Establishing a community of learners: the use of Information Technology (IT) as an effective learning tool in rural primary or elementary schools

This paper is not meant as a treatise on the use of IT in education, in particular rural primary/elementary schools. However, as the title suggests, the paper does want to open up for discussion some of the following issues. 1. How is IT being used or might be used as an effective learning tool in school education, and rural primary/elementary schools specifically? 2. What are the barriers, if any, to this effective use in schools? 3. Is it possible for one or two knowledgeable IT users in a school to make a difference or should schools examine the prospect of creating communities of learners in IT, and finally, 4. Is it a worthwhile exercise using IT as a learning tool, considering the cost, in an attempt to break down the hypothetical isolation and lack of access to aspects of education that supposedly their urban counterparts take for granted?