I feel that I have realized that a teacher's ability in ICT, begins with their own confidence in the technology they are using. If a teacher is unsure whether training, or bad experience, etc, then they will shy away and use it as an 'Exchange' rather than to actually 'Extend' and deliver excellent lessons using their own ICT skills and confidence.
I have found this video that is about a school that received bad marks from Ofsted for its lack of ICT provision in school. I edited it down to the most important parts, and it is just less than five minutes long, but will really help you to understand why I think it is so important for teachers to be secure and confident with the very technology in their classrooms.
If you wish to view the original video, please click on the link at the top of this post which will take you to Teachers tv.
I agree with your points Conor, from my own use of ICT at Widey I got picked up on my lack of use of ICT when it would be easier for me and more effective for the children if I used the IWB to demonstrate a concept in Numeracy. However after being encouraged by my class teacher to 'play around' on the IWB I quickly became more confident and wanted to use it as much as possible when it was appropriate. I think its good to get a good balance of using ICT in the classroom, some people can become too involved in ICT and it end up taking over every lesson. I think if you use ICT wisely it can change the whole dynamics of a lesson.. but if used in a lesson just so that the ICT box is ticked then this is not good use of the resource. Rachel x
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