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A 2008 Gartner study on social software noted that “about 70 percent of the community typically fails to coalesce.” While the measurement and the statistics behind this statement raise questions, there is an element of truth. There are detrimental effects of over-hyping the technology and then committing the three cardinal sins of running a community:

By junior high and high school, children who had excellent early schooling do little better on tests than similar children who did not — which raises the demoralizing question of how much of a difference schools and teachers can make.

“We don’t really care about test scores. We care about adult outcomes.”

Classes with 13 to 17 students did better than classes with 22 to 25. Peers also seem to matter.

If adopting 'best practice' is fraught with difficulties, and 'good practice' often noted but ignored, perhaps it is useful instead to look at 'worst practice'.  The good news is that, in the area of ICT use in education, there appears to be a good deal of agreement about what this is! Here's a list of some of what I consider to be the preeminent 'worst practices' related to the large scale use of ICTs in education in developing countries, based on first hand observation over the past dozen or so years.

Companies that have gleaned the most from the technology have managed it actively through training, monitoring user behaviour and constant adjustment

it's important to go where users want to go

Collaboration tools also need sponsors - people entrusted with advancing their cause.

Stephen Heppell: "I guess I've sort of answered that, but let me say this in closing. We seem to have an education system built on 'met before' practice. Children in the exam room hoping there will be no surprises, teachers outside hoping they have prepared the children for everything. In practice we are in a world where we have not met before any of the current challenges: global warming, economic collapse, etc. And when these unexpected things happen, all folk seem to be able to do is carry on as before: the banks paying bonuses, people burning fuel etc. "To solve the 21st century's problems will take all our ingenuity, innovation, creativity and delight. And will need every single learner. The only certainty is that to carry on doing the 'old' way would be a reckless and foolish gamble. That is why I can be so certain that learning will and can change...

The time is right for a thin client solution to replace the overcomplicated mess that is corporate PC deployment and management. Google is right about that, and there’s a growing legion of CIOs — still of a vocal minority of about 30% — that are clamoring to reduce IT spending by moving to thin clients or desktop virtualization. Google’s solution could give many of them exactly what they need.

Reach together with symmetry and equality were the things that made the Internet such a radical social innovation.

The real genius of Napster was the way it made collaboration automatic. By default, a consumer of files was also a producer of files for the network.

The big challenge for many organizations is to do things in a much, much simpler and more responsive way. The sad truth is that it is easier for managers to grasp the threat of competition than the risk of simply becoming obsolete.

it was ultimately selected on the basis of its mood and ability to encourage gamers to become creative. "It's the broadest definition of art that you can have,"

computer games are definitely artistic. There are images and storylines that engage you, ideas that confuse your mind for hours and a whole package that keeps you coming back for days.