Laptops for Teachers: An evaluation of the TELA scheme in schools (Years 4 to 6)

4. Impacts on teacher professional practice

In this section, we set out key findings over the three years on the impacts of teacher access to a TELA laptop on individuals and schools.

4.1 Changes in perceptions of expertise and comfort levels

One of the immediate impacts of laptop access was expected to be that teachers would experience gains in ICT confidence, appropriate skills and knowledge. They were expected to broaden and increase their use of electronic resources. Teachers were asked to rate their ability to use the laptop and were given three categories from which to choose – ‘expert’, ‘intermediate’ and ‘beginner’. There was an increased confidence in ability to use the laptop over the three-year period as shown in Table 1.

Table 1 shows a rise in those teachers considering themselves to be ‘expert users’ over the three-year period and very few ‘beginners’ by 2007. Teachers became more comfortable using their laptops over the three-year period for a range of tasks. Tables 2 and 3 compare the figures from 2007 with those of the first two years.

Table 2 shows that overall teachers were more likely to be comfortable using their laptops over the three-year period for the three core tasks of word processing, emailing and searching the Internet. Intermediate users had become more comfortable using their laptops for these tasks over the three-year period and the proportion of beginners who were more comfortable using their laptops for two of the three tasks had increased.

Table 3: Percentages of teachers who felt ‘comfortable’ (2005-2007)

Task	Expert (%)			Intermediate (%)			Beginner (%)
	2005 (n=35)	2006 (n=72)	2007 (n=111)	2005 (n=137)	2006 (n=188)	2007 (n=216)	2005 (n=28)	2006 (n=19)	2007 (n=26)
Locate online information	77	89	87	47	57	47	29	26	31
Use graphics	97	99	97	64	75	72	14	11	23
Use presentation software	94	96	88	50	45	48	7	5	8
Spreadsheets/charts	83	75	70	26	30	26	7	5	4
Movie editing software	43	55	39	7	15	7	0	0	4
Create/use database	29	35	34	8	6	8	0	0	0
Create web pages	26	26	28	4	3	4	0	0	0
Download photos/use images	-	92	95	-	46	49	-	11	20

Table 3 shows how levels of comfort changed over the three-year period for the other listed tasks. Expert users remained more likely to be comfortable with all listed tasks than other groups. Bearing in mind the rise in the proportion of expert users over the period, there were three tasks where the proportion of expert users feeling comfortable dropped: using presentation software, using a spreadsheet and using movie-editing software. There was little change for intermediate users over the three-year period. Although there were very few beginners, they too appeared to be starting at a higher skill level than they had in 2005 regarding using graphics. The proportion of teachers comfortable with downloading digital photos nearly doubled (up to 20%).

It is interesting to note that although there appears to be a trend towards teachers becoming more comfortable over time with the listed tasks, expert users remained considerably more likely to be comfortable than intermediate users or beginners. There were a low proportion of beginners but they still tended to be more likely to be comfortable using their laptops for word processing, emailing and searching the Internet than for other tasks. As can be seen in Table 3, expert users were twice as likely to be ‘comfortable’ as intermediate users using the laptop to download digital photos (expert users–95%: intermediate users–49%). This trend can also be seen in use with presentation software [58% of teachers reported being ‘comfortable’] (expert users–88%: intermediate users–48%), and using a spreadsheet [38% of teachers reported being ‘comfortable’] (expert users–70%: intermediate users–26%).

Summary comment

Teacher-reported gains in ICT confidence, skills and knowledge indicate the TELA scheme has been successful in expanding the number of teacher who are comfortable with using computers, in this case a laptop computer, for a range of tasks. Of note, over 90% (93%) of the Years 4 to 6 teachers who participated in this study rated their level of expertise as expert or intermediate suggesting a high level of overall confidence within this group as to their ability to use ICT.

4.2 Changes in use for administration

One goal of the TELA scheme was that teachers would experience significant efficiencies in administration and reporting.

Over the three-year period, there was an increase in the routine use of the laptops for all administrative tasks (see Table 4). In particular, writing reports for parents (up to 86% from 81% in 2005), recording student grades and monitoring student progress (up to 75% from 69% in 2005), and, checking student records (up to 68% from 55% in 2005). Around half (53%) of the teachers now used their laptops routinely to check school notices; this proportion had increased from 35% in 2005. There was an increased proportion of teachers who occasionally used the laptop to schedule appointments (up from 17% to 26%). A new task identified in 2006, the taking of notes during meetings, saw an increased proportion of teachers making use of their laptops routinely (up from 40% in 2006 to 48% in 2007). For recording attendance there continued to be less than a fifth of teachers who made any use of the laptop.

As international studies have found, laptops have provided for the streamlining of management and administrative tasks. However, it should be borne in mind that administrative tasks such as writing reports, and recording grades and attendance, more than likely depended on school policy requiring such tasks to be done on computers. Indeed in 2007, around three-quarters (73%) of Years 4 to 6 teachers reported that there was some school expectation for teacher laptop use. Of the 255 teachers who gave details of these expectations, 110 teachers cited administration tasks that were expected to be done on the laptops: with a majority describing the keeping of records, assessments and test results of student achievement and/or record keeping and report writing (97).

Focus group teachers were using their laptop for a range of administration tasks, such as entering and analysing student achievement data, taking staff meeting minutes, emailing absences to the office, submitting news items to daily notices via email and sending newsletters to parents via email. The 2007 focus group teachers regard the reduction in paper use as a positive outcome. In schools where the administration systems were electronic and all teachers used their laptops to contribute to record keeping, indications were that whole-school student data analysis had become more commonplace and comprehensive.

"Everyone across the school uses their laptop – they have to keep up with the school administration matters. We are an eTAP (electronic Teaching Assessment-Planning) school and access student records and load all our assessment data on in term four and that’s now being used – I think there are five or six student management programs now which can talk to each other, we post our stuff so when a child leaves our class the next school can access it." (2007 urban focus group comment)

Having the student management system on the laptops was said to have been the catalyst for change in some focus group schools. All focus group teachers now used their laptops to access and input student data. 

Summary comment

The findings indicate increased teacher use of their laptop computer for administrative purposes with the implication, given the business of teacher lives, that this use contributes efficiencies. There was some indication that increased use could be linked to school requirements which in turn related to greater availability and use of electronic student data management systems. In this case the TELA scheme, in providing most teachers in a school with access to a laptop would seem to have been a key factor in supporting the viability of a shift to electronic administrative systems.

4.3 Changes in use for communication

It was anticipated the TELA laptops would support teacher collaboration and communication (Ministry of Education, 2004) and teachers were asked to report on the frequency of using their laptops for activities indicative of communication – contacting colleagues within school and in other schools via email, and contacting parents via email.

The question on contacting colleagues via email had been broadened in 2006 to show contact with colleagues within and outside the school. Table 5 shows the increased use of laptops for communication. Four-fifths of teachers were using the laptop to email colleagues within and outside their school by 2007

By 2007, teachers were making active use of email to communicate with colleagues and, increasingly, with parents and students. Written questionnaire comments suggested they were also using their school intranet and website for communication.

"We use our website and our intranet to communicate with students, colleagues and professionals. I am teaching the children to do this as well." (2007 comment)

Responses from the questionnaire showed that teachers also used shared spaces such as iChat, Windows Live, Messenger and Skype on their laptops for contacting others.

Evidence from the 2007 focus groups suggests that email has become an important form of communication in schools now that there is a critical mass of laptop teachers. The provision of a permanent record of communication was seen to be an advantage of email, and the laptop provided a repository for communications that teachers had easy access to when necessary. Two of the focus group teachers said that their schools had moved even further with communication:

"We’ve got teaching stations, so when I go into a classroom I just put my laptop onto the teaching station and so I am back online again. Every time I go in with cell phone, laptop and PDA. I use it and we’ve been issued with phones by Vodafone to enhance paren/ teacher communication, and so we’ve been looking into that. So, your laptop is up and ready in ETAP – our student management system all the time. Like today, I was in a class and I rang four parents. I’ve got it sitting up there, I scroll down, find the phone number and phoned the parent saying xyz was on task, doing the right thing, making the right choices." (2007 urban focus group comment – teaching deputy principal – decile 2)

"We have set up our own school website through KnowledgeNET and our own classroom pages. On KnowledgeNET on my classroom page, because I want one reading group to do a webquest, I have put the tasks on there, and they go straight to the PC and access their work via the Internet ‘cause it’s all on there. I said if you’ve got the Internet at home, you can go home and access it via home as well. So, they’re [students] accessing their work." (2007 rural focus group comment – decile 8)

Some focus group teachers in smaller schools emphasised the value of face-to-face communication. There were focus group teachers who reported that they did not use the laptop for communication because they did not have classroom or home access to the Internet, lacked confidence or they taught where the school server could not support the use of the laptop in this way.

Summary comment

Indications are that Years 4 to 6 teachers are increasingly using their laptop for email communication. It is not possible to determine whether this has led to more frequent communication or simply replaced other means of communication but the upward trend in use indicates email is now an important means of communication and connection for teachers.

4.4 Changes in use for professional dialogue and collaboration

One of the expected outcomes of teachers accessing a TELA laptop was that teachers would initiate professional growth opportunities using their laptops and share their knowledge and resources with colleagues. For the evaluation teachers were asked to report on the frequency of using their laptops for activities indicative of collaboration and professional dialogue:

• participating in online discussion lists or forums
• accessing the web for professional readings, teacher association newsletters, etc
• collaborative development and sharing of units and lesson materials.

Evidence of change

Over the three-year period there had been increased use of laptops for the three listed tasks – participation in online discussions, to access the Internet for professional readings, teacher association news etc, and for the collaborative development of units and lesson materials, as shown in Table 6.

Table 6: Change in levels of laptop use for collaboration (2005-2007)

Use for collaboration	2005 (n=200) %	2006 (n=279) %	2007 (n=353) %
Participate in online discussions	25	24	33
Internet – professional readings	78	85	86
Collaborative development of materials	76	86	86

There was growth in online discussion participation (up to 33% from 25% in 2005), which according to focus group teachers, often occurred when they were doing further study or belonged to an ICT PD cluster group. Collaborative development of materials was growing. The flexibility of place of working that other laptop studies had found to be useful (Cunningham et al, 2004; Windschilt & Sahl, 2002), was evident in the questionnaire findings as laptops were taken to staff and syndicate meetings to record discussions and to plan collaboratively.

"A lot of communication within the syndicate over planning is done using laptops, and we often make adjustments to our planning. Great to put something on the server and another teacher can have a look at it and make changes." (2007 comment)⁴

Teachers in well resourced and well organised schools were using the server to share work.

"I’ve just come from a sole charge school to a bigger 10 teacher rural school and they’ve got things very well organised as far as putting virtually anything that people have done on the intranet, so that we can share our planning, share our formats, share assessments, share portfolios. It’s brilliant that sharing of resources." (2007 rural focus group comment)

One focus group teacher who had come from a well resourced school was beginning to offer her expertise to teachers who were less confident, so that sharing might become a part of her new school’s culture. She said that sharing varied depending on relationships within each part of the school.

"It in part depends on the school culture. The shared planning is fairly well established in the junior school but not so in the middle school and it varies in the senior school. So, it depends on the relationship of colleagues in our school. It varies according to confidence – one or two of us are confident in the middle school. For me my laptop is an extension of my fingers, whereas for other people it is something to go, ‘Oh, what on earth do I do?’ They close the lid and leave it. I have started to offer help to teachers who are scared of their laptops just to try and get that openness going for a start, for things to be shared generally." (2007 rural focus group comment)

Summary comment

Other studies have reported that New Zealand primary teachers value collaboration and the sharing of ideas and resources (McGee, Jones, Bishop, Cowie, Hill et al., 2002). Indications are that the laptops appear to have fitted easily with the practice of collaborative development of resources and teachers accessing the Internet for professional readings. Teacher participation in online discussions remained low, raising questions about teacher perceptions of the overall value of this practice, particularly when compared with their active participation in the other activities.

4.5 Changes in use for lesson planning and preparation

One of the ultimate outcomes of the TELA scheme was expected to be teachers producing high quality lesson resources and plans that creatively respond to student learning needs. Data across the years shows some progress towards this goal with between 85% and 97% of teachers using their laptops for all listed planning tasks by 2007.

Table 7 shows how the most prevalent ‘routine’ use of laptops made by teachers across the three years, for lesson planning and preparation, continued to be to prepare student handouts and worksheets, with four-fifths of teachers using the laptop routinely for this task by 2007 and nearly all teachers making some use of laptops for this purpose. Table 7 shows that by 2007, teacher ‘routine’ and ‘occasional’ use of the Internet was 95% for planning purposes and 92% for assessment purposes.

A central professional challenge for teachers is to manage the learning needs of diverse students. ‘Adapting worksheets’ was a new task added in 2007 – as it was evident that focus group teachers appreciated the ease with which electronic materials could be altered to meet the needs of their classes. Over three-quarters of teachers (77%) reported routine adaptation of lesson materials for their students, suggesting that teachers found the laptop supported the customisation and personalisation of lesson materials.

Using the laptop in conjunction with peripherals was possible as laptops had higher specifications than desktop computers and could be used with curriculum-specific software, CD ROMs and peripherals. The routine use of the laptop to review resources such as CD ROMs to be used by students increased, with occasional use remaining stable. Using the laptop to produce lesson materials routinely in combination with other equipment such as a digital camera, video or scanner showed little increase over the three-year period but occasional use of laptops for this task rose steadily.

Using planning templates was a new task added in 2006, as a result of focus group discussions, and routine use had increased to 83% of teachers by 2007, up from 74% in 2006 suggesting some standardisation across schools in planning. Written and focus group comments indicated teachers found the use of electronic resources and templates made the planning process more efficient.

"After the first initial time-consuming effort of setting up templates, I now find planning and creating set tasks not so time consuming." (2007 comment)

Laptops have allowed teachers to keep all lesson materials in one place that is both portable and easily accessible, which may also contribute to their widespread use for planning tasks.

"It’s just so much easier to have it on your lap in front of TV and you haven’t got fifty bits of paper – you used to sit there and be swamped, the whole sitting room – no-one was allowed to touch your pieces of paper or they would get all mucked up. Now it’s all on there [the laptop] and you just push a button and it all comes up." (2007 rural focus group comment)

Focus group teachers commented on how they believed their teaching materials were more likely to be linked to curriculum documents and on the professional look of the resources they were now preparing for the students."

"It is planning for me way more thorough; just jump onto the curriculum documents the objectives and things like that. Even I used to hand make all my displays and I still do that but other times I make signs and posters on the laptop which is far quicker and looks more professional than hand drawn ones. I can access the printer." (2007 rural focus group comment)

Summary comment

There was increased use of laptops for lesson planning and preparation, with over four-fifths of teachers making some use of the laptop for listed tasks by 2007. Indications are that the teachers experience efficiencies in lesson planning and preparation with the laptop through greater access to lesson materials. On the one hand, teachers reported they were utilising the affordance of the laptop to customise and adapt lesson materials for their students in a manner consistent with the expectations for the TELA scheme. On the other hand, they reported increased use of templates suggesting some standardisation across schools. The design of the study is such that it is not possible to explore the tension between these two practices but this aspect is worthy of further investigation.

4.6 Changes in classroom practice

One of the Ministry of Education’s expected outcomes of the laptop scheme was that teachers would creatively introduce a range of learning resources in the classroom using a variety of appropriate technologies and pedagogies. In 2005, the questionnaire asked teachers about three areas of classroom use: teacher access to the Internet during lessons, presentations in class and using curriculum-specific software in class. In 2006, the question on classroom use of laptops was split into use as a stand-alone tool and use with a data projector or interactive whiteboard. The categories of use for questionnaire participants to respond to were derived from focus group and questionnaire comments. Teachers were also asked to provide an example of how they used their laptops in class and to describe what they saw as the benefits for student learning of their laptop use. This section sets out teacher self-report data on the ways they used their laptop for teaching, along with their perceptions of the benefits of their laptop use for student learning.

Changes in laptop as a stand-alone tool in the classroom

The 2006 and 2007 questionnaires data indicates that teacher use of the laptop as a stand-alone tool in the classroom increased over these two years (see Table 8).

The data indicate an emphasis on the provision of student-centred materials. In 2007, a majority of teachers reported they made some use (either ‘routine’ or ‘occasional’) of the laptop as a stand-alone tool in the classroom to view work produced by students or the teacher (83%) and to provide extra assistance to individual students (78%). Around three-fifths of teachers used the laptop as a source of text for reading (60%) and to support small group work and collaboration (65%). Combined, this suggests that the teachers’ TELA laptop was integrated into individual and group work in the classroom. However, three-quarters of teachers used their laptop to access the Internet during lessons (77%) and to manipulate images (71%) suggesting they also used it as an individual professional tool during lessons.

These data are consistent with teacher reports of student use of teacher laptops during lessons. Over the three-year period, the proportion of teachers responding to the questionnaire who had been allowing students to use their laptops rose from two-fifths to just under two-thirds (2005–43%: 2006–58%: 2007–62%), with just under a fifth (18%) in 2007, allowing ‘routine’ student use. A declining proportion ‘never’ allowed students access to their laptop. (2005–57%: 2006–43%: 2007–39%).

The Years 4 to 6 teachers responding to the questionnaire saw benefits coming from student use of their laptops. Focus group teachers felt that the computers in their classrooms did not meet the needs of their students. Even in schools with Computers on Wheels (COWs), these laptops for the students needed to be booked ahead so did not allow for spontaneous use in the classroom. Teachers said that this was when they allowed students to use their laptop. One focus group teacher described the enthusiasm with which students made use of her laptop.

"As soon as I walk into the classroom I get ‘Whaea can we use your laptop? Come on hook it up, please, please.’ They know how to do everything!" (2007 rural focus group comment)

Changes in the use of the laptop-plus-peripherals in the classroom

In 2005, fewer than a fifth (16%) of teachers made routine use of the laptop-plus-data-projector during lessons. By 2006, the focus group data were rich enough to justify extending the questionnaire categories for the classroom use of the laptop plus peripherals. The 2006 and 2007 figures in Table 9 show the extent of teacher use.

Overall in 2007, two-thirds of teachers were making some use of the laptop-plus-data-projector for most listed applications with over a quarter making ‘routine’ use and nearly half making ‘occasional’ use of the laptop-plus-data-projector for most applications. This level of reported use can be contrasted with teacher reports of easy access to a data projector. This increased over the three-year period from 55% of teachers reporting easy use in 2005, to 69% reporting easy use in 2006 and 74% in 2007. It can be seen that perception of easy access did not translate to routine use although the proportion of teachers reporting easy access and some use (routine and occasional) use of the laptop-plus-data projector was similar. This said, some teachers asserted the laptop and a data projector were essential teaching tools.

"Every day I hook up the laptop to the data projector and use it for shared reading, topic, maths, teaching ICTs like Paint, PowerPoint, and Outlook, publishing on class Blog, Pod casting, watching class videos...I can’t teach without my laptop and data projector." (2006 comment)

The few teachers (14% of questionnaire respondents) who had the exclusive use of an interactive whiteboard in their classroom indicated this had led to their laptop becoming an essential teaching tool.

"It is an essential teaching tool as it is hooked up to the interactive whiteboard." (2007 comment)

This point was also made by one of the two focus group teachers who had an interactive whiteboard in her classroom.

"My laptop is open all the time. I use it for teaching. My handwriting is on it as well. We do charts. The active whiteboard would be the only reason it is open all the time. I did not use it all the time before I got an interactive whiteboard." (2007 rural focus group comment)

An urban teacher who had exclusive access to an interactive whiteboard was very enthusiastic about its use for classroom practice.

The use of the laptop within different curriculum areas

In 2006 and 2007, Years 4 to 6 teachers gave examples of their uses of the laptop in all curriculum areas and within integrated units, special topics, and in ICT teaching (see examples in each curriculum area in Appendix B). These uses are summarised in Table 10 although we can draw no definitive conclusions from the numbers shown.

Teachers’ examples of how they use their laptop were further analysed in relation to the principles of Quality teaching as set out by Alton-Lee (2003). Teacher description of their laptop use in the different curriculum areas indicated the scope of reported classroom uses fits into and aligns with current policies on effective teaching (Alton-Lee, 2003; Ministry of Education, 2006b) and effective teaching using ICT as outlined in the e-Learning action plan for schools (Ministry of Education, 2006a). Examples of laptop use for the different curriculum areas included setting up expectations for learning, making learning outcomes transparent to students (Alton-Lee, 2003) and encouraging reflective thought and action amongst their students (Ministry of Education, 2006b). Teachers were using the laptop to access information that students could use to evaluate their work in a shared learning situation (Ministry of Education, 2006b). Teachers were providing structured assistance to students by using their laptop to model or scaffold new work (Alton-Lee, 2003).

"Showing how to make a graph using Excel on data projector and then children having a go." (2007 comment - mathematics)

"The children see me model a journal entry on home page of class Blog site and then use the laptop pod to go and add an article on their individual Blog for personal experience writing." (2007 comment - English)

"Students had been tasked to design a solar cooker based on discrete knowledge. At task end we could compare, contrast and discuss our models with some online examples as a whole class (in conjunction with data projector)." (2007 comment)

By 2007, almost all teachers taught in schools where there was Internet access and Internet access in the classroom was available to 92% of Years 4 to 6 teachers by 2007. In 2007 teachers provided examples of how they used the Internet to expand the learning environment, for instance, by allowing students to go on virtual field trips various curriculum areas, to bring real-world examples into the classroom, and to communicate with students in another country.

"It enables me to offer opportunities to view sites, places and things that the children don’t have ready access to." (2007 comment)

"We had a student go to Germany and we kept in contact via email with her. She knew exactly what was happening in our classroom and she couldn’t escape school! I was sending her homework to her. I planned a worksheet that was adaptable to wherever she was going. She put together two books and presented them when she got back." (2007 rural focus group comment)

Using the laptop to access Internet images from another time and place allowed students to explore new learning environments, overcoming the barriers of distance and time.

"As part of the motivation to begin making Amazonian Indian masks, we viewed a PowerPoint presentation, which included photographs and pictures of Amazonian Indians. We viewed each one and discussed the features. It is [the laptop] a great tool to encourage discussion." (2007 comment)

In the focus groups, one teacher spoke of children looking up information on a planned class trip destination and how they could recognise some of the plants and animals before they even left the school. Another teacher used an Internet-based simulation of tide pools as part of a Rocky Shore study in science. The portability of the laptop meant that teachers could take it with them on class trips and excursions and make use of it as a learning tool.

"We are going to do a survey on cars, so we will make the spreadsheet up before we go and use it outside and feed the data straight into it, rather than use pen and paper and have double handling." (2007 rural focus group comment)

As a result of the teachers’ use of the laptop with curriculum specific software and other resources, students were encountering learning in a variety of ways and through different tasks (Ministry of Education, 2006b). Teachers can optimise learning opportunities for diverse students by complementing language use with opportunities for students to have access to, generate and use, non-linguistic representations such as diagrams, movies and photos (Alton-Lee, 2003). Laptop teachers had found different ways of presenting information to different students, for example, animations and dynamic images, and of stimulating student interest, for example, by providing real-world examples. In this way, the laptop brought immediacy, authenticity and ownership to learning tasks. There were examples of the use of images as non-linguistic representations to assist children with their learning in English, science, social studies and the arts.

"Showing examples of an artist’s work, finding out about his life and the impact it had on his art." (2007 comment – the arts)

"Visualisations/Audios to draw language, prior knowledge and vocabulary from my students." (2007 comment)

"We had read the book ‘Holes’ and written a book review as well as various other tasks. We then watched the DVD and completed a ‘compare and contrast’ between the book and movie." (2007 comment)

"Children recorded a legend into GarageBand, then added music behind the voice track." (2007 comment – English)

Teachers using laptops could make use of personal material to create ownership for learners and provide feedback on individual learning. Laptops allowed teachers to incorporate images, names and events that the whole class could share. This had a motivational aspect in that it ‘hooked in’ students. Customised materials and opportunities for students to engage with interactive resources were also described as valuable.

"It saves me a lot of preparation time and allows for me to be creative and create work that is specific to the student’s needs." (2007 comment)

"Special needs children will use my laptop to work through CD ROMs and other software to engage their learning." (2007 comment)

One focus group teacher said she had 20 out of 21 non-readers at the beginning of the year – struggling learners who found it difficult to listen. She had found the interactive parts of websites fascinated them and kept them focused.

The laptop provided a forum for feedback and discussion between teacher and students as both a stand-alone tool and in conjunction with a data projector. One focus group teacher described how she had videoed her students and used this to show them how their swimming stroke needed improvement. She said that the result was ‘amazing’ because they could see their bodies and said, “Oh, that’s what you mean!”

In some classrooms the more flexible learning environment has allowed teachers to become more a facilitator of learning.

"With the increased use of ICT in the classroom you notice what some kids can actually do. They are often more clued up than I am, and they teach you. The roles have changed a bit." (2007 rural focus group comment)

By using digital technologies and the Internet students were able to produce resources themselves.

"The kids are different. Their attitudes to learning have changed, because I’ve got that [active] board in my classroom. They want to know: ‘Whaea can we use the board to do this please?’ They are really excited about getting on to do PowerPoint presentations, Photostory presentations, drawing pictures, typing, even typing stories. It’s not just a glorified publisher any more. We do a lot of research and it’s really good ’cause we’ve got computers as well, if somebody’s struggling on something and we’re all at the same thing, they’ll watch what’s happening on the active whiteboard and go ‘Oh, OK’ or they’ll look for their website and go ‘Cool, they’ve got my website’ and they’ll look it up. It’s just changed the whole culture of my class and the way I teach." (2007 rural focus group comment)

To sum up, the examples provided by the teachers indicate they are making use of their TELA laptops in a wide variety of ways. Teacher provision of individual assistance, access to texts for individual reading and the use of interactives to engage students suggests teachers were able use the laptop to realise a student-active classroom with students managing their own learning. Teachers reported students were more motivated and engaged when they used multimodal resources and students could actively participate in managing their own learning, particularly when there was an interactive component. It is not possible however to make any claims about the extent of the changes in teachers, on the basis of the instances of use reported by respondents; this would require sustained classroom-based investigation. Nevertheless, the teacher self-report data indicates they are using their TELA laptops for teaching and learning in ways that align recommendations of best practice.

Teacher perceptions of the benefits of their laptop use for their students

In 2007, there were 109 questionnaire respondents who when asked commented specifically about the impact of their use of the laptop on children’s learning. Thirty-one of these responses indicated that laptops had impacted student learning in two or more different ways. As other research into teacher laptop provision has highlighted (Phillips, Bailey, Fisher & Harrison, 1999; Simpson & Payne, 2005: Sockwell & Zhang, 2003), the major benefits to students appeared to be indirect, with eighty-five teachers commenting on how the laptop had had an impact on them as teachers, and subsequently on the students. They reported that the laptop had made planning easier, produced better quality resources and freed up time for them to spend with students. Eleven teachers said that because their own IT skills had improved, the students had benefited.

"The laptop has made a huge difference to my children’s learning as I am much more computer literate and able to produce a much more interesting programme and resources because of its use." (2007 comment)

Thirty-five of the 109 teacher comments related how their use of a laptop had increased motivation and student engagement in the learning.

"Definitely makes interest levels rise and very good at provoking discussion in small and large groups." (2007 comment)

"It has been a motivating presentation and teaching tool that helps children pick up skills that they can apply on the classroom computers." (2007 comment)

Twenty-seven comments indicated that the teacher’s use of the laptop had increased students’ IT skills. Many of these teachers explained that this was because children saw their teacher modelling laptop use and setting expectations.

"They are confident to try things I have. After seeing how I navigate around use toolbars they pick up how to do it very quickly." (2007 comment)

"The children see me making full use of my laptop and have an understanding that ICT is fully integrated into our programme of learning." (2007 comment)

Twenty-five comments indicated that the laptop extended students’ knowledge through access to up-to-date resource material. These teachers had found that the laptop provided instant access to a wide range of reference material that gave children a greater exposure to the world. A couple of teachers commented on how the laptop provided opportunities for extension purposes.

"Added to students’ enthusiasm of a topic, greater access to information and learning tools." (2007 comment)

Nineteen teachers described how their use of the laptop had presented students with another way to learn. They had found that the laptop encouraged students to learn from others and share knowledge.

"Being able to share, learn from others, another learning style prompts more discussion and makes for more collaborative learning." (2007 comment)

"Children really enjoy the different way we can view information and interact with it – it hooks them in and generates a lot of sharing, making connections and communication. It is more in touch with them and their lives." (2007 comment)

Ten responses were specifically about how the teacher’s use of ‘visuals’ with the laptop had been useful in engaging their students.

"Made it more motivating. Children can view visuals better. Better visuals for conveying concepts and information." (2007 comment)

Six comments mentioned how the laptop helped the teacher to work with individual students.

"Part of the way I use my laptop is to organise Support Learning programmes for children – cross curriculum – both to extend and to up skill ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) and other individuals – so of course that is definitely supporting children's learning!!" (2007 comment)

Forty-two of the 109 teacher comments provided a variety of ‘other’ responses based on use of their laptop in the classroom. Some found the laptop useful as an extra computer in the classroom for students to use (eight comments) and as another teaching tool (four comments). One teacher indicated that their students felt valued because of the sharing power of the laptop and data projector.

"My students see how their prior and learnt knowledge is valued because when work is presented on the laptop for whole-class viewing, they feel valued, I normally ask for permission to use work………." (2007 comment)

This teacher summed up the general feeling of the responses to this question:

"I couldn’t imagine not using it as much as I do. It would be a return to the Stone Age!!" (2007 comment)

Before teachers had TELA laptops, students would report on their work and discussion would ensue. But focus group teachers talked about how students had recently begun to initiate their own learning as a result of the way teachers were now facilitating classroom discussion, and perhaps as a result of teacher modelling, that began with laptop use.

"We are always using the board and I just sit back and they show what they have been doing that day with flipcharts – that is not a direct result of laptops but the laptop may have been the kick-start that we needed. As we began to use them [laptops] and found we didn’t have the tools. Then the data projector came in because you wanted to show the children something you had found. Then you heard about the Smartboard and now it is interactive learning. This morning we were doing friendly shapes and they said, ‘What’s the name of a rugby ball?’ And I said I had no idea and suggested that they Google it. So they jumped on and there was huge discussion and I wasn’t even involved in it. They typed up something and one of them said, ‘No, you haven’t used the right key word!’ and I wasn’t even there." (2007 urban focus group comment)

4.7 Benefits of the TELA scheme

In 2007 questionnaire respondents were asked summarise what for them had been the most exciting or innovative outcome of having a laptop. The aim was to triangulate the open responses against the fixed response data. Table 11 summarises the 254 responses.

  Table 11: Most exciting or innovative outcome of laptop ownership 

Most exciting/innovative outcome of having a TELA laptop (n=254)	Percent	Example of comment
Motivating teaching tool	23	Using it with a data projector to teach helps keep my students motivated and gets my message across quickly.  More interactive learning opportunities for my digital native students. Being able to deliver content in a way that grabs their attention more than on a whiteboard. As a motivational tool for children who are not focused on learning.
Flexibility of workplace/portable	23	FREEDOM of working at home in a warm, comfortable environment after school, in weekends and holidays.  Being able to create my own work from home. I have a young family and it has been great to be able to work from home. Being so organised! Also, by not having to stay at school and work on the computer has made me less tired!
Stimulus to use ICT	17	Trying new programs like Movie Maker, Photo Story, Front Page and others. It has given me confidence to have a go.  It’s not really the laptop – it’s the ICT PD related to cluster work, however, we wouldn’t be able to implement or access any of that without laptops.
Access to resources/information	14	Being able to provide more interesting units, as a result of having access to the Internet. Instant researching on Internet as a question arises, with monitor.
Sole repository/saves time/provides for efficiencies	12	I love the ease of keeping planning, templates, assessments, etc. filed, because I know that if I lose the hardcopy, I have access to it on my laptop – it is easier to keep myself organised.
Exclusive access to a computer	4	Independence, not needing to wait for computer to be free in teacher prep room. Access at any time. I live in a very computer-savvy family and I had to fight for access at home. Now I can work when I choose, which gives me time to surf for learning resources, etc.
To use to create resources	4	Saves a lot of preparation time. You can create your own resources specific to your class in a professional way.
Tool that supports communication and collaboration	3	Creating weblogs to showcase children’s work and collaborate with other classes, e.g. for writing poetry. To communicate with classes in other countries via email.

Almost a quarter (23%) of the comments referred to the excitement of using the laptop as a motivational tool to capture and engage student interest. For Years 4 to 6 teachers (23%) there was also the flexibility of time and place of work that the laptop allowed because it was a ‘portable’ computer and could be used at school and at home. Almost a fifth (17%) reported that the laptop had helped them to gain ICT confidence and skills, which they had been able to pass on to the children in their class. A similar proportion (14%) reported they appreciated their greater access to resources and information. Just over a tenth (12%) commented that with the laptop as a sole repository for all their work, teachers felt they were more organised and more professional.

Focus group teachers were also asked to describe the main benefit they had derived from access to a TELA laptop. From their comments it was obvious that the TELA scheme is just one of many initiatives that teachers are involved in. Some teacher comments indicated the laptop assisted them in applying newly learnt concepts from other projects that they were working on, such as the Literacy and Numeracy contracts. For others the laptop, in association with their involvement in an ICT PD cluster, had initiated a shift to a more inquiry learning-based model of teaching⁵. The following comment exemplifies the nature of the linkages that were described.

"Once again, I still think the laptop was a kick-off and [alongside] the pilot scheme with the ICT clusters. It’s been a pedagogical change in our own thinking. I know that when I first started teaching and then when I came back, my entire teaching has changed completely. But that’s been a number of things – it’s been to do with the NumPA⁶ project and the way we are doing guided reading and task boards, and us empowering the children and moving away from that traditional model to the connectivist way of teaching and that all-encompassing… like we do here (in the focus group meeting) – we are all having a time to speak and we are all listening to each other and we are actively engaged with one another. That’s where the pedagogy of teaching, especially in the primary school, has moved to – the inquiry learning as well." (2007 urban focus group comment)

4.8 Summary of impacts

Overall, the teacher commentary in the evaluation indicates that teachers have gained confidence and expertise in the use of computers/ICT. They are using their TELA laptops for the tasks those who designed the TELA scheme had hoped they would – administration, communication and collaboration, for lesson planning and preparation and, to a lesser extent, for teaching and learning. They had experienced efficiencies owing to the portability of the laptop, having all their resources in one place, being able to easily access and adapt resources and because the laptops afforded communication and collaboration. Teachers were becoming more effective and efficient by using customised tools to aid their lesson planning and preparation, and administrative tasks. TELA laptops have helped teachers to begin to integrate ICT effectively into their teaching practice.

Teachers generally agreed that a major impact of their use of the laptops on student learning was increased pupil motivation and engagement. At the Years 4 to 6 level it was also evident that in classrooms where teachers were using laptops and peripherals effectively, teachers were able to provide structured assistance to students by using their laptop to model or scaffold new work, and this had resulted in students having increased confidence in using ICTs in their learning. The examples show how the laptop had afforded students access to a wide range of reference material that gave them a greater exposure to the world outside the classroom. Teachers using laptops were increasingly creating a supportive learning environment for their students, encouraging reflective thought and action, enhancing the relevance of new learning, facilitating shared learning and providing multiple opportunities to learn, as the new curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007) requires.