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

7. Recommendations

From the findings of this report we have identified implications or options that may have the effect of maximising the TELA scheme and building capacity for laptop teachers’ integration of ICT into their professional lives, for three levels of the New Zealand education system: national educational policymakers, schools leaders and teachers.

7.1 National policy

The findings of this study lend support to the contention that any analysis of the impact of ICT cannot afford to decontextualise it from the wider context of schools, and that a systems analysis is required (Selwyn, 2002). The evaluation indicated that teacher professional learning opportunities and technological infrastructure shape and frame teachers’ opportunities for laptop use. Each of these aspects is important at any time but they are important in different ways for different schools, teachers and tasks suggesting a nested systems approach is required to encourage and sustain the integration of the laptops into teachers’ work.

Support for teacher development and the use of laptops for teaching and learning

The e-Learning strategy states that teachers “must be supported in developing and enhancing their own ICT knowledge and skills, through professional learning and consistent ongoing support across the education sector” (Ministry of Education, 2006a). The Years 4 to 6 teachers in this study wanted to learn more about the use of ICT in teaching and learning. They said they needed more time to experiment and to learn to use new technologies for teaching and learning.

We recommend that:

Support for school technological infrastructure development

‘School networking and school connections’ were considered to be ‘very important’ influences on how teachers used their laptops in their teaching role, by over three-quarters of Years 4 to 6 teachers and the ‘most important’ influence by around a sixth of teachers (2006–16%: 2007–15%). In 2007, just 55% of teachers reported that their school had a full-time or part-time technician, with over four-fifths of teachers relying on colleagues for technical support.

We recommend that:

Alignment with other policy initiatives

There was some indication that TELA laptops supported teacher engagement with other policy initiatives and, conversely that the other initiatives fostered teacher laptop use. The alignment between and cumulative, or not, impact of different policies is worthy of further investigation, particularly in relation to the sustainability of any change in practice.

We recommend that:

7.2 Schools

School leaders would be advised to adopt a systems approach to the integration of laptops that includes attention to teacher professional development opportunities, technical infrastructure support and leadership in the use of laptops/ICT in the school. Indications were that these aspects were important to all teachers, with different aspects having more or less importance depending on self-reported ability with laptop use.

Professional learning opportunities

The evaluation study has shown that there is potential for TELA laptops to expand possibilities for learning and to influence teaching practices. ‘Confidence and understanding of how to use the laptop for teaching’, was considered to be ‘very important’ by just under three-quarters of teachers in 2007. When teachers were then asked to indicate the ‘most important’ influence from a list 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, a sixth chose ‘time to experiment with laptop capabilities and practice with use of the laptop for teaching’ (2006–18%: 2007–17%).

It was evident from the findings that by 2007 laptops had begun to influence teaching practices indirectly, and teachers’ images of their own work had begun to evolve to take technology into account. This does not mean that it is enough for a teacher to have exclusive use of a laptop for pedagogical change to occur. It is of concern that any use of technology may serve only to fit into current practices. A focus for development could be the understanding and development of new kinds of relationships between learning and teaching and the technology, teachers, students and the curriculum.

We recommend that:

Development of school technological infrastructure

We recommend that:

School leadership

We recommend that:

7.3 Teachers

The findings indicate that access to a laptop for their exclusive use resulted in Years 4 to 6 teachers gaining more confidence and capability in the use of ICTs. By 2007, they were making use of the laptops for communication with colleagues, a range of administrative tasks including reporting to parents, and the development of lesson materials, and in the classroom with individuals, groups and the whole class.

Professional development: developing and supporting a community of learners

There needs to be a collaborative culture for teachers to share effective strategies and techniques for integrating laptops into the classroom. Teacher commentary in this study attests to the efficacy of professional development, albeit not formal professional development provided by external experts but rather peer mentoring. Teacher development was heavily influenced by internal factors in a school, such as help from colleagues. Easy access to models for teaching students using ICT would seem to be essential. Given the evolutionary nature of ICT and its possible uses, it seems likely that opportunities to share will continue to be important. Increasingly, it would seem that all teachers have an obligation to use ICT, so that their students are not disadvantaged in comparison with those of teachers who are exploring its use in teaching and learning. It is also becoming increasingly imperative to communicate and be collaborative via electronic means. It is therefore essential that all teachers have the skills needed for word processing, accessing and searching the Internet and sending emails.

We recommend that: