The Digital Education Enhancement Project (DEEP) is a project funded by the Department for International Development in an effort to help teachers use rechargeable laptop computers and websites on CD-ROM to improve teaching and learning in primary schools in South Africa and Egypt. The project explores what actually happens at the classroom level when ICTs are introduced. DEEP's work with 12 disadvantaged schools in (mostly) rural areas highlights questions related to the impacts ICTs have on the way teachers teach and the way that students respond.

Specifically, a pair of teachers from each of the schools was provided with training materials including website-mediated activities and study guides. Workshops were conducted to enable teachers to experiment with a variety of curriculum-focused ICT activities such as researching scientific information about endangered species or writing illustrated autobiographies. Teachers presented the ICT-enhanced teaching methods they developed to colleagues from other project schools in the region. Each project pair shared a laptop computer; each teacher was provided with a hand-held computer supporting electronic books as well as video and audio files focussing on teaching strategies. The project teachers met regularly in informal groups for additional support.

Prior to the project, 16 of the 24 teachers had never used a computer; after four months, all of them said they considered ICTs important or very important for learning and felt confident in their use of ICTs. Other findings include:

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