DRAFT (00.03.02) 1 The role of the teacher in opening worlds of learning with technology Robert J. Bracewell, Alain Breuleux, and Cathrine Le Maistre McGill University For the past four years we have been studying the changes in teachers' knowledge and beliefs about teaching and learning, and the changes in their teaching practice that accompany the use of the new information and communication technologies as an integral part of their instruction in the classroom. The changes that we have documented describe a radically different classroom situation from the traditional one for both teachers and students, one in which participants' roles (i.e., who is instructing) vary from time to time and from person to person, in which participants' responsibilities and expectations are much more elaborated and varied, and in which knowledge and expertise is shared across teachers and students. In particular, for the purposes of this current volume, the teachers' activities in fostering student learning emerge as very different in pattern, although not in kind, from those seen in the traditional classroom. The setting We have been working with teachers and students in six different classrooms, with grade levels covering grades 5, 6, and 7. The teachers are all experienced, with an average of 15 years in the profession, and with some prior experience with the use of computers in the classroom. They also volunteered for the project, agreeing to participate after consultation with board administrators and ourselves. The schools are situated in middle- to lower-class, urban or suburban neighborhoods 1 . Each classroom is equipped with 8 to 10 networked, multimedia computers and customary peripherals such as printers, CD- ROM drives, scanners, and cameras. As well, each classroom has at least one computer with access to the internet. The number of students in each class has varied from 25 to 30; thus there are usually three students per computer in the class. 1 The selection of schools and teachers was made in cooperation with our participating boards of education, the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal (now the English Montreal School Board) and the Khanawake Education Centre. The choice of schools in less than advantaged communities was a deliberate one, in that we all were interested in examining the impact and use of information technologies in such learning circumstances. As one of the principals characterized his students in a grant application to obtain funding for teacher professional development, "Many of these students can be considered to be at risk in their upcoming studies in secondary school."