Introducing information and communication technologies into schools: the blurring of boundaries

This article considers the impact of Superhighways technology on schools in the UK, in terms of the debate concerning the development of the condition s of postmodernity. In particular, it charts how the collapse of boundaries associated with postmodernism may have affected traditional divisions with in schooling, following the introduction of broadband connectivity and Inte rnet capability to schools and colleges. The authors review the broad appro aches taken to the introduction of new technologies, such as the Utopian an d Dystopian, transformative and incrementalist. By drawing upon the finding s of the Education Departments' Superhighways Initiative, the authors explo re the effects of new information and communication technologies on a numbe r of traditional boundaries, including those between curriculum subjects, b etween pupils and teachers, and, more generally, traditional conceptions of space and time. The article concludes that, although initial indications s uggest that the impact of Superhighways capability may be a transformative one, the effect on boundaries is mixed. While some boundaries such as those of space and time seem to be dissolving, others such as the division betwe en academic subjects are much more resistant.