Education, Curricula and Technology

Introduction The field of ICT in education generally and in curricula in particular, while being intensively studied, is still in a state of confusion. The results of research so far suggest that ICT in principle either is a marginal, although expensive, addition to education or its effects are still not well understood. Given the cost of ICT in education and the high expectations associated with it, this situation needs to be addressed by more educational research. Overall Research Questions: 1) Based on the principles of interactivity and differentiality, how can ICT in its various forms and in different subject matter areas be made to contribute to the design of effective learning environments? 2) Based on the principle of activity activation, what kinds of unique learning activities can ICT be made to activate or bypass? 3) What are some major individual differences with which ICT usages interact such that a deeper conceptual understanding of ICT's roles in learning can be reached? 4) What are s ome unique learning goals that the use of ICT in different subject matter areas can attain? With whom? Under what conditions? Examples of Specific Studies a)Identifying "best practices" of ICT usage b)Digital Arenas in Music Education (DAME); Framing ar tistic and educational learning and practice? c)ICT in the service of intercultural understanding d)ICT in the world of textual communication: Developing novel competence Methodology a)Qualitative methodologies b)Formative and design-based research c)C urriculum analysis and development