TELA: Laptops for Teachers Evaluation—Final Report Years 9-13

2. International Trends: ICT in Education 

Information and communication technology [ICT] has had a major impact upon many aspects of contemporary life. The use of ICT is central to the development of a knowledge society in that it has contributed to changes in how we conceptualise knowledge and what it means to know, patterns of business and economic operations, and the ways people interact and communicate with each other. Internationally, a number of governments have invested heavily in computers for schools with the goal of preparing students for this new society in anticipation that ICT can enhance student motivation, interest and achievement of the current curriculum. The impact of this investment has been the focus of a substantial research effort. In this section, we provide a brief overview of key studies and findings pertinent to the TELA evaluation.

Impacts

Studies of the impacts of ICT on teachers and schools have generally focused on impacts on teaching and student achievement. Despite the rhetoric, these studies have not provided unequivocal evidence of a positive impact on student learning (Cuban, 2001) although a small number of small-scale resource-rich studies have indicated that ICT can and does enhance student achievement. There is more evidence of an indirect impact with a greater number of studies reporting positive impacts on the learning environment along with changes in student interest and motivation as a consequence of, for example, the use of multi-sensory resources in classroom lessons (Becker, 2000). Cox, Abbott, Webb, Blakely, Beauchamp and Rhodes (2003) express concern about such results, saying that the nature of the learning that is promoted by the use of different ICT environments may have been overlooked. They suggest that researchers have been looking for improvements in traditional processes and knowledge, instead of new reasoning and new knowledge, which might emerge from the ICT use. On the other hand, Bebell, Russell and O’Dwyer (2004) propose that recent development in ICT supports the need for a broader conceptualisation of the potential impacts of ICT. Their survey of 2,894 teachers in the United States indicated that the teachers were making substantial use of computers out of the classroom in support of teaching for tasks such as lesson planning and preparation, administration and management, and email communication with colleagues. This line of research also highlights other impacts that might be considered. For instance, in the SITES M2 international study, Kozma (2005) proposes that ICT innovations have four dimensions: curriculum content and goals; student practices (activities, products, roles and collaborations); teacher practices (methods, roles, and collaborations); and the ways ICT is used in schools. Taking this further, Mioduser, Nachmias, Tubin and Forkosh-Baruch (2003) propose that any innovation with ICT can be evaluated in terms of impacts on the time-and-space-configurations of schools. That is, the implications of any-time-any-place opportunities for teaching and learning, and the impacts on student and teacher roles and responsibilities, particularly the ways teachers and students interact with each other and with content, and how teachers work together, is also important to analyse, along with impacts on the curriculum (content, knowledge, teaching and assessment approaches). This is a useful division for the analysis of the New Zealand situation, for it covers a range of factors from school organisation and systems to what students and teachers do in classrooms. A broad focus on impacts is consistent with the TELA goals and aims as set out in the TELA scheme specification (Ministry of Education, 2003).

This evaluation builds on research on the nature of the integration of ICT into teacher and school practices. Here research evidence is that the introduction of computers into schools has not transformed schools and teaching. As Kerr (1991) pointed out in the early 1990s, simply acquiring technology will not bring about change in and of itself. Cultural, organisational and pedagogical issues need to be considered alongside technological issues. It seems that teachers and schools are just as likely to use technology to do the things they already do more quickly and efficiently, as they are to use it to transform what they do, or use it to do what was previously impossible, particularly with regard to pedagogical innovation. ICT can just as easily replicate and reinforce current practices as it can transform them (Cuban, 2001), and is just as likely to support traditional as innovative pedagogy (Pelgrum & Anderson, 1999). International research is replete with theories intended to explain the progression of ICT use by individual teachers. For example, Mioduser, et al. (2003) propose that teachers initially assimilate ICT into their current practice to make it more efficient and effective before moving on to translate then transform practice. Likewise, Coughlin and Lemke (1999) identify three ‘stages of instructional evolution’ based on research from the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow program: Entry, adaptation and transformation. In this continuum teachers move from being aware of the possibility that technology holds for improving learning without changing their teaching practices; to integrating technology into current practices; to using technology as “a catalyst for significant changes in learning practice” (p. 13). Hennessy, Ruthven and Brindley (2004), working with teachers in the United Kingdom provide evidence of ‘pedagogical evolution’ over a period of three years. For the teachers in their study there was a gradual but perceptible shift in subject practice and thinking for both teachers and their students. Likewise, the year-long study of Zhao, Pugh, Sheldon and Byers (2002) of teachers attempting to carry out technology-rich projects in their classrooms concluded that teacher innovation with technology in the classroom was more likely to succeed if teachers “take small, but progressive steps towards change” (p. 512). That is, change occurred more through evolution than revolution. These findings are linked with the probability that teachers held deep-seated views about their own practice. These views are connected to habitual classroom practices that may be difficult to alter. However, in line with research on teacher and school change (Fullan, 2001; Spillane, 2004), researchers in the field of ICT innovation are increasingly turning their attention to and recommending policymakers attend to the interaction between technological innovation and school realities (Olson, 2000; Selwyn, 2002).

Accounting for variations

Researchers have explicated a number of personal and contextual factors to account for the variations in teacher adoption of ICT within and between schools. On a personal level, teacher level of confidence with using ICT can vary greatly and be related to their competence in using ICT. Added to this, perceptions about the usefulness of ICT in supporting teaching are influential (Cox, Preston & Cox, 1999: Jones, 2004; Zhao & Frank, 2003; Zhao et al., 2002), particularly perceptions about the potential of ICT use to ‘add value’ above and beyond existing practice (Hennessy, Ruthven & Brindley, 2004), The use of ICT such as the Internet can challenge teacher control and authority over knowledge and so teacher beliefs about learning, and teacher and student roles are also influential (Wallace, 2004). When considering the kind of professional development needed to enhance the use of ICT in a school, varying levels of knowledge and expertise need to be catered for, and teacher skill and pedagogical needs need to be balanced (Christensen, 2002; Jones, 2004; Cox et al., 1999). Given that successful innovation with ICT is more likely evolutionary, the distance between and alignment of any proposed technology use with current school and teacher individual practices also needs to be considered (Zhao et al., 2002).

Contextual factors include technological facilities and support, school and department-level leadership, school organisation, and school culture and ethos. Teacher use of ICT, particularly any integrated classroom use, requires a reliable technological infrastructure that includes network systems, hardware and software (Cox et al., 1999). Teachers also need easy access to a range of ICT resources (ICT/resources/laptops) if they are to make effective use of them in the classroom (Pelgrum, 2001). Quality on-site technical support is important (Cuban, 1999: Scrimshaw, 2004) because ICT equipment can be unreliable and teachers need to be confident it will be functional when they need it (Bradley & Russell, 1997; Jones, 2004; Zhao et al., 2002). Change that involves technology has financial implications and so school leadership support is essential. Leadership vision for change and planning for action to implement this vision is crucial. All the more so because technology is a dynamic variable whose impacts at the organisational level are unpredictable and can be wide-ranging (Langer, 2005). In addition to changes in the teaching and learning process, it can lead to changes in school culture and school structures and systems (Cuban, Kilpatrick & Peck, 2001; Jewell, 1998).

Grossman, Stodolsky and Knapp (2004) make the point that “subject matter represents the crucible in which instructional reforms are enabled, as well as the direct target of many curricular reforms” (p. 3). They go on to assert that the impact of policy related to teaching is unlikely to be understood unless the interaction between policy and the sub-culture and practices associated with different subjects is taken into account. Subject departments in secondary schools provide the immediate context for pedagogical change. Recent research on teacher perspectives of the potential contribution of computers to teaching and learning supports the need to attend to subject matter as a key player in teacher use of ICT (Hennessy et al., 2004). Subject sub-cultural differences, both subject-discipline and subject-department-based, appear to influence the ways secondary teachers conceptualise and use technology to enhance teaching and learning. English teachers in a study in England by Hennessy et al., for example, placed more emphasis on student agency and face-to-face discussion as central to learning and were dubious of the role ICT could play in this. Mathematics teachers were somewhat ambivalent about the value of computers; they saw more possibilities for the use of graphic calculators. In contrast, science teachers saw ICT as being able to contribute everyday examples and illustrations of ideas. Adding to the need to consider the impact of the subject on teachers at the secondary level, Tearle (2004) and Hennessy and Deaney (2004) found that support for change and sharing of innovation from within an subject department were key factors in disseminating new pedagogical practices, but only when these were trialled and evaluated. Zhao and colleagues (Zhao & Frank, 2003; Zhao et al., 2002) found that when the prevailing school culture was one of collaboration and mutual support for change, the diffusion of technology innovations was more likely. Organisational factors and whole-school characteristics also influenced change (Hennessy & Deaney, 2004). Innovation was more likely to be widespread and sustainable in the long term when the push for ICT integration was school-wide (Forkosh-Baruch, Nachmias, Mioduser & Tubin, 2005)

Towards sustainable systemic ICT use

In recent years, researchers concerned that innovative uses of ICT have not been achieving meaningful scale or long-term integration into teacher and school everyday practices have focused their attention on the wider educational context for change. Added to this, it seems that the processes of initiating, transferring and sustaining innovative ICT practices within and across different school systems involved very different challenges and issues (Kankaanranta, 2005, p. 114). Fishman, Marx, Blumenfeld, Krajcik and Soloway (2004) noted that sustainable systemic technological reform required the participation and understanding of personnel across and at all levels of the educational system (See also Hennessy et al.). It also required attention to systemic issues such as policy change, professional development planning, and resource production and distribution. Voogt and Pelgrum (2005) pointed out that in Finland, ICT was used as a scaffold to build connectedness for innovation, and in Hong Kong it was used as a tool to support innovation, with this difference likely to be due to broad cultural and policy differences. Kozma (2005) in her analysis of the successful integration of ICT in Singapore and Finland noted that in these two countries policies and programs target all the components of the system in a coordinated and coherent way so that any reform-based changes mutually reinforced and contributed to continuous improvement. School change was coordinated within the community and larger system and this internal consistency was then complemented by vertical consistency between the different levels of the system (Pal, 2001). Further still, the vertical consistency was complemented across different policy areas, integrating educational, economic and other social goals. Hence, the wider context of educational policy and practice is of interest in this study on laptops.

The research described so far, has concentrated on teacher use of school computers, and the extent to which teachers integrate ICT into their professional lives. Access to a personal portable computer, or laptop, can afford different opportunities for teacher use of ICT due to the portability, opportunity for teacher exclusive use, and the generally higher specifications that laptops have compared to existing school computers. At the inception of this study, research was only just beginning to explicate the impact of laptops on schools, teachers and students. Indications were that laptops could support increased communication between teachers, students and parents and greater sharing of information between teachers (Cunningham, Kerr, McEune, Smith, & Harris, 2003). Teachers have reported increases in ICT confidence and competence with perceived positive impacts in the classroom. Teachers who had formerly shared desktop computers with other teachers or students, now had a sense of ownership of the technology they were using (Sockwell & Zhang, 2003). They acknowledged the advantages of having everything in one place and liked the continual everyday availability of laptop. Teachers felt they were gaining maximum impact from their laptops when used in conjunction with peripherals. This study explicates the impacts on New Zealand secondary teachers of their access to a TELA laptop computer.

To sum up, there are a number of factors identified in the literature that are impacting upon teachers’ use of ICT. Assess to ICT on its own, will not necessarily result in changes for teachers or schools (Kerr, 1991). To bring about changes a number of factors must be considered that are related to school-wide opportunities and incentives for ICT use, department factors and classroom factors. Provision of professional development as needed, must take into account the reality of the considerable teacher variance in confidence and expertise and the time taken to learn new knowledge and practices in ICT. Much more needs to be known about how these identified factors impact on New Zealand schools when teachers are working to integrate technology into their professional lives.