"Make no mistake. New technology is coming fast and it is improving even faster. Its effects are inescapable. We need to ensure pupils and teachers know how it works and, equally important, how it can be best used. We need to know how new technology can best be integrated into normal classroom practice and we need to monitor the beneficial changes it has so that we can spread good practice throughout our schools. In this way we can begin to shape the classroom of tomorrow.

We need to take steps to ensure that all pupils in all schools have access to the new technology. We must begin to evaluate the impact of the new technology on pupils and teachers. Two important Scottish projects in this area are currently being evaluated as part of the UK Superhighways initiative. These two projects are Modern Communications for Teaching and Learning in Argyll and Bute and Superhighways for Able Children. The lessons to be learned from these projects are eagerly awaited.

The contribution of computers is now about to be increased many fold by the emergence of multimedia computers and by developments in networking. In the wired world pupils and teachers will be able to work and communicate across vast distances and to search for and retrieve valuable teaching and learning resources. A very exciting prospect indeed."