- Preface
- I. A new era
- • Globalization, the first sign of change
- • English - the new planetary language
- • A change in the scale of education
- II. Education and its context
- • Education and business
- • Education and the state
- III. The digital habit
- • The new digital culture
- • Digital projects
- • Time for assimilation
- IV. The extended school
- • Education at a critical moment
- • A definition of the extended school
- • Yesterday: concentrated knowledge
- • Today: knowledge disseminated
- • Tomorrow: knowledge connected
- V. New tools and old
- • Chalk and blackboard
- • The spinning globe
- • Microscopic life
- • Desk and work
- • The computer garden
- • Slides and liquid Crystal
- • Projectors and projections
- • Dry and digital copies
- VI. Digital transition
- • Continuing education
- • Cultural exchange
- • The mental switch
- • Critical thought
- • Internal communication
- • Educational frontier posts
- • Technological updating
- • Creativity and deregulation
- VII. Means and ends
- • Values for today and for always
- • Technocentrality and consumerism
- • Software in the public domain
- VIII. The digital library
- • Atoms versus bits
- • The dual book
- • Digital quality
- • Reading and writing
- • Text and hypertext
- • Consult and navigate
- IX. The home computer
- • A new piece of furniture or a new instrument?
- • Playthings and electronic toys
- • Robots for assembly
- • The silent printer
- • The community network
- X. New instruments of thought
- • Word processors, a new way of writing
- • A friendly mouse
- • More portable learning
- • Designing with computers
- • The golden link in communications: the modem
- • Electronic mail always arrives at its destination
- • Fax, a threatened species
- • WWW: three magic letters
- • Reliable and accessible data bases
- • Tables, abacus and spreadsheet
- • The Scanner, a bridge between two worlds
- • New interfaces and old keyboards
- • Presentation aids
- • So-called multimedia
- • Digital cameras without film
- • Digital videos in schools
- • Music for all
- XI. Presence and remote presence
- • Features of distance education
- • The three generations
- • Synchronous and asynchronous moments
- • Spaces for meeting
- • Classrooms open to the world
- • The advantages
- • New educational niches
- • A new type of teacher and student
- XII. Talents and handicaps
- • The right to communication
- • The obstacle of the keyboard
- • The obstacle of the screen
- • The expression of individual talent
- Conclusions
V. NEW TOOLS AND OLD
Dry and digital copies
Lastly we refer to the duplication and photocopying systems that are so much used in education. The extraordinary impact of the "dry copy" (Xerox, who invented the new system in the 50s developed its name from the Greek word xérein = dry) can probably only be compared to that of printing itself. It is hard to imagine today a world without photocopiers, although in some countries mere possession of these machines is forbidden to ordinary citizens and their use is a crime in the eyes of certain totalitarian governments. The photocopier is in effect an instrument of freedom that enables us to reproduce and preserve for private use documents from any source. We are living in the age of the photocopier, which is both good and bad. In many place books are ignored altogether and students resort almost exclusively to photocopies. This conduct conspires against the quality and pleasure of reading, challenges the integrity and identity of the published work and encourages publishing piracy. It is a problem that raises legal concerns on author's rights that often cannot or will not be resolved. On the other hand photocopies are invaluable for researchers working in libraries and for teachers distributing their notes. Photocopiers still play a key role in education, but their days are counted because of the growing digitalization of all kinds of documents by means of scanning, as we will see further on.
This brief look at tools in education shows up to what point we are in a transition stage between analog and digital technology. However, this does not mean that education as such has adapted to the profound transformation taking place in its tools. A new generation of educators will be required, themselves brought up using digital methods, for the transformation to be complete.
