the needs of a global network is often misunderstood to mean that the participants in the community are using the materials to meet the ends of the online community itself. This is often a grave mistake in the understanding of an online community and its responsibilities to the participants end needs. Lave and Wenger (1991) see all activity in the global community as eventually becoming operationalised at the local level. Unlike participants in a localised and face to face community, online communities are made up of individuals involved in a local institution and who will most likely use the online community to meet responsibilities at the local level.

Smith and Kollock (1999) highlight four steps in the development of online communities. The first step, construction of identity, refers to the level at which participants are able to identify themselves to others. Social order concerns the rules of interaction, such as citation, peer review and content suitability. Community structure or dynamic refers to the hierarchy within the online community as well as the communities’ junction with other organisations. The community’s attention to the local needs of its constituents would help define its structure.

Collective actions refer to the extent that portals allow the development of collaborative and interactive projects and artefacts. The degree of collective action is dependent on the design functions of the portal. Smith and Kollock warn that too much collective action can lead to a disbursement of false information and a lack of knowledgeable critique.

Once the portal is designed, the issue arises as to who should be involved, what are their responsibilities, and how do you draw them in. Smith and Kollock (2000) believe portals should make communication and co-ordination of high value and low cost to participants. Portals should have a clear purpose, develop metaphors of place, provide strong member profiles, acknowledge member differences, provide leadership, have real time events, have a community rituals and allow customisation through the growth of subgroups within the system (Kim, 2000). Ties can also be strengthened when participants have shared goals and interests, engage in repeated and intense interactions, share resources and have control over policies regarding access to the resources, and have a shared context of social conventions and language (Whittaker, Issacs & O’Day, 1997). Research also shows that face to face communication is of highly valued medium regardless of all that is offered by an electronic system (Beetham, 2001).

Foster et al. (2000) list a number of elements that should be considered pre-requisites for any online professional development system designed to foster communication. Online systems should have facilities for asynchronous discussion, shared information resources, software tools, and investment of time and resource from all involved. Organisational devices should also be a part of any professional development system. Some of these include collaborative templates, projects developed through the use of document sharing, an archive system for drafts, participation by guest experts in various areas of interest to the participants, interaction opportunities via various means form from multimedia to asynchronous chat, and mentoring services or apprenticeship opportunities. Of course, the system can not take full responsibility for use by potential participants. Participants must have the time and resources that enable them to benefit from the system. A system can only ensure that the resources are best suited for a pre-identified audience.

Specific attempts at developing online communities provide the best resources for the development of new communities of learning. The work from a Comenius 3.2 project offers some helpful advice. Teachers should be committed to the project and technical issues should be kept to a minimum. Teachers or tutors should be skilled in the use of ICT and offer guidance and direction to students. Teachers and tutors should stay involved in the communication process and have clear and explicit goals and expectations for communications. There have been suggestions by students for a set routing and time for communication and easy access to PC’s. Once they are logged on, students expect a reliable connection to the network or site. Previous attempts to get teachers involved in the use of ICT to communicate with students shows an initial interest in Internet communication at first and then a lack of momentum possibly linked to department leadership (Creanor, 2000). Faculty and tutors feel a lack of time to implement what they learn. It is also important for faculty to model the use of ICT if they expect it to have a positive and long-term effect on their students (Smith, 2001).

In research on a web based information Babble systems Babble, researchers found that just as desirable as gaining information from a system was the use of the system as a means of locating people with similar interests. Through the use of web portals, they cannot only access knowledge, but the source of that knowledge as well and therefore, building a web of mutual knowledge. Researchers found that people were using the system to find people to exchange or gain unpublished information such as judgements and opinions. This research also found that users enjoyed having multiple forms of communication available for discussion, that they value both formal opportunities for information exchange such as meeting facilities and informal information exchange. (Erickson & Kellogg, n.d.).

Another example of an online learning community is the LSTN Engineering site. LSTN has developed a highly personal environment (if not a little busy) conducive to engagement and learning. The organisational design of the portal’s information is casual and user friendly with proactive names like "talking point", "hot topics" and "get involved". The design focuses on the time sensitive worker with a drop down menu allowing quick access to information. And for the participant with a little more time on their hands, there is the common room, filled with engineering jokes and fun. The designer has either thought deeply about the needs of the end participants of LSTN, or allowed the system to evolve to meet their needs. There is strong emphasis on currency, signified by a news ticker. The designer has also made great attempts to create an intimate environment of scholarly practice in the area of engineering. The LSTN Engineering site can be visited at http://www.ltsneng.ac.uk/.

RESULTS is an online learning community for United Kingdom Higher Education individuals interested in learning technologies. RESULTS offers participants several venues for communication including a calendar of events, workshops, a directory of expertise, discussion forum and news service. Of these communication services most valued were news updates on new technologies with ideas for use in the learning and teaching environment. Participants contributed more to discussion forums than to a resource bank, which is also a function of the portal. Very little contributions were found in the calendar of events and news service. High rates of contribution were seen in the workshops, forums, and directory of expertise (Beetham, 2001).

The ability of ICT to save and catalogue information is a powerful incentive for using ICT as an educational tool, especially regarding the storage of lesson plans and activities for learning. These systems are commonly referred to as "online lesson banks" and the two terms "database" and "online lesson banks" will be used synonymously throughout our review. An online lesson bank can be defined as a system of artefacts organised in some way with the intent to further the aims of an online community. For the purposes of our literature review, we will limit the review to those online lesson banks that promote the aims of an online community of learners. We are interested in how artefacts can contribute to the migration of knowledge in the global and local communities in which the participants exist and interact. The first and perhaps most obvious reason for exploring lesson banks is the possibility they provide for sharing information across time and space so that teachers do not have to keep reinventing the wheel. The simplicity and speed at which data can now be collected, shared, and analysed holds great promise for the integration of ICT into education. Many pre-service teacher education programs are focusing on students development of concrete products which can be used in the classroom (Snoek et al., 2000). More and more often, these products are technology related and can be stored digitally. In this way pre-service teachers can help add to the body of knowledge (McNeil and Robin, 2000). Horn (2001) points out the wastefulness of constantly revisiting the same problems when a cure is already in existence. However, he points out that the an endless database with every wheel ever invented just a click away would be useless because of the changing rate of markets. Horn suggests lesson banks be designed more to connect people with people rather than people with artefacts. Along with the suggestion of a more personal approach, Horn suggests a lesson bank (he calls it a database) of the most up to date materials only. Web based databases provide students and faculty with innovative solutions to teaching while at the same time promoting collaboration and inquiry. There is increased interaction between people and resources, empowering the user within the environment. TooAlso, because the content is not instructor driven, there is ownership of the material by students creating a more motivating and stimulating environment. The faculty member is provided with a growing body of knowledge without the added effort of development (McNeil and Robin, 2000).

At the global level, portals should meet the needs of professional development and not compromise local practice. This means not attempting to replace human experts with a database general knowledge modelling database (McKinlay, 2000). A wise development route for a lesson bank would be one considerate of the participant’s needs and which allows participants to articulate needs as they use the system. It might be of interest to develop a system that caters to the needs of participants similar to common marketing approaches of many businesses. Tell the system what you need it to provide and it will develop resources to meet your needs.

Databases that are of most use to participants offer a high volume of resources on a wide range of issues. Resources should be of high quality and should incorporate suggestion of use and practice. The search facilities should be easy and sophisticated with options allowing cross-referencing of material with other resources. Finally, resources should be free, and easy to adapt. However, the cost and expense of cataloguing and organising these resources can overwhelm any modestly budgeted development (Beetham, 2001).

Findings from the RESULTS user study offer some insight into the use of a resource database comprised of 13 categories of resource types from articles, reviews and case studies to lesson templates and generic software tools. All resources, both textual and tool resources, were most likely to be used for their information rather than for adoption into an actual environment. The resources most often adopted into actual practice were software resources such as learning tools, activity shells and learning objects. Learning shells/activities showed a low rate of adoption in relation to learning tools and objects. Lesson plans were usually adapted for other purposes and rarely used in the same form in which they were accessed, offering insight into participants needs to understand more deeply the methodology and educational value behind a lesson. Participants expressed the desire to recreate the process for themselves, at least partially. Resources that were easily adaptable were of great help to the participants. Findings from RESULTS also suggest more customised resource functions with the built in ability to update participants with information that falls in their area of interest. The study also suggests that the functions of the lesson bank not be driven by the participants logging via standard templates due to time constraints and issues of standardisation. Instead, various templates could be offered as examples, but not required for submission, aided by a restricted vocabulary of key words. Participants in the RESULTS study also supported the use of data mining or intelligent searches, "People who used this resource, also used…." (Beetham, 2001).

The University of Bristol’s Institute for learning and technology has developed a highly useful gateway for the location of scholarly materials for students in the area of social science, SOSIG. Although primarily a service portal for locating resources, SOSIG provides access to information about other network participants, a function which offers possibilities for more personalised communication surrounding common interests. However, of interest to us are the highly searchable database functions. Participants can locate data through key word s as well as categorical searches. The technologies used in SOSIG automatically browse the Internet for new resources and codes by keywords into the searchable database. Although contribute by individuals is accepted, the rules on this are strictly enforced. SOSIG also sends out an online newsletter, and hosts face to face academic events throughout the year. Another object of intrigue evident in SOSIG is its ability to evolve with the needs of its community as well as connect with other communities with overlapping interests.

Some limitations to web based lesson banks or databases are mainly found in the development and management as they are time consuming and take a high degree of technical know how. TooAlso, including a web-based lesson bank within a course takes more time and commitment than a traditional course and students will require interaction on the use of such tools (McNeil and Robin, 2000).

"The desire to enter into a learning situation" is the most fundamental element to learner motivation (Gagne and Driscoll, 1999). The cognitive and affective domains are intertwined. The emotions of the affective domain drive the cognitive developments. This idea is present in Krathwohl, Bloom and Masia’s (1964) taxonomy of educational objectives for the cognitive domain. In order for cognition to develop, the learner must be motivated by relevant and interesting material. This fits well with Keller’s (1979) ARCS model in which four basic elements must be addresses for motivation to occur. These elements are Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction. This model makes theory about motivation, applicable to educational change adoption.

Attitude and motivation are major factors in change adoption especially in regard to learning technologies. Often the adoption of new technologies requires major changes in existing practice that may conflict with tradition. Otala (1995) suggests that a positive stance toward change can be a catalyst to technology adoption. Instead of taking a linear approach to the integration such as benchmarks, metaphorical accounts of success have proven popular tools for adoption. One reason for the lack of success in web portals used for ICT developments might be found in data provided by Viens and Legare (2000) on the relationship between ICT use and attitude. Viens and Legare found that many pre-service teachers were concerned that teachers could not be replaced by technology and that the teacher element is critical in the development of students. They had concerns about the exclusion of emotional support and empathy form from ICT based lessons (Viens and Legare 2000).

Attitude greatly affects motivation. If faculty have a positive attitude toward computers it is more likely to be introduced into the curriculum. The importance that department administrators place on the integration of ICT will also contribute to teachers use (Wang, 2000). The finding from RESULTS showed reactions to the portal high when the resources were of high quality, relevant and easy to find. Opportunities for collaboration and professional development and support also increased the likelihood of the system being incorporated into daily practice. Other areas that might increase motivation were personal satisfaction and recognition (Beetham, 2001). Generally, the pressure is on local administration for building in motivation towards ICT integration and the use of systems that support it, such as web portals and other areas of discussion.

The most important aspect of a successful web portal designed to develop an online learning community is that it functions and that the users understand the functions. In the initial stages of a participants contact they should be able to manipulate and navigate the portal before they are expected to move on to higher level tasks such as critical reflection and research. It will be difficult to integrate ICTs if teachers do not accommodate the different skill levels of students, and have patience with those students who have less developed skills. However, this issue will wane as incoming students show a greater basic skill level and positive attitudes towards technology due to the increased access to technology at schools and homes (Simpson, 1998). There should be a greater focus on teaching students to use ICTs as pedagogical tools, and less focus on the tool because technology tools are changing so fast we need students to understand concepts and not the tool.

Web portals designed as learning communities have the unique ability to offer themselves as places where pre-service teachers, professionals, and in-service teachers can meet regardless of time or space (or status!) restrictions. By incorporating functions that allow synchronous and asynchronous conversation to occur and the uploading and manipulation of lessons, the web portal becomes a virtual community of creation, discussion, reflection, and realisation. Within the portal students, faculty, and teachers, can work on real world educational issues with in-service teachers and through peer review that can individualise lesson plans into tools for actual classrooms. They are learning with technology and not about technology. The portal is a tool for action learning. Action learning is defined as, "a continuous process of learning and reflection, supported by colleagues, with an intention of getting things done. Through action learning individuals learn with and from each other by working on real problems and reflecting on their experiences" (Beaty and McGill, 1995). Regarding the development of ICT student developed projects Simpson (1998) suggests basing ICTs in a real world context, relevant to future work requirements. Products should be used and tested in work situations. The portal provides ample opportunity to get real-world feedback on the appropriateness of developments, as portals provide opportunities for in-service teacher trial and feedback.

Learning contexts should facilitate the generation of discussion relevant to the teaching profession, and support problem solving and reasoning skills, which can be transferred to other situations. Learning environments should motivate students to become involved in self-directed learning (Jonassen, 1996). It is also suggested that the creation of local face to face meetings should be created to compliment the virtual communities (Veen, Lam, Lockhurst, & Thoolen, et al., 1998).

Von Glasersfeld (1989) believes other people are the greatest source for alternative views. It is through the views of others that people begin to challenge their own ideas and philosophies enabling them to accept new methods for teaching and learning. International attempts to develop portals of learning and practice must be relevant not only to faculty and student objectives, but language as well (Veen, 1998). At the Society for Information Technology in Teacher Education (SITE) Nikki Davis listed three reasons for making the integration of technology into education an international responsibility, (a) the context of education is becoming more global, (b) the internet and other ICTs have increased access to education on a global level, and (c) teacher education can be enhanced by an international approach through increased reflection and the provision of stimulating contexts. Davis elaborated on these issues by stating that the globalisation of teacher education should be a response to industries need for leadership, innovation, and customer service provided by a new type of global savvy worker. In the first part of this review we pointed to the need for workers to be information and knowledge workers, now we add that they must also be global thinkers. Again, this job falls into the hands of our teachers. We need teachers who understand how to create environments that make it possible for students to think globally.

If an ICT based initiative is going to succeed, the access to reliable computers is a must (Wang, 2000). Whether computer equipment can accurately support the development should be part of the formative evaluation. The equipment should not be outdated. The assessment of storage space must also be a part of the formative evaluation in order to supply an accurate account of student and faculty achievements.

A system should support not just resource sharing in the form of lesson banks, but one that supports high levels of communication as well and multiple opportunities for knowledge exchange. Users are most likely time pressured individuals who require easy to use tools for finding information and communicating with people. (Beetham, 2001). Therefore, a system should be highly sensitive to the individual needs of its community, with a deep understanding of why the participants are there. If participants are there to develop documents then templates and editing functions should be highly accessible.

Carlson (2000) suggests testing email functionality at the start of a program that will require communication via email. Require participants to turn in a short assignment using their email system. We assume this is true of all functions within a system. Not only does this test the system, but the technical abilities of students, and timely tutoring can be provided.

Data mining could be a possible way to use individual participant’s patterns to customise the database updates they receive. Let’s assume that a participating teacher often looks at science web sites. If the web portal is operationalised to capture this information, it could then match meta-tagged science resources to this teacher and send her an email with a direct link. A less intrusive option might be to include the user codes mentioned in the evaluation outline in the metatag system of the database.

It’s time to see how the analysis of the current literature restates or weakens our assumptions; and which advices can be found there on how to design a portal-based VLE.

In what refers to assumptions 1 and 2, mainly that most teachers still need to secure ICT skills and that ICT possibilities are underestimated, we see that Comenius (3.2.?) has to state such an obvious condition that teachers should "be skilled in the use of ICT". For a similiar reason, when establishing the stages teachers go through to become "inventive", ACOT points out not less than four stages: "entry, adoption, adaptation, appropiation".

About ICT teaching, some authors insist on focusing more in the use of ICT as pedagogical tools than in teaching the tools: a good slogan can be "learn with technology and not about technology" (Simpson, 1998).

We did not specifie in our assumptions the importance of hardware, but we still find a number of comments that proof that teachers uneasiness with ICT comes, mostly, from the need to satisfy some elementary starting points. That is why Wang (2000) still stresses how Department administrators must place importance on the integration of ICT and give access to reliable computers. and students still ask, in 2001 (see Creanor, 2001) for a set routing, time for communications, easy access to PCs, reliable connections, etc.

Assumption 3 stated that ICT provide an excellent base for the realisation of constructivists principles, like shared experiences and collaborative activities. Now, authors that have studied VLEs design insist on the importance of consider effects like engagement, imagination and alignement (Foster et al., 2000). Teachers and tutors should be committed to the project and involved in the communication process (Comenius 3.2.) (?); this is an important point stressed by other authors: in-service teachers have to show a positive stance towards change (Otala, 1995), while pre-service teachers help can add to the body of knowledge (McNeil and Robin, 2000), and students development of concrete product must be used in classrooms (Snoek et al., 2000). Smith and Kollock (1999) have studied the development of online communities and have found four main steps: construction of identity, rules of interaction, community structure and collective actions. So, when designing a VLEs, it’s important to build a shared context of social conventions and language (Whittaker, Issacs and O’Day, 1997); in this sense, some studies stress the importance of combining VLEs with local f2f meetings and f2f communication (Veen et al., 1998; Beetham, 2001). Horn (2001) asks for lesson banks designed to connect people with people.

In assumption 4, we made some hints on how portal software design should enhance collaborative learning, problem solving and demand for information. A number of authors have given advices on design. Some very general: Jonassen (1996) asks for learning environments designed to motivate students; Beetham (2001) indicates that databases of most use offer resources with high volume, high quality, easy search facilities and are free and easy to adapt; Rogers (1995) indicates five elements of diffusion that should be taken into account: relative advantage, observability, compatibility, complexity and trialability. Some authors are more specific: Kim (2000) indicates that portals should have a clear purpose, develop metaphors of place, provide strong member profiles, acknowledge member differences, provide leadership, have real time events, have a community ritual and allow customisation. LSTN offers a casual and user friendly site with proactive names, focuses on the time sensitive worker, offers a common room with engineering jokes and gives strong emphasis on currency. Bentham (2001) analyses the RESULTS project and his conclusions can be summarized like this:

Foster et al., (2000) stablishes two pre-requisites for an online development system: facilities for asynchronous discussion and some organisational devices like: Templates, Projects developed, Archive system for drafts, Guest experts, Interaction opportunities and Mentoring services

So what has this literature review brought to light in our attempts to develop an Internet portal for teaching and learning how to integrate ICT in education? Mainly, people take time to change. Before any changes occur, attitudes and beliefs must be changed so both students, faculty and practicing teachers understand and accept the value of ICT in the creation of knowledge workers. The work towards this goal should be constructive, active and a triangle of communication between the university faculty, practicing teachers and pre-service teachers supported by administration at all levels. The portal should support active context based learning between all participants. The communication of ideas externalizes thinking and encourages reflection on metacognitive skills (thinking about thinking).

The portal should be used, not only as a means for communication, but a functioning, accessible, and organized lesson bank linking people with similar interests together regardless of national boundaries or status. These lesson banks should serve as permanent storage spaces which can be tapped once pre-service teachers enter the field.

The communication functions should offer a variety of opportunities to meet in both formal and informal environments. Faculty members using the portal should be skilled in appropriate technology skills as well as communication appropriate to the Internet and social learning theory.

Not only is it important to develop a portal which considers the efforts and failures of previous experiences, but to share the formative and summative evaluation of experiences as they develop. ICT developments show great promise and it is thru small steps such as these that we can create education systems that meet the needs of an information society and that create cultural awareness among nations. ICT needs to be included in teacher education programs to solve current problems in the environments in which the problems exist. The implementation process should be consistent with the CBAM and Rogers’ diffusion of integration theory.

So what has this literature review brought to light in our attempts to develop an Internet portal for teaching and learning how to integrate ICT in education? Mainly, people take time to change. Before any changes occur, attitudes and beliefs must be changed so both students, faculty and practising teachers understand and accept the value of ICT in the creation of knowledge workers. The work towards this goal should be constructive, active and a triangle of communication between the university faculty, practising teachers and pre-service teachers supported by administration at all levels. The portal should support active context based learning between all participants. The communication of ideas externalises thinking and encourages reflection on metacognitive skills (thinking about thinking).

The portal should be used, not only as a means for communication, but a functioning, accessible, and organised lesson bank linking people with similar interests together regardless of national boundaries or status. These lesson banks should serve as permanent storage spaces, which can be tapped once pre-service teachers enter the field.

The communication functions should offer a variety of opportunities to meet in both formal and informal environments. Faculty members using the portal should be skilled in appropriate technology skills as well as communication appropriate to the Internet and social learning theory.

Not only is it important to develop a portal which considers the efforts and failures of previous experiences, but to share the formative and summative evaluation of experiences as they develop. ICT developments show great promise and it is through small steps such as these that we can create education systems that meet the needs of an information society and that create cultural awareness among nations. ICT needs to be included in teacher education programs to solve current problems in the environments in which the problems exist. The implementation process should be consistent with the CBAM and Rogers’ diffusion of integration theory.

When designing PRONETT, the features recommended by the above displayed literature have been taken into account. As for the attitudes, we cannot, of course, enter into the attitudes of the Administration, neither we can guarantee an "easy access to PCs" and other mere budget aspects but by presenting this project to a EU program, and by having it accepted, we think that we both, administrators and administrates, have perceived the importance of ICTs. Needless to say, by focusing on the triangle faculties and pre-service and in-service teachers we adapt the main ideas above exposed, but, in fact of attitudes, we, as responsible, only act from one side: Faculty members. This will change, of course, when the implementation strategies give its first results, but it seems clear until now that the "Faculty’s role of leadership" has acted as intended.

As for the design, some ideas have been specially rewarding. The "engagement" (Foster et al. 2000) of users and their need to find tools that are "compatible" with their real work (Rogers, 1995) and that allow customisation (Kim, 2000; Beetham, 2001), on the one hand; on the other, the need to offer a tool easy to use, understand and maintain ("complexity" in Rogers’ terms (1995)), by using devices such as the "metaphors of place" (Kim, 2000). No small problems have been the need to reject jargon an present "casual and user friendly [instruments] with proactive names" (LSTN), and find easy search facilities (Beetham, 2001).

As for the contents, the idea of encouraging a "learning community" is central in our project and concepts like "action learning" (Beaty and McGill, 1995) help us to define it. That is why, when thinking in creating "lesson banks", we must make sure that they are just a lever to allow authors to communicate with users (Horn, 2001), which in turn will also be authors. As Beetham (2001) puts it, lessons (be it power point documents, spreadsheets, or whatever) are rarely used in the form in which they are found.

We have taken into account some of the RESULTS conclusions (Beetham, 2001), specially in what should not (either because its useless or seldom used or confusing) be founded there: news service, calendar of events … Also, we have concentrated more on asynchronous discussion (Foster et al. 2000) and discarded devices that can be founded elsewhere, like chat facilities.