In many societies, artificial memory systems are essential resources for preserving information and developing knowledge. Such systems imply that information is documented outside the human body by means of graphic signs on material artifacts (texts, images). The concept of hybrid minds points to the manner in which human cognitive and communicative activities are dependent on, and integrated with, increasingly complex and powerful symbolic and material cultural tools. Users of such resources need to develop specific epistemic practices and literacy skills that are coordinated with the affordances of their tools. In the present article, some of the ways in which cultural tools and people’s literacy skills have co-developed are discussed. It is argued that current external memory systems add powerful processing capacities and analytical functions to previous technologies. This implies that notions of learning and literacy skills are undergoing change as people adapt to, and reconfigure, the functionalities of recent digital tools.

Learning from digital resources requires different competences compared to learning from textbooks. Such competences cannot be fostered without support; social and material. However, assessment of such practices is not well accounted for. We analyse data from a four year intervention study where teachers and researchers collaborated in developing a wiki to afford relevant tasks and assessment of students’ activities. Our findings show that material tools may afford and make visible ideas for future assessment practices, but that such practices have not materialized beyond ‘what might be’.

Little is known about how subjective and objective learning outcomes in plenary lectures are related in the Quality Framework of Higher Education and how they are influenced by formative e-assessment. Given the increasing focus on digitalisation and formative assessment in higher education and the increasing diversity among university students, questions relating to these topics should also be explored within plenary lectures. These lectures constitute the most formal, defined and “bounded” educational practice at universities and it is important to study the question of whether the relationship between student diversity, pedagogy and technology can re-define some of the pedagogical underpinnings that are historically associated with lecturer-centred pedagogy. This paper aims to identify: (1) factors that influence the relationship between intended and subjective learning outcomes in plenary lectures; and (2) how formative e-assessment may improve moments of contingency by increasing the consistency between intended and subjective learning outcomes. The results of this study show that audience response systems (ARS) can enhance formative e-assessment in plenary lectures and reduce the discrepancy between the intended learning outcome and the subjective learning outcome in such lectures with several hundred students. The implications of the current paper are twofold: first, a better understanding of similarities and dissimilarities in students’ learning processes in plenary lectures and how these processes may be affected by formative e-assessment has implications for the planning and implementation of teaching and learning in higher education. Second, this has implications for how we can reduce the discrepancy between the intended, subjective and objective learning outcomes in plenary lectures.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relations between teachers’ experiences with ICT-supportive school leaders, perceived usefulness of computers, perceived learning outcomes for students and teachers' use of computers in their teaching. A total of 386 teachers from a nationwide sample of primary and lower secondary schools participated in the study. The correlation analysis revealed that teachers with higher levels of ICT-supportive leaders reported higher levels of perceived usefulness of computers, perceived learning outcomes for students and more frequent use of computers compared with teachers reporting lower levels of ICT-supportive leaders. Regression analysis indicated that two factors, ICT-supportive school leaders and perceived learning outcomes for students using computers, explained 25 percent of the variation in perceived usefulness of computers. Finally, these two factors, ICT-supportive school leaders and perceived learning outcomes for students using computers, explained 5 percent of the variation in how frequently teachers were using computers for reading and writing. The results indicated a need for further studies in order to examine factors that predict teachers’ use of computers in their teaching.

Monitor 2011 is the fifth quantitative survey in a series of studies on the use of digital tools in schools, teachers’, and learners' digital competence, as well as the digital priorities of school principals. The quantitative surveys have been conducted every other year since 2003 in order to provide information on the digital condition in schools. The respondents are school principals, teachers, seventh and ninth grade learners, and upper secondary school learners (second year).