Report highlights ed-tech lessons from abroad

Scotland and the Netherlands both invest significantly more federal money per student in information and communications technologies (ICT) than the United States, and they both view ICT as essential to classroom teaching and learning and in developing 21st-century skills, a delegation of education technology advocates discovered during a recent visit to the two countries.

The results of that visit, led by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), appear in a report issued May 12, called "Real Investment, Real Innovation." "Scotland and the Netherlands approach ICT in the classroom as an absolute necessity—not as a luxury—for improving learning and teaching, as well as developing workforce skills," the report noted. "We found this attitude inspirational, particularly in view of the continuing debate in the U.S. about the unproven and uncertain value of technology."