The history of ICT in the school environment could be characterised as too much office, too little supermarket. Our learning from the office - which had learned from the typing pool and thence the factory - has been relentless. Offices had desks with rows of computers and schools quickly followed suit (or should that be suite). Offices had nice springy chairs with four, then five wheels, and schools kept up with the pace irrespective of a fundamental mismatch between five castored chairs and students on high doses of adrenalin.

Perhaps it’s time to cast our net of inspiration a little wider and learn from other integrations of technology in the workplace. Take the supermarket for instance, when was the last time you saw someone struggle with a mouse and keyboard at the checkout or the petrol station till? Here slimline touch screens are prevalent - allowing space for face-to-face communication, and returning users to the ultimate input device of the human finger. Chatability specialises in alternative software and hardware computer access, offering specialist touchscreens and computers which can be driven by eye movement - these specialist SEN uses will soon become mainstream tools. Supermarkets have even trained us to use touchscreens standing up on entry to the store - perhaps school libraries could manage browsing Internet users the same way at lunchtimes.

My product of the year in terms of human computer interactivity comes from Wacom with its Cintiq 15-inch touchscreen which is driven by pen input. You can draw, paint and write straight on the screen. The quality of the interaction for graphics work is improved dramatically. Many design studios are dropping them into desktops so that designers can work on them as if they were paper - soon we will all want such intuitive interaction. If you are currently planning an ICT environment, making the computer hardware disappear and bringing the education to the fore should be the primary objective.

TIME computers will be launching its latest I-desk at BETT. It is a combination of computer, flat TFT screen, power, network cabling and desking in one unit. These svelte affairs change the look of ICT in the classroom by helping hide the computer (which is actually built into the desk) and providing workspace for other uses. The neat black Neovo LCD display from RM has also been a best seller over the past year; now with a price reduction to pound;399 and its special toughened glass screen it offers an affordable way for schools to trial alternate less cumbersome displays. If you don’t need a huge worktop for a monitor many schools will start to question the need for such specialist rooms and areas.

Integration issues are complex and are well worth the struggle. Getting the learning environment right is difficult enough when it’s just tables, chairs and lighting, add technology to the brew and the problem is more challenging. In one sense the advent of the flat LCD screen is helping us win back the desktop. Wireless access to networks is also opening up the opportunities for more diverse ICT learning environments. Companies like Apple, with its new Airport wireless networking, have made a massive contribution to wire-free access, now with added security and much better coverage.

Teaching is a one-to-many occupation and it’s a sad fact of life that digital technology from the watch to the calculator has often been an exclusively personal tool. A compromise has to be made and for some schools it has arrived in the form of the data projector, a resource which allows teachers to take centre stage once more and harness the power of ICT for presentation in the process.

Diminutive projectors like the Toshiba TDP P4 now provide enough brightness for a school to see a single presentation, but are light enough to carry between classes in a tiny clutch bag. Maybe one way forward is to establish a number of places where projection can occur and move the projector to the curriculum need. Some schools will take this interactivity further and install interactive whiteboards so that the computer interaction can be driven from the front of the room - others will prefer the flexibility of a mobile projector and laptop.

Some schools develop a single classroom as a technology-rich zone where teachers can try different ideas with new resources, share skills and coach others. At the HighWire Centre in Hackney, director Vivi Lachs has designed an engaging and child-centred environment around particular learning activities, with video and audio work being given their own special signposted places.

New tools like projection, touchscreens LCD sound and lighting take us a long way towards more delightful learning environments. But if you want to think radical, why not get another perspective from a fact-finding mission to the local supermarket? Perhaps you could even draft in some high street design help.

ITABILITY from Chatability (touch screens and eye mouse control devices)

BETT stand: SN71 www.chatability.co.uk

Cintiq BETT stand: W70 (Adobe) Price: pound;1,195 www.wacom.com

I-desk BETT stand: C60 Price: pound;899 for flatscreen version www.timecomputers.com

Neovo from RM BETT stand: D50 Price: pound;399 www.rm.com

Airport from Apple BETT stand: E34 Price: Airport card for iBook is about pound;70 www.apple.com

Toshiba TDP-P4 BETT stand: L10 (with The Science Museum) Price: around pound;4,000 www.toshiba.com