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Egypt is a Middle Eastern developing country of seventy-five millions. The education system in Egypt is not only the largest in the Middle East but also one of the largest in the world. Education is free and compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 15. The school system consists of nursery schools (for children 3 to 5 years old), primary (ages 6 to 11), preparatory (ages 12-15) and secondary (ages 15 to 18). There are more than 36,000 schools (with more than 15 million students and 800 thousand teachers) including government, experimental, private and language schools.

The main problems that have been facing the education authority are continuos population increase, over-crowded classrooms (over 45 students), shortage of financial resources, decreasing numbers of qualified teachers, centralized test-driven curriculum focusing on rote memorization of unimportant material and lack of equipment, particularly at remote and undeveloped areas (Jarrar and Massialas, 1992; Tawila et al., 2000).

Like many educational authorities around the world, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has seized on technology as a way to better prepare the workforce for a competitive economy. A special unit within the MOE, called the Technology Development Center (TDC), was formed shortly thereafter to coordinate the MOE’s effort to infuse technology into schools (Warschauer, 2004). According to MOE, infusion of technology implies development in thinking, deducing, arranging of information, improving the performance of students and increasing capacities of information exchange.

In 1994, the TDC within the MOE has planned for many ambitious projects to introduce computers to schools to improve the quality of the education system. One of these projects aims to equip every single school with latest desktop technology. The TDC has placed multimedia rooms and computer labs in many primary schools and all preparatory and secondary schools. Multimedia rooms have 2-3 computers, LCD panels, large screen and collections of curriculum-based courseware and teachers have been asked to bring in their classes on a regular basis. Computer labs have equipped with 10-15 computers. These computers are used for teaching courses in computing (operating systems, computer applications and programming languages).

To facilitate the spread the use of computers and courseware outside classrooms, the government has implemented a national project called "A Computer for Every House". Telephone owning households are encouraged to buy a computer by repaying it at a low monthly installment that is added to their telephone bill. In addition, the government has welcomed international aid projects to train teachers in the use of technology. This included creating a large professional development program in the use of computers in schooling and establishing computer-assisted learning laboratories (Ministry of Education, 1999).