Policies for integrating ICT in education, at both national and European levels, have been addressing almost exclusively issues of "access" to the information society, with little regard for how these new technologies were improving educational practices.

But because ICT in education can make a significant difference - for example, in raising standards, in removing barriers, in preparing for employment, "best practice" policies urgently need to be driven strategically by long-term educational objectives.

Claire Bélisle is socio-psychologist, with a doctorate in cognitive psychology, presently working as a human and social sciences Research Engineer for the National Scientific Research Center. She is based in Lyon, in the research unit LIRE.

Her main interests focus on integration of information and communication technology in education and research. She has conducted several international research projects (for example on telepresence, digital campus), managed research teams, given presentations and conferences, and published articles and books, the latest being Pratiques Médiatiques, 50 mots-clés, Editions du CNRS, 1999.

She is now conducting user studies of electronic books and digital corpuses, focusing on cognitive navigation in hypermedia contents, collaborative work and digital reading. She also does consulting work for educational organizations and the European Commission.