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One of Zayed University’s publicly articulated missions is to lead higher education in the United Arab Emirates through teaching, learning, research, and outreach and to achieve this leadership in a technologically advanced environment. In fulfilling this goal, the university actively promotes laptop computer use among faculty, staff, and students; delivery (and completion) of lessons though advanced technology; use of sophisticated software; and information gathering via the Internet. (See Moore, Moore, Bodwen, Coasdale, 2003.)

Though the hope is that information technology can add a powerful punch to the modern educational environment, many educators in the United Arab Emirates have found that it is the proper use of available modern technology rather than the presence of that technology that advances learning. Even longtime favorites pencil and paper and the overhead projector still have a place in the well-rounded modern classroom. Whether old or new, each technology has unique qualities (or “affordances”) of which advantage can be taken.