There are now a rich variety of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools which can potentially be used in innovative ways to support learning, providing the opportunity for students to take control of and personalise their learning. Coupled with this there has been a fundamental shift in the nature of society; the world in which we live is dramatically different from that of our grandparents. As a result the nature and purpose of education has changed; in part in response to the changing nature of society and in part given the changing perspective on what education in a modern context is for.

The presentation will argue that there are three main shifts occurring in education which need to be taken into account; a shift from a focus on information to communication, a shift from a passive to more interactive engagement and a shift from a focus on individual learners to more socially situative learning. It will consider how new technologies can support these shifts. We are entering a new phase in the development of technologies, instantiated in what is being referred to as Internet 2.0. This change reflects the shift away from information and content towards the communicative affordances of technologies. Technologies are now beginning to be used in a rich range of ways to support learning; we are seeing the emergence of technology-enabled spaces and adaptive technologies which offer new and exciting opportunities in terms of contextual, ambient, augmented, distributed and social networked learning. Whilst much of the early focus of activity in internet developments was on content (and ways of creating, storing, retrieving and managing information) more recently interest has shifted towards the social potential of technologies. This is reflected in the emergence of wikis, blogs and podcasting and other forms of social software.

Learners are also changing; they enter education with very difference expectations from students in the past. They have grown up in a networked society, where the use of technologies is pervasive across all aspects of their lives. They are no longer passive recipients of knowledge, but active demanding 'customers' who expect and want an education tailored to their individual needs. Technology is not seen as an 'add on' luxury but a central tool for supporting all aspects of their study. These changes are very evident in the emergent findings from a current study of students' perceptions and use of technologies in the UK which consists of an online survey and a series of case studies. As one Chinese student quotes 'I think that technology is becoming more and more important for my studies', she goes on to demonstrate how the internet is her first point of reference for information to support her studies and highlights the benefits of technologies as a means of communicating with her tutors and peers. She demonstrated a sophisticated and varied use of technologies to support all aspects of her studies. Technology for her is an integral part of her tool set.

The paper will explore the nature of modern education and consider the complex factors which influence it. It will consider how new technologies can be harnessed by learners and used in new and innovative ways to support their learning, and to contextualise and personalise it.