World Yearbook of Education 2004: Digital Technologies, Communities and Education

A real revolution is taking place in the way in which we conceptualise and practise education and learning. This book sets out to explore the immense impact which digital technology is having on education around the world and the ways in which it is used by a wide range of individuals and communities. Contributors analyse changes in technology such as e-mail, the Internet, digital video and other media, but also the effect of this new technology on the way people live and learn around the world. Cultural changes taking place range from the blurring of boundaries between formal and informal learning to the development of new 'virtual communities' which revolve around particular social or cultural interests, and which serve as a crucial tool and source of identity for spatially displaced communities such as refugees. Digital technology is changing the way we all live, and this book is an authoritative study of these changes in all their diversity.