Brendan Tangney
Centre for Research in IT in Education
Trinity College Dublin
tangney@tcd.ie
p-1

“……for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness
in the learner…., because they will not use their
memories; they will trust to it and not remember of
themselves. The specific which you have discovered is
an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you
give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of
truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have
learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and
will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome
company, having the show of wisdom without the
reality.”
p-2

Plato on Writing
“……for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness
in the learners' souls, because they will not use their
memories; they will trust to the external written
characters and not remember of themselves. The
specific which you have discovered is an aid not to
memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your
disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth;
they will be hearers of many things and will have
learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and
will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome
company, having the show of wisdom without the
reality.”
Plato – The Phaedrus 360BC (Jowett Translation)
p-3

Gartner’s (1995) Hype Cycle
p-4

 The availability of new VLE systems for schools in
Ireland will allow staff shortages to be offset by
teachers who can get a lot more done in less time.
[Software for Schools website]
 Taking full advantage of the benefits of ICT in teaching
and learning will encourage and enable all students to
become self-assured and self-directed learners.
[Smart Schools = Smart Economy]
p-5

IT 2000 - A Policy Framework
for the New Millennium (1997)
Blueprint 2001-2003
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National Council for Curriculum and
Assessment (NCCA)
A Structured Approach
to ICT in Curriculum and Assessment (2007)
p-12

p-13

Take away points
1. Above all we have to ask ourselves in a deep,
meaningful and challenging way – What is our vision or
understanding of the purpose of education? Is it merely
to train workers with the (currently) desired skills for the
smart economy or are we serious about fostering the
other dimensions of what it means to be human such as
ethical, happy, creative, emotionally intelligent,
spiritual........?
2. We should apply the much praised practice of critical
thinking to the too often naive technological (or
economical) determinist thinking which still pervades
much of the discourse on (ICT and) Learning.
3. ICT in the classroom needs sustained commitment but
as part of a which wider reform of schooling and
assessment.
4. Content helps but is not king. The truly significant
contribution ICT can make is to help facilitate deeply
engaging learning activities – what Papert called “hard
fun” and Plato called a “living discourse”.
5. Opportunity for IRL.INC is to create truly 21C learning
schools and the tools which they need.
p-14