An analysis of the different indicators aimed at assessing the use and impact of ICT in education will show that countries basically group them into the following: policy, infrastructure and access, budget, ICT use in the curriculum, professional development and student outcomes. Initiatives and projects undertaken in this area vary in coverage, scale and levels of progression. As a starting point, many countries are analysing effectiveness of policy. Research projects in Europe are seeking to provide readily comparable information on national policy, as in UNESCO's IITE, who are also looking at school level policy creation.

Most countries saw fit to measure ICT use in terms of infrastructure and access, such as the availability of computer hardware, the pupil-computer ratio, average number of computers per school and levels of connectivity and bandwidth. Indeed, Japan, Korea, Slovenia and the Philippines focused solely on this area, rather than measuring impact and effectiveness. Canada, New Zealand and Australia also included obstacles to fuller use of IT, such as lack of, or poor equipment and insufficient teacher training, while researchers in Europe innovatively noted "teacher confidence in the use of ICT" in its list of indicators, as related to teacher training, along with teachers' opinion about the internet as a tool. Researchers in South Africa and Schoolnet went one step further to include analysis of student outcomes: learners' perception of how the use of computers improves learning and attitudes and how much students enjoy ICT-related activities, for example.

Methods of collecting indicators also differ, the most popular one being the survey questionnaire. In Europe and Slovenia use has been made of telephone interviewing to gather information. Respondents usually include teachers and the principals, though some countries also question students, such as in the schoolnet project and administration or technical staff, as in Canada. Slovenia has the widest target group by far, including not only the staff, but also members of the general public.

Furthermore, while in most countries, such as Canada, the UK, the US, Japan and the Philippines, the scope of studies has been limited to the primary and secondary level, in Korea, university level is included and in Slovenia, pre-school.

Here follow detailed examples of country indicators in assessing the use and impact of ICT in education, including relevant lin

• EURYDICE - The Information Network on Education in Europe
• Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Programme (PCEIP)
• Indicators in The Best Practice of Online Learning - Lisbon
• National Survey of ICTs in South African Schools
• Survey of ICT in Schools 2001 - DfES United Kingdom
• Indicators of ICT Usage in Education - IITE
• Schoolnet Educator Development Programme
• Information Society Technology Programme funded by the European Community
• Japan ICT in School Survey
• Development and Use of Indicators of ICTs in Education for the Baltic and CIS Countries
• Research on the Internet in Slovenia (RIS)
• Teaching, Learning and Computing in America: A National Survey of Schools and Teachers, Center for Research on IT and Organizations - 1998
• Profile on ICT Capabilities in the Philippines: Project TAO CARES (Computer-Assisted Reform for Schools)

Further general information concerning ICT indicators can be found in the article Creating Practical Evaluation Templates for Measuring the Impact of Instructional Technology, which identified four groups of indicators that facilitate measurement of computer and other ICT related activities, namely technology infrastructure, teacher preparation, teaching strategies and student use patterns.

Also, for networked learning assessment see Readiness Guide Learning Test, an educational resource that describes the determinants of a community’s Readiness for the Networked World in terms of access, policy, society, economy and learning, and a diagnostic tool that systematically examines those factors to assess a community’s readiness.

These indicators only become valuable when they are put into relation with certain standards that help to interpret the data gained, as discussed in the next section.