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

5. The system of support for teacher laptop use

The contextual factors that shape and frame the opportunities and incentives teachers have to make successful use of their laptops relate to the nature of school leadership and organisational support for ICT use, professional learning opportunities and support for peer mentoring, access to the school technological infrastructure, and national policy supporting the use of ICT in schools. Teachers were asked to comment on each of these and also to rate their importance as an influence on their use of their laptop.

5.1 The nature of support for teacher use of laptops

Within the school environment, the evaluation examined teacher perceptions of the nature and influence of school leadership support, teacher professional development opportunities and school technological infrastructure on teacher use of laptops.

5.1.1 School leadership support

‘School leadership’ includes the principal, the deputy or assistant principal(s), syndicate leaders and senior teachers, and the ICT lead teacher. Table 12 details the extent to which different school leaders were found to be very supportive in helping teachers to use their laptops effectively as a teaching tool.

Across the three years, around one-third of teachers reportedly found the principal supportive. An increased proportion of teachers found other school leaders to be ‘very supportive’ in 2007: three-fifths of teachers found the ICT lead teacher to be very supportive and a quarter of teachers considered the syndicate leader or senior teacher to be very supportive.

School leaders have a role in setting expectations for teacher laptop use. Expectations signal what uses of the laptop are of value in the particular school. Just under three-quarters of teachers (73%) reported that there were expectations for their use of the laptops. In many cases, teachers cited several expectations: administrative tasks were predominant, with use for planning and lesson preparation, communication, use in the classroom and security measures also being listed as school expectations. These expectations are consistent with the high levels of routine use of the laptops for a variety of administrative tasks, lesson planning and preparation, and communication, as reported in Section 4. Teachers were expected to and do make use of their laptop for these tasks.

Table 13 looks at perceptions of school leader support where there was a perceived expectation for laptop use and where there was no expectation for laptop use.

There was evidence that teachers who reported their school had expectations for their laptop use found school leaders to be more supportive and that they used their laptops more frequently and for longer periods. Laptop access to the school network from classrooms was equally available to teachers in schools whether there was an acknowledged expectation for laptop use or not. However, Years 4 to 6 teachers in schools where there was an expectation for laptop use were more likely to have received formal professional development in the use of the laptop. Overall, this data indicates a link between expectations, leadership, teacher laptop use and professional development, which is supported by focus group commentary.

One rural focus group school principal was well aware of potential influence on teacher use of the laptops. He considered his staff needed to see him modelling the use of a laptop and also to see the benefits other teachers were gaining from the use of laptops. His goal was to develop shared expectations and ‘buy into’ laptop use. A focus group teacher from a decile 10 urban school where there was roll growth and new classrooms being built, reported the principal and board of trustees were very supportive of ICT, to the extent that it was announced that ‘our new currency is in interactive whiteboards’.

"The principal had told the staff that it would be ‘a horrendous two years, but bear with us and you’ll reap the rewards’. That’s what is happening now – the data projector that has just gone into the hall is a direct result of the BOT managing their funds well." (2007 urban focus group comment)

In contrast, two rural focus group teachers said there were no expectations in their school for laptop use. They felt this was a negative thing.

A focus group teacher from a rural school had a story that illustrated the interplay of some of the issues involved in leadership: the need for the person who was leading ICT use to have ongoing access to professional learning themselves and the importance of the principal’s vision for, and understanding of, ICT use.

"There has been no ICT growth; a lot of our staff do not take their laptops out of the cupboard. I have been able to help people but it does not work without support from the top. Before I went away and did my ICT professional development, I was in charge of ICT, and the Year 8 teacher used to come and take my class in the afternoons and I taught ICT and loved it. But there was nothing coming from the school so I went out and did my own professional development and then when I came back I found that the school organisation had changed and the principal was in charge of ICT. I can see the opportunities but the school has not gone forward because he hasn’t had the broader picture – he is an admin person and his laptop is absolutely wonderful. But he is not a teacher and has no experience with inquiry learning. When we started three years ago I felt quite confident that our school was going places and it just hasn’t gone any further. Part of it is probably my choice – I thought that I would be leading ICT when I came back, but when I wasn’t I didn’t make a fuss." (2007 rural focus group teacher)

A focus group teacher from an urban school who had been in charge of ICT during the first two years of the study had a similar story. A new principal had been appointed and had taken over ICT in what was seen to be a non-supportive way. The laptops were seen as important in maintaining some teacher focus on ICT.

"The principal has been there for 18 months. We were quite a progressive IT school. Three years ago I was released for one day a week with people in the class, training staff. When that stopped…they still come to me but the effectiveness of the programme in the computer suite has been dropping and the principal said, ‘That’s not really important’ so the effectiveness dropped even further and then there were people saying ‘it’s not being used’. So, the computers will go into classrooms but they are all about 3-4 years old. We are losing our suite – that’s going to become a resource room, it will be a classroom first till a new classroom is built. It is not going to be replaced at this stage – there is some talk about 2009, 2010, having laptops on a trolley or something like that. So, it’s the laptop that is keeping us in the game as far as IT goes." (2007 urban focus group comment)

5.1.2 Professional development/peer mentoring and support

Teachers described both formal professional development and support mentoring from peers.

Formal professional development

Nearly three-quarters of Years 4 to 6 teachers (243 – 70%) had received formal laptop-based professional development in 2007 (2005 – 42%: 2006 – 71%). Of these teachers, 142 had received this through being part of an ICT PD cluster group. Teachers were asked to indicate what the focus of any laptop-based professional development (PD) they had undertaken was and Table 14 shows the proportion of teachers in each ability group who had undertaken the different programmes.

Expert users were taking advantage of professional development opportunities particularly in laptop use in the classroom including ideas for classroom use, the specifics of software programs, and resource development. Half of the intermediate users had also received professional development in the use of the laptop in the classroom as well as the use of the school network. There were few Years 4 to 6 teachers who considered themselves to be beginners, but rather than beginning computer skills, most had learnt about the specifics of software programs and how to use the school network. Overall, the data indicate a different professional development focus for teachers at different levels of self-assessed expertise.

2007 data show that the use of the laptop as a tool for teaching had begun to be more of a focus for professional development than it had been in the previous years, as can be seen in Table 15.

Teachers across the questionnaires and the focus groups were looking for information and ideas about how they might exploit the affordances of the laptop and ICT in teaching and learning. They were looking to colleagues, or better still to models of effective practice for teaching and learning using ICT. There was a growing participation and presumably provision of professional development opportunities in the use of the laptop for teaching – for support or ideas for classroom use, use of specific software programs, and developing resources. Professional development on using the school network, the use of laptops for administration, and beginning computer skills had also increased, although had not doubled as was in the case of use for teaching.

Questionnaire respondents in 2007 described what they had found useful about any laptop-based professional development they had received. There were 194 comments about the usefulness of professional development. Many of these (75) outlined the skills that had been learnt and the increased confidence (10) that resulted. In relation to what was useful, professional development that was specific to ideas for teaching was found to be useful by 32 teachers.

"Exploring new ways to enhance learning for children with the use of ICT in ways I had never thought about. (2007 comment)

Twenty-four teachers noted professional development ‘relevant to my own needs’ was useful, and 18 had found that other teachers sharing their knowledge had been useful, within and between schools.

"It was contextual and based around what I needed at the time. It was at my own learning pace and catered for my learning style." (2007 comment)

Teachers (13) commented on the influence of the leader of the course, and 12 found it useful to have time away from the classroom with their laptop, to apply the knowledge learnt immediately.

Ten teachers specifically mentioned the value of the ICT PD contract. They appreciated the support of the facilitator, liked the hands-on practical ideas and had used the laptop to collaborate with teachers from other schools, and some continued to do this with teachers in their syndicate.

"Probably cluster group meetings [ICT PD] are the most beneficial as you get to see what other schools are up to and share ideas." (2007 comment)

One of these teachers felt that the ICT contract had ‘raised the profile of ICT in schools and the amount of support provided’ thereby indicating the importance of school-wide support and culture for laptop/ICT use.

Peer mentoring and support

In response to the question on who had been very supportive in helping to use the laptop effectively as a teaching tool, 68% of questionnaire respondents said that other teachers in the school were very supportive. Sharing ideas played a role in this.

"A lot of communication within syndicate over planning 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)

"Having a laptop has ensured that meetings are recorded and sent on to each other. Planning can be done with another teacher and saved. Time is cut down, duplication minimised." (2007 comment)

It was suggested in one focus group that sharing of resources and knowledge was perhaps dependent on the school culture, as in some schools certain areas of the school collaborated while others did not. Those who had been in an ICT PD cluster group had used the laptop extensively to collaborate with teachers from other schools, and some continued to do this with teachers in their syndicate.

"The ideas that we shared as a cluster provided motivation and resources to use in everyday classroom situations. Hands-on practical ideas helped a lot. Becoming more aware of programs out there." (2007 comment)

Taken together, teacher commentary indicate incentives and opportunities to learn more about how to use their laptop/ ICT were linked with the culture for ICT use and the nature and extent of collaboration amongst the group of which a teacher was a member.

5.1.3 School ICT technological infrastructure

The questionnaire and the focus groups provided teachers with an opportunity to comment on the nature of school technological or ICT infrastructure and the implications of this for what teachers could and could not do with their laptops.

Teachers appreciated the increased access to the school network and Internet from most areas of schools over the three-year period – there had been a steady increase in the proportion of teachers who had laptop access to the school network in their classroom (2005–71%: 2006–89%: 2007–93%). Likewise, there was an increase in the availability of laptop access to the Internet in classrooms (2005–73%: 2006–87%: 2007–92%). This increased availability was reflected in the increased teacher access to the Internet during lessons (Table 8). When asked in 2007, between 28% and 42% of teachers reported wireless capable areas in their schools.

To maximise the efficiency of their use of laptops as a teaching tool, teachers need easy access to additional equipment. There was an increase in easy access to additional equipment available to teachers over the three-year period, with teachers reporting easy access to digital cameras (up from 88% to 92%), printers (up from 81% to 89%) and data projectors (up from 54% to 74%). Teachers indicated they were making use of this equipment for lesson preparation (Section 4.5).

There was an increase in the proportion of teachers reporting technical support over the three-year period. The support of colleagues remained the most frequent response (2005–79%; 2006–79%; 2007–82%). There had been a substantial increase in the proportion of teachers reporting the support of an ICT lead teacher or computer committee (2005–40%: 2006–74%: 2007–75%), a full-time or part-time technician (2005–31%: 2006–28%: 2007–55%). Help from an outside expert remained relatively constant with just under half of the teachers reporting this availability.

The school’s ICT technological infrastructure, especially the easy classroom access to the school network, the Internet and to other equipment, in particular a data projector, was considered to be the main influence on the use of the laptops in the classroom by urban focus group teachers. It was clear that those who had access to the cabling, the school network and additional equipment were making the most use of their laptops for classroom use. Rural focus group teachers expressed concern about future funding for ICT equipment as their major source of funding [Telecom] had recently announced that it would no longer be directing funds to schools through the national Telecom Points system.

"You have to be enterprising but it will be a ‘major’ once Telecom Points stop. We have got a digital camera, data projector, CD player, portable sound system with a cordless mike and a memo since 2002 through Telecom Points. We have been earning about 600 points a month." (2007 rural focus group comment)

Focus group teachers reported that setting up a school network and testing could be very frustrating. There were teething problems with student management systems being experienced by many teachers. In one rural school, there was an ICT specialist who was in charge of an ICT suite where there were six PCs and a laptop for the use of four classrooms with 89 children. She explained her role:

"We have just got SchoolZone and SmartNet where teachers put their work up. If they come across any problems, they see me. I do the backup tapes morning and night. It’s a bit of a learning curve for the children to log in to the computer than logon to the Internet but they’ve got it all sussed now." (2007 rural focus group comment)

5.2 Important influences on teacher laptop use

Research on the nature of, and support for, systemic sustainable innovation with ICT is converging with research on policy implementation and studies of school change and improvement to highlight the complex interplay of personal and contextual factors. The 2006 and 2007 questionnaires listed a number of personal and contextual factors that teachers had identified as influences on their use of laptops in the classroom. Teachers were asked to note the importance of each factor to their own use of the laptop in the classroom at the time of responding. They were then asked to identify the factor they found most important. The goal here was to develop an understanding of how the factors operated as a system of influences.

5.2.1 Very important influences on teachers’ laptop use

Table 16 shows the proportion of teachers who regarded each of the listed factors as ‘very important’.

Teachers were asked to rate each factor independently and so were able to select more than one factor as being ‘very important’. ‘School networking and school connections’ was considered to be very important by over three-quarters of teachers. ‘Confidence and understanding of how to use the laptop for teaching’, was also considered to be very important by just under three-quarters of teachers in 2007.

‘Prompt technical assistance’ and ‘time to experiment with laptop capabilities and practice with use for teaching’ were both very important for just over two-thirds of teachers.

‘Leadership support from principal, syndicate leader or ICT lead teacher’ and ‘easy access to a data projector and other equipment, such as a digital camera’ were very important for just over half of the teachers. ‘Professional development and support for using the laptop in the classroom’ and ‘sharing with colleagues in school or syndicate’ were considered to be very important by just under half of teachers.

Although it was not identified in the above list and so was not a direct focus for data collection there was some indication that other government policies and initiatives shaped and framed teacher laptops. Teachers having a laptop for their individual professional use could also be seen to shape teacher and school engagement with other government initiatives. For instance, the ICT PD school cluster programme was rated highly by many teachers who appreciated the support of their facilitator and the opportunity to visit and learn from teachers at other schools. The laptop coupled with the ICT PD cluster work was said by three teachers to have ‘kick-started’ a pedagogical shift towards inquiry-oriented teaching. There was also some comment that the laptop had supported teacher participation in the numeracy and literacy projects in that it facilitated teachers recording, analysing and sharing data on student learning. This is an aspect worthy of further exploration.

5.2.2 The most important influence on teacher laptop use

When teachers were then asked to indicate the ‘most important’ influence from this system of eight factors nearly a quarter (2006–23%: 2007–22%) chose ‘confidence and understanding of how to use the laptop for teaching’ as being the most important factor, followed by ‘time to experiment with laptop capabilities and practice with use of the laptop for teaching’ (2006–18%: 2007–17%); this was followed by ‘school networking and school connections’ (2006–16%: 2007–15%). Then came ‘easy access to a data projector and other equipment’ (2006–14%: 2007–14%), and ‘professional development/support for using the laptop in the classroom’ (2006–13%: 2007–13%). Taking ‘school networking’, ‘easy access to equipment’ and ‘prompt technical assistance’ over a third (37%) of respondents rated school technological infrastructure as the most important influence on their laptop use. When ‘time’ and ‘professional development/support’ are combined 30% of teachers can be seen to give priority to their learning more about how to use their laptop. If those rating ‘confidence and understanding’ are added to this group then over half of the 2007 respondents selected factors associated with personal knowledge and expertise and the extension of this as the most important influence on their laptop use in the classroom.

Teachers in the focus groups considered easy access to reliable technology to be the most important influence on their use of the laptop for classroom use, followed by professional development and confidence. Leadership was considered by focus group teachers to be the most important influence on their school’s use of laptops, then reliable technology and professional development.

5.2.3 The most important influence and teacher expertise

The relative importance of these factors was different for users with different levels of self reported confidence and ability. Table 17 shows how teachers at each level of ability selected the most important factor.

Looking across this system of factors in 2007, those who rated themselves as expert users identified ‘easy access to equipment’ (23%–14% overall) as the most important influence in a greater proportion than the norm and either beginners or intermediate users. Just over a half of expert users identified technological infrastructure issues (school networking, access to equipment and technical support) as the most important influence on their laptop use.

Teachers who rated themselves as intermediate-level users identified ‘confidence and understanding’ (27%–22% overall) as the most important influence in a greater proportion than the norm and either expert users or beginners. Nearly three-fifths of intermediate users identified personal growth needs (confidence and understanding, time to experiment, and professional development) as being most important, suggesting that they were aware of their own knowledge and expertise as a limit on their laptop use.

Those who rated themselves as beginners identified ‘professional development/support’ (27%-13% overall) as the most important influence in a greater proportion than the norm and either expert users or intermediate users. Over two thirds of beginners identified professional learning needs (professional development, confidence and understanding, and time to experiment) as the most important influence on their laptop use.

5.3    A system of influences on teacher laptop use

Taken together, this data suggests that laptop teachers bring their own experiences, abilities and knowledge to laptop ownership and contextual factors such as leadership, opportunities for professional learning, school technological infrastructure along with the affordances of the laptop itself enable and constrain teacher use. When leadership in the school values ICT use, and supports and encourages a collaborative culture within a school where teachers feel able and are supported by an expectation, to share with others they benefit from wider opportunities to learn new ways of doing things. The hardware and software, including the school network and Internet access are readily available to the teacher, they are also supported by reliable technical help, and the school electronic administration practices are in place. This is the system that supports teachers to use their laptops both in and out of the classroom. It is these factors, as a system, that support and sustain and/or inhibit teacher use of laptops and ICTs. Individually, and as a system, they are manifest as enablers and constraints in different ways in different school settings and in different forms at different stages in teacher and school integration of the use of laptops and ICTs. With this support, the teacher uses the laptop and gains confidence and ICT skills, and is thereby able to increase the use of the laptop for tasks that are part of the professional life of a teacher.

The finding indicates that this system of factors has nurtured teacher confidence, supported the move to electronic forms of administration, enabled efficient and flexible communication and facilitated customised lesson planning and preparation. Teachers are now focused on maximising the use of the laptop in the classroom. Focus group teachers reiterated this goal of learning more about laptop use for teaching. Their discussion revolved around the support, particularly in professional learning opportunities that they needed to achieve it.