International Journal of Education and Development using ICT

International Journal of Education and Development using ICT > Vol. 4, No. 4 (2008)

ICT literacies and the curricular conundrum of calling all complex digital technologies “Tools”

Jenny Arntzen, University of British Columbia
Don H Krug, University of British Columbia
Zhengyan Wen, University of British Columbia

Abstract
ICT is widely acknowledged internationally as an emerging and increasingly important area of K-16 education. A curricular conundrum centers on whether calling ICT a tool better enables educators to infuse ICT within their curriculum. We reviewed literature on ICT and technological tools in education from 1995 to 2008 finding an increasing number of articles that substituted tool(s) for more specific terminology. We argue given the need to understand digital technologies within constantly changing social and cultural contexts of local and global societies, it is unfortunate that digital hardware, software, and infrastructure have been reduced to being called a tool.

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