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

4. Impacts of Teacher Professional Practice

In this section we set out key findings over the period of the study in relation to the impacts of teacher access to a TELA laptop on individuals and schools, focusing on the inclusion of the laptops on the broad compass of teachers’ professional work and the extent laptop access may be considered to have transformed teacher and school practices and/or to have contributed to efficiency. We begin by providing evidence of the integration of the laptop into teachers’ professional lives. We next describe changes in teacher perceptions of personal expertise and detail the different uses being made of the laptop.

4.1 CHANGES IN PERCEPTIONS OF EXPERTISE AND COMFORT LEVELS

Like everything new, we need quality time to learn the new skills and to be convinced that this is a valuable teaching tool, and will enhance learning. Always difficult to find the time. (2003 comment)

It is fantastic to have been provided a laptop by MOE. My skills would not have progressed to current level without it. (2004 comment)

Greater use has led to confidence and increased ICT use within the classroom. (2005 comment)¹

One of the immediate impacts of laptop access was expected to be that teachers would experience gains in ICT confidence and appropriate skills and knowledge. Table 1 shows a modest shift in teachers’ rating of their ability to use the laptop in terms of their being an ‘expert,’ ‘intermediate,’ or ‘beginner’ user.

Table 1 Perceived ability to use a laptop (2003-2005)

	2003 %	2004 %	2005 %
Expert users	21	21	26
Intermediate users	65	67	65
Beginners	14	12	9

Table 2 shows that on the whole teachers were comfortable using their laptops over the three-year period for the three core tasks of word processing, emailing, searching the Internet.

Table 2 Teachers who felt ‘comfortable’ using their laptops (2003-2005)

	2003 %	2004 %	2005 %
Word processing	97	96	99
Email	94	96	98
Search Internet	96	97	99

By 2005 around half of the teachers reported that they were ‘comfortable’ with using their laptops for four other tasks (using graphics, locating online information, using spreadsheets or charts, and presentation software). There were three tasks (creating and using a database, using movie-editing software, and creating web pages) where there was still less than a fifth of teachers feeling ‘comfortable’.

The data indicate that being an expert was associated with having capability in a wider range of applications. It was the ability to locate information in a database, use graphics, presentation software and spreadsheets that distinguished those who rated themselves experts from those who rated themselves as intermediates. Over 80% of expert users reported they were comfortable with these tasks compared with between a third and a half of intermediate users. Experts were also more likely to be comfortable with creating a database, using movie-editing software and creating web pages.

The proportion of respondents who rated themselves as beginners remained relatively stable at around 10% across the three years, but the range of tasks that beginners were likely to rate themselves as being comfortable with and to be doing routinely increased, particularly between 2003 and 2004. The proportion of beginners who rated themselves as comfortable in using a word processor, searching the Internet and emailing rose from just over a third who were comfortable in 2003 to around half in 2005. The shift was greatest for searching the Internet, where there was a 41% increase in the proportion of beginners who were comfortable with this task (2003-34%; 2004-36%; 2005-48%). The proportion of beginners using the laptop to write reports rose from 51% in 2003, to 60% in 2004, and 65% in 2005. The proportion of beginners recording and checking student grades also increased with just under half of respondents using their laptops for these purposes by 2005 (33% in 2003; 40% in 2004; 51% in 2005 for recording grades; 20% in 2003; 41% in 2004; 44% in 2005 for checking student records). The proportion checking department schemes, the school timetable and notices, and recording student attendance doubled over the three years, up to 20% in 2005. Overall, this pattern of responses suggests a change in teacher norms and expectations for laptop/ICT use, which was also reflected in focus group and case study comments.

Focus group and case study teachers who, in the first year of the evaluation were somewhat deprecatory about what they could do, and who were tentative about being involved in the study, exhibited gains in confidence. Many of these teachers, along with a fifth of the questionnaire respondents, indicated the laptop was the first computer they had “owned.” In the second year, most of these teachers spoke with some confidence about what they had learned to do. In the third year, all but one of the teachers in this group were positive about the range of uses to which they put their laptop, many describing it as indispensable. These teachers intimated that their having a laptop computer for their personal use had been transformative. It was important to them that the laptop computer was portable and so was available for them to explore and experiment with where and when they had the time and inclination. A technology teacher contrasted his previous resistance to computers with his current practice:

Three years ago, I resisted computers at school. I was not interested in the shared drive – I had my little life going fine and didn’t need one! As you become more aware you lose the fear – the main benefit to me though, has been that the laptop has encouraged me to get to grips with the school systems. (2006 case study comment)

The impact of use of a TELA laptop was exemplified by the change in attitude and expertise of a head of department (English). Initially, she had had to fight to access a laptop because the school management had considered her as unlikely to want one: before the advent of the scheme she had had no inclination to use or own a computer. Having accessed a laptop she had proceeded to seek help from family, friends and colleagues to develop her knowledge and skills. In 2003, she was frustrated at her inability to type. In 2004, she noted that it took 347 steps to reach the Internet connection closest to her classroom when it was dry and 513 when it was wet. At the time of the 2005 focus group she had just taken up a position of responsibility as the school senior dean. This position had, as an expectation, significant communication and organisation responsibilities within the school and with tertiary institutions. The teacher indicated that her laptop would play a key role in these duties.

4.2 CHANGES IN USE FOR ADMINISTRATION

Was excellent to be able to take my laptop on a school trip to help with daily accounts and downloading photographs from digital cameras. (2003 comment)

On the whole my laptop has been very useful for administrative purposes – makes things a lot easier. (2004 comment)

Extremely valuable and quick for administration (helps cope with a rapidly growing area). (2005 comment)

I use the laptop to access NZQA for standards in addition to sourcing revision material. (2005 comment)

One of the goals of the TELA scheme was that teachers would experience significant efficiencies in administration and reporting. Teachers were asked to indicate how frequently, if at all, they used their laptop for eight different administration tasks. Teacher commentary indicated this goal had been achieved for many of them, particularly in relation to report writing and the recording and analysis of student assessment data.

Evidence of change

The proportion of respondents making some use of their laptop in each of the listed administrative tasks increased over the three years, as can be seen in Table 3. In 2005, over two thirds of the respondents, overall, indicated that they used their laptop for administrative tasks such as writing reports for parents, recording and checking student data; routine use for checking records, in particular, had increased substantially (50% in 2003; 63% in 2004; 65% in 2005). Nearly half of the respondents were using the laptop routinely to check schemes and the timetable by 2005. With the exception of scheduling appointments, all tasks were done routinely on the laptop by over a quarter of teachers in 2005.

Table 3 Change in levels of laptop use for administrative tasks (2003-2005)

	Routine use %  - 2003	Routine use %  - 2004	Routine use %  - 2005	Occasional use % - 2003	Occasional use % - 2004	Occasional use % - 2005
Write reports	72	81	79	13	9	12
Record grades	64	68	70	20	18	18
Check lists/records	50	63	65	23	21	20
Check schemes	40	42	48	28	28	31
Check timetable	32	42	45	23	24	29
Check notices	21	19	28	18	25	23
Record attendance	18	21	27	11	12	11
Schedule appointments	9	7	10	16	17	15

Discussion

Nearly all questionnaire respondents were making some use of the laptops for administrative tasks associated with their obligations for teaching and learning. In particular, a higher proportion of beginners used the laptop for writing reports for parents than any other task. In 2005, 65% of all beginners used the laptop for this purpose, 14% more than used the laptop for any other listed task. The higher involvement by beginners in just this one task suggests they were driven by more than their own goals and, indeed, the focus group and case study teachers indicated that computer-based reporting was a school requirement in all but one of their schools. This said, teachers felt that the laptops were invaluable in allowing them to complete this administrative task, and others, with greater ease and efficiency. Focus group and case study teachers reported that the laptops had eased personal stress and teacher congestion around school computers at report time. Teachers, particularly those with young families and those who lived some distance from school, appreciated being able to prepare comments at home.

By 2005, recording and checking student grades were tasks performed by nearly half of those who rated themselves as beginners, two thirds of those who rated themselves as intermediate users, and three quarters of those who rated themselves as expert users. These, too, are administrative tasks associated with teachers’ obligations to monitor and report on student progress, which, perhaps, explains their prevalence. In particular, the use of the laptop for student data entry was most likely driven by the external demand for electronic NCEA² results. The prevalence of these uses could also be a consequence of teacher experience of school-provided professional development: in the second and third years of the evaluation over a third of teachers reported that they had had professional development in the use of school network and administration programs. The focus groups and some case study teachers indicated that teacher laptop access through the TELA scheme had leveraged teacher and school collection, collation and analysis of student data because the school student database was now more comprehensive and up-to-date. From a senior management perspective, one associate principal noted that the laptops had turned the school’s referral systems and student records into “living documents.” They were being accessed and updated regularly. In some schools, teachers were also able to enter student attendance information directly via the laptop onto the school student-data management system. The benefits of this were said to be that the school, rather than the individual teacher, could follow up on any problems quickly and efficiently.

Hence, a well set-up and maintained school infrastructure is crucial for teacher use of the laptop for administrative and management functions such as reporting, student data entry, student absences and internal communication. Schools systems for teachers to transfer comments into the school student report templates varied with some still requiring teachers to cut and paste their comments but, nevertheless, the laptops were said to have made substantial contribution to this process. In 2005, teachers were reporting that some school network systems were still not fully functional.

I feel much more positive about using ICT since our network has been upgraded. The last three years have been very frustrating but I believe there is light at the end of the tunnel. God willing! (2005 comment)

Depending on their classroom or workroom access, some teachers continued to use computers that were connected to school network administration systems. Questionnaire responses indicated that teachers with access to the school network from every classroom that they taught in made more routine use of the laptop for administrative tasks than teachers who did not have individual classroom access. Just under half of questionnaire respondents (49%) had access in every classroom and the proportion of these teachers making use of laptops for administrative tasks was around 10% higher in every task for those with laptop access in every classroom to the school network. Restrictions on teacher home access to school systems were discussed as problematic by the focus groups. They recognised the need to protect school data and systems but pointed out this reduced the ‘any time any place’ use of the laptops to conduct of some administrative tasks.

Over the three years, many of the focus group and case study teachers detailed the issues they and their school had faced with their school’s student data management system. A number of schools were looking to upgrade these.

In regards to the long-term administrative use of ICT for tasks, an assistant principal in one case study school was clear that the Ministry needed to play a role in “future thinking about the role of ICT.” At the time of the 2006 interviews, most of the schools used a combination of paper and electronic systems. The goal of most schools was to move to totally electronic systems to avoid duplication of tasks but they were not prepared to take this step without the assurance that there would be no requirement for paper-based systems.

The table in Appendix B shows all administrative uses, and any increased routine use (in brackets), of laptops for administrative tasks over the three-year period, along with the value of using a laptop for these tasks, the specific enablers and constraints for the use of laptops to undertake administrative tasks (with number of comments in brackets), and recommendations to schools.

4.3 CHANGES IN USE FOR COMMUNICATION

Email is a good way to contact busy teachers who are often hard to locate by phone. (2005 comment)

My laptop ^email is fast becoming my preferred way to communicate – it gives date and time verification. (2005 comment)

It is generally agreed that ICT provides for greater connectivity and ease communication (Ministry of Education, 2006). Teachers were asked to report on their use of email and participation in online discussion lists or forums.

Evidence of change

Most (85% or more) of the questionnaire respondents reported some use of email over the three years (see Table 4). While there was no substantial shift in use, over half reported they made ‘routine’ use of email indicating email was part of the everyday practices of these teachers. Respondents reported an increased occasional use of professional online discussion forums over the three-year period, but a small decrease in routine use.

Table 4 Change in levels of laptop use for communication (2003-2005)

	Routine use % - 2003	Routine use % - 2004	Routine use % - 2005	Occasional use % -  2003	Occasional use % - 2004	Occasional use % -  2005
Email colleagues	52	51	54	33	35	33
Online discussion	10	7	5	18	19	25

Each year, over two thirds of expert users, around half of intermediate users and a quarter of beginners used their laptops routinely for email communication. The use of online discussion forums appeared to be limited to those in roles outside the role of classroom teacher, for example, PPTA executive.

Discussion

The Internet and email have become more dominant over the past ten years. While only half of the questionnaire respondents were making routine use of email the focus groups and case study teachers were very enthusiastic about its use. The implication was that teacher use of email for professional and personal communication provides an engaging entry point for teacher use of ICT, one that includes obvious and immediate feedback and efficiencies. The teachers indicated email was assuming an increasing role in collegial communication both within and between schools. Indeed, teachers at one school described 2005 as “the year of email,” identifying the use of email as the main change in ICT use. The suggestion was that email had become embedded in the communication systems of some schools to the extent that email had largely superseded other methods of communication because “it ^email is a more effective and accessible means of communication.” Email was said to be of particular value when a record of what was said was needed, particularly if someone was unavailable for a face-to-face meeting. This said, a number of those interviewed were concerned that email might supersede informal and spontaneous face-to-face discussion with colleagues. In one school, the school principal was actively resisting a move to email as a way of encouraging such interaction. In another, however, the principal encouraged the use of email to collect and distribute information school-wide. As might be expected, the use of email as a means for whole school communication, both formal and informal, was not seen as viable unless all staff had a laptop or a computer, easy access to the school network and could be relied on to use this facility on a regular basis. Thus, to be credible, whole-school communication via email needed to driven by the school leadership.

Communication with colleagues in other schools

Email played a role in communicating with colleagues in other schools and with teacher organisations for just over two fifths of the questionnaire respondents overall (predominately those who rated themselves as expert users). Teachers were now in more regular contact with a wider range of colleagues around the country to plan joint activities, including extra-curricular activities for students, and meetings and conferences for teachers. Many focus group and case study teachers recommended email for this purpose, claiming it allowed for greater flexibility of communication with those outside school than did the telephone or fax. Email played a role in subject association networking and in setting up and following up on face-to-face meetings. This was particularly important for teachers who were the only teachers of a subject in a school. For instance, the three classics teachers who participated in the case studies and focus groups all mentioned the support they had had from their subject association suggesting it had played a key role in the diffusion of new practices. This impact is all the more significant because many teachers were searching for models of what was possible in order to be able to continue to progress their laptop and ICT use in teaching and learning.

Communication with parents

Another interesting aspect to emerge from the focus discussion groups in 2005 was that email had become a medium that was used by some teachers to communicate with parents. Two deans used email for this purpose although individual teacher-parent communication was not generally supported. The practice in one school was to email school newsletters to parents each week. In another school, this information was made available via the school website. One teacher explained:

One thing that I am doing now that I didn’t used to do is when I update the web page. Our newsletter is written by our principal’s secretary as a publisher document. Instead of rewriting that entirely into a HTML document to go on the web page, I just now save as a web page and use that directly. (2005 comment)

In one case study school, the use of email to communicate with parents was just beginning in 2005. The contact related mainly to student issues such as attendance and achievement, but teachers felt this allowed better management of contacts. The deputy principal in this school was positive about the widespread use of email as he felt it “adds another level of social interaction as everyone is in contact.” Some teachers still felt it was more efficient to contact parents by phone. In another case study school the head of the careers department saw improved email access as one of the major benefits of the laptop and had found email contact with parents to be useful:

Parents enjoy having email access so I give the students my email address and ask for one for their parents now. (2006 case study comment)

Communication with students

A small number of teachers described the use of email communication with students. For example, students who were reluctant to ask questions during class would sometimes email their teacher for feedback outside of class time, as the following teacher described.

At my previous school, which was a boys’ school, one of the things that was really interesting was that I would get boys who looked as if they were not paying attention in class and you get home and there would be an email of the work waiting for you. It was as if they would not expose themselves in class but the work was always there. I would say I will log on at 7.30 when the kids are in bed and I would always get five or six really good pieces of work. Especially for boys that don’t want to be seen as participating. (2006 case study comment)

One case study school had set up forums on the school intranet for students to communicate with each other about various issues. Some staff were using these forums to communicate with students, which they described as being “rather like a town square” where people could interact and share opinions. However, there was a caution about the value of these now that the school did not have a Webmaster:

We have forums where staff and students can have a say. We have access to the student forum and one of the things I notice about not having a Webmaster is that some of the things coming through on the student forum should not really be coming through – a kid calling herself promiscuous - and I thought he would never have let that through. (2006 case study comment)

In two other case study schools there were examples of teachers using email to contact students: to pass on information about assignments, reminders of due dates, and to pass on links to material on a departmental shared drive; and to email homework to students who were away from school for a length of time. In the latter case, the teacher intended to continue this practice as it had allowed her to stay in touch with students and families and had proven to be effective in keeping them up-to-date with the course material. Another teacher commented that students preferred to make contact using cell phones, rather than email.

The table in Appendix C shows uses for communication and any increased routine use (in brackets) of laptops for these tasks over the three-year period, the value of using a laptop for these tasks, the specific enablers and constraints for the use of laptops for communication tasks (with number of comments in brackets), and recommendations to enhance teachers’ effective use of laptops in their professional lives.

4.4 CHANGES IN USE FOR COLLABORATION

We are always gathering around the laptops, it might be if a student has done some digital photography work and you have downloaded it on your laptop and I’ll say, “Check out this student’s work!” Everyone will gather around and offer ideas. This is so good – the immediacy of it. (2006 case study comment)

I have only recently started to realise the huge potential for collaborative, online teaching support. AWESOME!! (2005 comment)

I have created a departmental folder on the school network for shared resources and trained others in using it. (2005 comment)

One of the expected outcomes of the laptop scheme was that laptops would impact on collegial relationships and initiate professional growth opportunities supporting teachers to share their knowledge and resources with colleagues. Teachers were asked to report on the frequency of using their laptops to access the Internet for information such as research findings and subject association newsletters and for the collaborative development of units and lesson materials.

Evidence of change

Questionnaire responses indicated around two thirds of teachers were making routine use of the laptops for the collaborative development of units and lesson materials. Routine use had increased slightly for both of these tasks (20% routine and 42% occasional use in 2004; 27% routine and 41% occasional use in 2005). The proportion of teachers accessing departmental schemes also rose slightly across the three years: 40% of respondents doing this routinely in 2003 (42% in 2004; 48% in 2005).

Discussion

Laptops fit well with the collaborative culture of many schools and departments. Being portable, they can be taken to different venues for collaboration purposes. Laptops support the development of electronic resources that can be easily shared and customised.

Collaboration within departments

The focus group and case study interviews indicated that laptops have led to a significant change in the social practices associated with professional tasks such as lesson planning and preparation. In 2005/2006, teachers in each focus group and school reported that at school they sat together with same subject colleagues in the staff room and department workspaces to collaboratively develop and share lesson materials and student work. They met up with colleagues from their own school and other schools at cafes and other venues to share and develop ideas. They described using their laptops for school work while waiting during rehearsals, at the weekends, and while away on holidays. When colleagues also had laptops, teachers had found that resources were easier to share and adapt for individual class/student needs. A majority of the focus groups and case study teachers considered that access to a laptop had supported and, in some instances led to an increase in, sharing of resources because of “an increase in our ability to find, change, edit, copy and manipulate material.” Sharing was effected through a school’s internal email system, the school intranet or the use of a flash drive or CD. Teacher commentary suggested that the more teachers within a department with laptops, the more likely departmental colleagues were to collaborate using a laptop. That is, there needed to be a critical mass of teachers with laptops who used their laptops to establish and maximise the benefits of collaborative development and sharing of electronic resources. The lack of provision of laptops to part-time teachers and support staff was raised as an issue every year although teachers in the 2006 case studies appreciated the change from the initial policy. When some teachers within a department did not have access to a laptop, this limited the ability of teachers to share resources leading to equity issues in resource preparation and distribution and subsequently to instructional equity issues in the classroom. It also constrained the use of email for communication within departments and across a school.

Departmental mentoring and leadership, either from a head of department and or ICT expert within a department, was said to be vital to encourage the development and sharing of electronic lesson materials, and the setting up of a well organised central repository for lesson materials. For example:

Rather than standing in the middle of the room and looking around everybody and saying, “Who has got something for this text or novel?” The first thing you actually do is ask for help. The system we have at our school is that of going to the Q-drive and looking in the English folder and then by year group and the topic and see what somebody else has already put there. And our HOD is trying to remind us constantly that every time you develop a new resource, put it there so others can access it and change it for their class needs. (2006 case study comment)

As is implicit in the above quote, a department workspace that was set up with space for collaboration and easy access to the Internet and school server was an important catalyst for departmental sharing. However, there was some indication that department exclusive use of this space could lead to isolation from other teachers.

Collaboration across a school

Teachers in the focus groups and case studies indicated that it was common knowledge who on the staff was proficient with the laptop and that these individuals were sought out for help. An example came from one focus group of teachers learning how to make a PowerPoint presentation from a teacher in another department. There was limited deliberate diffusion of ideas across a school, possibly because teacher focus for collaboration tended to be for teaching and learning within specific subject areas.

There is a hierarchy here that classroom teachers share ideas with each other within the departments. They learn a skill and then they share it with another department and it is leaked out through the school to the person who is a full time techie kind of Digital Horizons consultation facilitator. (2005 focus group comment)

The issue of whether the laptop had led to more teachers spend time within their department was raised by five teachers. This was seen as a concern as far as wider interaction was concerned.

Collaboration with other colleagues

Email was described as a useful tool for sharing and collaboratively preparing lesson materials with colleagues in different schools, particularly by teachers who were the sole subject specialist in their school (music, art, classical studies, history). In one case study school, the science department was collaboratively planning a new course with colleagues in a school around 100km away. Two focus groups felt that this collaboration and sharing of resources tended to be confined to certain geographical areas and dependent upon established personal support networks. When a teacher shifted to another region, support networks were disrupted to a degree and it was not always easy for a teacher to regain the same level of support in a new area because this took time.

Working at home

Over the three years a substantial proportion of questionnaire respondents reported they had made use of the laptop at home in the two weeks prior to completing the questionnaire for lesson planning (around two thirds of teachers), administration (around half of the teachers) and for professional email (around a third). All of the focus groups and a majority of the case study teachers, in each of the years they were interviewed, commented on the benefits of the laptop with regard to their being able to work at home, rather than stay at school, and within a family setting, rather than isolated in a separate office.

The table in Appendix D shows uses for collaboration, and any increased routine use (in brackets), of laptops for these tasks over the three-year period, the value of using a laptop for these tasks, the specific enablers and constraints for the use of laptops for collaboration tasks (with number of comments in brackets), and recommendations to enhance teachers’ effective use of laptops in their professional lives.

4.5 CHANGES IN USE FOR LESSON PLANNING AND PREPARATION

Lesson plans, nothing is created on paper now. My peers are working more and more in electronic formats. Collaboration and the sharing of material and workload are increasing. (2005 focus group comment)

Having my own laptop has been an absolute bonus. All my planning is now on computer and saves me a heap of time filling in and making new templates. (2005 comment)

We did a PowerPoint presentation I’ve never done before and now I’ve developed that for the whole of the school and the whole department uses it now on bridge construction… and we imported a video off the net and assembled it all… and it was good. (2006 case study comment)

Access to a laptop was expected to help teachers experience greater efficiencies in lesson planning and preparation. Teachers were asked to indicate how frequently, if at all, they used their laptop for four tasks associated with lesson planning and preparation. In 2005, 96% of questionnaire respondents reported they made some use of their laptop for the preparation of handouts for students (this task was the most prevalent task done on the laptop of all those listed in the questionnaire).

Evidence of change

The questionnaire data indicated teacher use of the laptops to prepare student handouts and access the Internet and Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI³) for curriculum or assessment-related documents was widespread over each the three years of data collection: over 85% of the respondents made some use of their laptop for these purposes in each of the years with around three quarters making routine use for preparing student handouts. Routine teacher use of the laptop to access material on the Internet rose significantly between 2003 and 2004 (up to 66% in 2004 from 46% in 2003) and while occasional use dropped the overall proportion of those involved in this task increased from 85% to 92% signalling many more teachers were making active use of the opportunity to access a wider range of teaching and learning materials when preparing for teaching. Routine and overall use to review resources such as CD ROMs to be used by students, and planning to use the laptop in combination with other equipment such as a data projector or digital camera also increased, as can be seen in Table 5.

Table 5 Change in levels of laptop use for lesson planning and preparation tasks (2003-2005)

	Routine use % - 2003	Routine use % - 2004	Routine use % -  2005	Occasional use % - 2004	Occasional use % - 2005	Occasional use % - 2005
Prepare student handouts	73	71	78	20	24	18
Internet/assessment items	46	66	69	39	26	24
Review resources for student use	27	31	40	52	47	44
Combine use/with other equipment	22	23	28	32	39	36

Discussion

Questionnaire data indicate that many teachers are taking advantage of the possibilities offered by the laptops when planning and preparing for lessons. Teachers in interview were enthusiastic about the contribution the laptop had made to ease their workload with respect to efficiencies gained in lesson planning and preparation. They found that the laptop had facilitated collaboration and enhanced the quality of outputs.

Efficiencies gained

In 2005, over three quarters of teachers said they had used their laptops ‘routinely’ to prepare student handouts or worksheets. Teachers appreciated the functionality of the laptops for undertaking research related to units they were teaching. Teachers were positive about the benefits of greater access to multimedia resources such as educational and other websites and CD ROMs. Planning for the use of the laptop in combination with other equipment increased over the three-year period, most likely because teachers had increasing access to peripherals, such as digital cameras and data projectors, and/or that they had developed their skills of working with laptops in combination with other equipment, and digital cameras. Digital resources are easy to modify and can be readily shared. Laptops provided the flexibility of electronic resources that were easy to modify, update, and configured to meet the learning needs of specific classes and students thereby adding, as one teacher described, “a personal touch”.

Planning is way quicker and it’s so much easier to just pull up documents that you’ve already got and just alter or adjust them for the next class, for the next type of kid that you’re teaching. (2006 case study comment)

An added benefit of electronic resources is that they can be readily catalogued and retrieved, leading to efficiencies through a reduction in paper work and the time required in its organisation and management both in and out of class time. While these aspects may not be transformative of classroom practice in themselves it could be argued, and four focus groups made this point, that they benefit teaching and learning through streamlining in-class organisation and presentation of teaching materials, leaving more time and energy for teaching and interaction with students. For instance, one focus group discussed that when teachers were confident that their lesson materials were well presented and on-hand, they were more able to focus attention on listening to and questioning students. This said, teachers in the focus groups and case studies described the laptop as a tool and emphasised the role of the teacher. They appreciated, however, having greater access to resources.

It’s to do with access to resources really. It’s ^{the laptops} made a huge myriad of resources more readily available because, in effect, the computer’s only a tool and what it’s done is that it’s enabled them… given them access to a whole set of resources. (2006 case study comment)

Collaborative lesson planning and preparation

Laptops affording the production and sharing of digital resources fit well with the collaborative culture of many departments. Teachers appreciated the flexibility of the laptop in allowing them to design lesson materials at school in various settings in collaboration with colleagues. Departmental mentoring and leadership, either from a head of department and/or ICT expert within a department, was said to be vital to encourage the development and sharing of electronic lesson materials, and the setting up of a well organised central repository for lesson materials.

More professional quality

Three focus groups discussed that teacher access to a laptop computer for their exclusive use had increased the professional quality of lesson materials. Student expectations related to the presentation of teaching and learning materials had changed and some teachers were under pressure to meet the new standard. In 2004, the principal of one case study school described the flow-on effect of this higher standard preparation and presentation to students as contributing to the overall push by the school to a student focus on excellence in all they did.

Up-to-date, relevant lesson materials possible

The consensus across the focus groups and the case study teachers was that image-based materials stimulated and sustained student interest and enhanced understanding. The laptops were said to have led to efficiencies in lesson planning and preparation through their support for access to multimedia resources that were recent, relevant and rich in context. Lesson materials were more now more likely to include images, graphics and up-to-date real-life data or examples, thereby making links with student lives outside the classroom. Teachers commented on the benefits of being able to couple the visual (static and moving imagery, and colour) with the aural through the use of video, simulations and animations. Teachers at the focus groups and case study interviews were positive about the benefits of greater access to a range of multimedia resources, including those on educational and other websites, CD ROMs and copies of electronic materials given to them by colleagues. Several teachers at the 2005 focus groups noted that the laptop allowed teachers to access material on the shared drive while teaching in class (an evolution from just having it as a storage area for perusal during lesson preparation). Improved server storage had made sharing easier:

The need for pedagogical development/content knowledge

In 2003, teachers commented on the time needed to develop or convert lesson materials (worksheets, audio and video) to an electronic format. Laptops allow teachers to access the Internet either from school or from home, to store preferred sites for future use and to adapt materials and store them for immediate use in class; however, teacher use of the Internet for teaching and learning was not without its challenges. Teachers need the skills to locate and adapt available resources, many of which are not designed for education. The sharing of useful sites with colleagues was important in this process. The TELA teachers raised the issue of needing to develop pedagogical content knowledge around the tailoring and use of web-based resources (see also Loveless et al., 2001). They were anticipating this effort would be rewarded in subsequent years. By 2005, there was some suggestion this was the case although the teachers interviewed had continued to extend what they were doing as they accessed new software and technologies, and new and additional resources were identified and accessed.

The table in Appendix E shows uses for lesson planning and preparation, and any increased routine use (in brackets), of laptops for these tasks over the three-year period, the value of using a laptop for these tasks, the specific enablers and constraints for the use of laptops for lesson preparation tasks (with number of comments in brackets), and recommendations to enhance teachers’ effective use of laptops in their professional lives.

4.6 CHANGES IN CLASSROOM PRACTICE

The laptop has revolutionised teaching in the classroom. No more carrying around CDs (all set works are on the laptop). Revolutionised marking of compositions. All students can see written representation as their compositions are performed. Helpful for improving students’ performances as these are stored on hard drives rather than individual videos or DVDs. (2005 comment – arts teacher)

I can walk around the room now, use the remote – there is no time delay now. I monitor what they are writing down better now. It stimulates more questions and they are more engaged. (2006 case study comment)

… I just think that as a tool the laptops have added to our toolbox, especially with students that are quite visually focused in their learning. (2006 case study comment)

One of the Ministry of Education’s expected outcomes of the TELA scheme was that teachers would creatively use with students the learning resources they had prepared in the classroom. This evaluation did not involve classroom observations, but focus group and case study teachers, in particular, reported a range of laptop uses for teaching and learning in the classroom. Questionnaire data, however, suggested that classroom use for teaching and learning was somewhat restricted.

Evidence of change

The questionnaire results indicated that although laptop use for classroom practice had increased somewhat, teacher routine use of the laptops for the tasks listed in the questionnaire was not widespread as is shown in Table 6. Around three fifths of respondents made some use of the laptop for each of the listed tasks, most of it occasional. The greatest shift in use was for classroom presentation; up from 44% of respondents making some use in 2003 to 59% making some use in 2005. Even when teachers had easy access to a data projector not many of them reported routine use in class. For instance, nearly three quarters (72%) of expert users in 2005, said they had easy access to a data projector in their classroom but only 34% of made routine use of the laptop for classroom presentations. Possible reasons for this are discussed below.

Table 6 Change in levels of laptop use for classroom practice (2003-2005)

	Routine use % - 2003	Routine use % - 2004	Routine use % - 2005	Occasional use % - 2003	Occasional use % - 2004	Occasional use % - 2005
Teacher access to Internet	11	11	15	37	44	44
Classroom presentation	10	13	17	34	36	42
Curriculum specific software	11	10	15	30	29	40

Discussion

Teacher commentary from the focus group and case study interviews painted a more active picture of teacher laptop use in the classroom for teaching and learning than was suggested by the questionnaire data, this use predicated on and underpinned by pedagogical values and practices in conjunction with practical issues such as access to a data projector. With one exception, focus group and case study teachers were very positive about the benefits of incorporating digital resources into their teaching although it needs to be remembered that these teachers were volunteers. As pointed out earlier, teachers recognised that innovation takes time. Not only time in lesson preparation but also to practice using the resources and equipment and to develop the confidence to use them with a class.

Personally I’ve used mine more this year… we do a Year 10 graphic assignment, which is a lifeguard lookout tower … so I just pretty quickly put a PowerPoint together and we had them ^{pictures of lookout towers} up on the screen and we talked about them and the different materials that had been used and the design features and so on… And it was that much more effective. (2006 case study comment – graphics teacher)

It’s certainly changing… it’s one of those evolving things that it’s hard to put a finger on exactly where it is because it’s … I think it’s … I’m more a co-ordinator of what’s happening and how it’s happening. There’s still the ‘up the front of the class and teaching’ going on but there’s a lot more behind… co-ordinating. (2006 case study comment)

I just feel like I have grown and my teaching has grown as well. I am really positive about the laptops. (2006 case study comment – art teacher)

The teachers considered their colleagues were also excited about the use of the laptops for teaching and learning.

Laptops have liberated teachers in terms of their teaching practice, and some of them are quite excited about all the new innovations and how they can help them to help their students learn better. (2006 case study comment)

Subject differences

Not surprisingly, more ICT/computing teachers reported routine use of the laptops for the tasks listed than teachers from any other subject area. Across the three listed uses, teachers of ICT/computers, science, economics and Te Reo Māori used their laptops more routinely during lessons than teachers of other subjects. There was a higher proportion of Te Reo Māori and social sciences teachers using laptops to access the Internet during a lesson occasionally; a higher proportion of economics and Te Reo Māori teachers using laptops to do a classroom presentation occasionally; and a higher proportion of science, economics and Te Reo Māori teachers using laptops occasionally with curriculum-specific software.

Schools were asked to select teachers across a range of subject areas to be involved in the focus groups and case studies. Analysis of the data from these teachers suggests that teachers from different subject areas made qualitatively different uses of their laptops and these uses might be grounded in different subject subcultures and associated pedagogy and practices rather than different levels of classroom access to the Internet/data projector and/or differences in personal knowledge and expertise. In each of the three years, science, art and technology teachers were generally very enthusiastic about the use and potential of the laptop-plus-data projector/Internet for teaching. They felt they were able to facilitate learning more effectively through the use of more varied, up-to-date visual and interactive lesson materials. They reported that the use of visual materials supported the development and discussion of ideas in their subject.

I used the laptop in conjunction with the data projector to access the local council site to examine the city’s infrastructure. The students could see all the pipes, etc. that run under their houses. (2005 focus group comment – social studies teacher)

I had a neat lesson yesterday. I had a group of girls who probably will fail at maths and English - have great difficulty with the teachers. These kids were just inspired! We looked at the PowerPoint and then drew a big grid on the board and filled the columns – technically the ‘bad’ girls had their hands in the air, they were just so excited. Then we loaded it all into a word document with the clues in columns and printed it out – a copy for everybody. We listened to some pieces of music and they used it to work out which piece was Baroque, for example. I could not have done that before. Having the images has really engaged them. (2006 case study comment - music teacher)

One science teacher in a case study school had used his laptop in conjunction with a data projector in geology where he had found a website that showed tectonic plates moving in subduction. This animation was a more effective teaching tool for developing student understanding than textbook diagrams, or his own drawings, had been in the past. He had also found ‘Google Earth’ to be an excellent site for his work. Another explained:

In physics you can’t give demonstrations very often but there are all these beautiful slides that have two dimensional wave patterns and students find that really difficult. I would be answering questions and helping them to move to the next level while they are referring to the PowerPoint as a guide. I would be the resource that they could use when they wanted me to be used. (2006 case study comment)

Teachers of mathematics and English were less unanimous with some enthusiastic and others ambivalent about the potential for ICT use for teaching and leaning in their subject.

Applets are very useful. I use Graphmatica, which plots graphs from equations. You can do a lot more teaching with the software as it’s not so labour intensive. It allows more question and answer interaction with students. (2005 focus group comment)

A concern with added value

The teachers in this study were concerned that given the time involved in the preparation of materials that incorporated ICT they only used ICT when they were convinced it would add value to teaching and learning. In 2006, one teacher explained how teachers in his department were selective about the use of technology.

It still comes back to what you are using it for and trying to think carefully about how you’re going to use it in a way that actually adds to their learning that’s going to give you an advantage over using some other method. (2006 case study comment)

Teacher critique of the use of PowerPoint, muted in 2003 but stronger in 2005/2006, revolved around the desire to use technology when it could provide something extra. Teachers were concerned that teaching did not become over reliant on PowerPoint presentations that tend to align with whole class teaching.

My vision of classroom use is that it is not going to be PowerPoint after PowerPoint. I find that extremely boring – it is just as boring as reading a textbook. I like interaction in my classes, and I use questioning to get student responses and that’s how I get my notes. (2006 case study comment)

Teachers were debating the relative merits of interactive whiteboards and Tablets in terms of how and if they fitted with their philosophies for teaching and learning. They were keen to use ICT in dynamic and interactive ways that supported dialogue.

The kids actually get to see the effects of this disease which they’ve never heard of… like I’m doing bones with some of my students and they say, ‘What’s rickets?… I’ve never seen rickets. Sounds like crickets’. And you say, ‘You’ve never seen a case of rickets?’ Or ‘You’ve never seen a picture of rickets?’ And so you just… you flash it up and they’re just like… ‘Oh’. ‘Yes’… suddenly, learning just hits them solidly between the eyes.(2006 case study comment)

Enhanced ability to respond to student interests and questions

Teachers noted that they had seen gains in student interest and understanding if they could make ‘just-in-time’ use of electronic media and adapt teaching materials easily during lessons. The students who were surveyed echoed this perception. Teachers valued the immediacy of being able to respond to student questions in the moment with visual resources and animations. In class, teachers considered they were providing students with a wider range of learning opportunities and that they were more selective and targeted in developing these. Focus group teachers reported that laptops were supporting communication and the sharing of work between teachers and students in and out of class time. Students were said to be seeking to engage with teachers’ lesson materials in different ways and teachers were more easily able to share teaching notes and exemplary work with students via CD and email.

A shift to encourage more student ICT use

As a result of their laptop ownership, some teachers considered they had become more confident with ICT and subsequently more prepared to take more risks in its classroom use. Teachers were becoming more confident to support students to undertake and present the results of their research and other learning using ICT.

I have more confidence now since laptops. I can now allow the students to experiment with ICT. I use PowerPoint in open evenings. Four years ago, I might have known how to cut and paste, and the laptop has helped me, although I still feel very limited. (2006 case study comment)

Student voice

In 2006, case study teachers were asked to survey students in one of their classes about the impact of the laptops on their learning; ten teachers provided responses. The responses indicate that students were positive about the impact of the laptops on teacher practice. Year 10 students said of their music teacher’s use of the laptop, “It has made class more interesting as there are pictures and visuals to interest you, not just a teacher dictating,” and “It makes us more understanding of what we are studying.” Year 11 students made the following comments on how their history teacher used the laptop – “It was a new and interesting way of learning. I paid more attention.” “I think it’s convenient and effective, it showed clear image of real events.” and “Visuals help to remember the information.” One Year 12 physics student said, “By my teacher using the laptop I got to visualise waves more clearly in my head - therefore learning more.” One student commented:

Very beneficial. Allows the teacher to prepare class work quickly and set up time is minimal. Laptop facilities allow teachers to show students animations of video footage that is not easily accessible within the classroom. Wider learning opportunities and mediums. (Student comment)

A search for innovative pedagogies

While teacher descriptions of accessing the Internet in response to student questions and as part of inquiry units suggested a shift to more student-centred or student responsive teaching, overall, the uses described by teachers suggest that the laptops were being used in classrooms to enhance and supplement existing practice. The use of PowerPoint exemplifies this point with a number of teachers and senior managers critiquing its use and questioning whether it may influence teachers to use a more plenary lecture-style of whole class teaching; what one teacher described as ‘sage on the stage’.

Teacher interview commentary and the questionnaire data on teacher goals for future development indicated a concern with developing the knowledge and skills for using ICT and laptops to support teaching and learning. In 2005, and again in 2006, a small number of teachers explicitly discussed the notion that they were just beginning to appreciate and were keen to realise the potential of the laptop for this purpose, this, consistent with the notion that innovation takes time.

The provision of a laptop has been GREAT - appreciated and used (not to its full potential yet) but I am working on it slowly. Being able to do student reports at home will relieve pressure put on us at school. The laptop is a valuable and necessary teacher tool! (2005 focus group comment)

A deputy principal in one case study school noted the use of ICT in the classroom by individual teachers was highly variable and he was unaware if there was an ICT pedagogy available for teachers to use to model practice. He spoke about the need for guidance from the Ministry. Other teachers and schools were looking to recently qualified teachers for insights in this area.

The table in Appendix F shows uses for classroom practice, and any increased routine use (in brackets), of laptops for these tasks over the three-year period, the value of using a laptop for these tasks, the specific enablers and constraints for the use of laptops for teaching tasks (with number of comments in brackets), and recommendations to enhance teachers’ effective use of laptops in their professional lives.

4.7 INTEGRATION OF THE LAPTOP INTO TEACHERS’ WORK

The laptop has become an essential tool. (2005 comment)

I use the laptop in all facets of my job. (2005 comment)

I use the laptop 24/7. It’s the tool that underpins my job. It’s always in the classroom and always on. (2005 comment)

Take away the laptop for 2 days and I’d be desperate!! (2005 comment)

I use my laptop as a mark book and for all my administration tasks, everything really. I’ve set up shared files for marking with templates so it makes collating data and conducting analysis easier. (2005 focus group comment)

Questionnaire data indicated that respondents were making use of the laptops for a range of tasks. The majority were using laptops for email, and over two thirds were making routine use of laptops for reporting, preparing students handouts, recording student grades, internet searches when lesson planning, and checking class lists and records. These comments suggested the laptops had been integrated into most of the tasks a teacher performs outside the classroom in support of teaching and learning. In addition, occasional use was reported for the use of the laptops in the classroom to view presentations and subject specific software. Focus group and case study teachers were very positive about the impact of the laptops. They emphasised the vital role that their laptop played in all aspects of their work indicating it was now indispensable to their day-to-day work, as the previous quotes suggest.

In the main, respondents intimated that their laptop use was evolving, particularly in relation to use for teaching and learning. Given evidence from elsewhere that change that involves ICT is often incremental and accumulative, the extent of the shifts is, perhaps, not surprising. The evaluation also examined whether laptops could be said to have significantly transformed what teachers did, and there was some evidence that access to a laptop had made a more substantial difference to those who rated themselves beginners, and to some of the social practices associated with teachers’ work with regard to ease of collaboration, and to time and place of work. The portability of the laptop coupled with teacher exclusive use had led to changes in the level of self-assessed skills of those who rated themselves as beginner users (See Table 1). Teachers had also taken advantage of the flexibility the laptops offered in time and place of use. “The accessibility and portability of the laptops has made a huge difference, you don’t have to stay at school to get your work done.” The laptops were said to have reduced the social isolation that had previously been the norm for many teachers when they were doing schoolwork. One teacher summed up the consensus view at his focus when he described the laptop as “socially beneficial.” A number of focus group and case study participants reported that they now spent more time on schoolwork, particularly at home, but that they did not mind doing this because they could work in more convivial settings and in the company of family.

4.7.1 Variation in impacts: Personal beliefs and expertise

As might be expected, teachers’ knowledge and expertise in the use of ICT was varied. Many of the teachers interviewed during in the TELA evaluation study who intimated they were more skilled users indicated that while they appreciated having an up-to-date computer for their own use, access to a laptop had not substantially enhanced their knowledge and expertise, or their practice. There were exceptions to this, and some teachers were actively redesigning their teaching and learning programmes to incorporate multimodal, up-to-date and real-life materials. Those who rated themselves as less experienced users of computers self-reported more substantial changes in their expertise and ICT use over the three years of data collection although there was not a significant shift in the proportion rating themselves as beginner laptop users. Evidence of change came not so much from a higher proportion of teachers self-reporting as expert or intermediate users but from a shift in what those who rated themselves as beginners reported they could do with the laptop. Beginners were now more likely to be feeling comfortable using their laptops for seven categories of use (word processing, using email, searching the Internet, using graphics, using a spreadsheet, locating online information and using presentation software) and to use their laptops routinely for collaborative and administrative uses. Beginners were still not using their laptops routinely for lesson preparation activities; however, their ‘occasional use’ of laptops for use as a tool for lesson preparation had almost doubled over the three years.

Commentary from those who were proactively exploring and using the laptop for teaching and learning indicated this use was consequential on teacher confidence and expertise, teacher access to models of practice and opportunities to learn, and easy access (preferably continuous access) to the requisite technological infrastructure (hardware, software and technical support). The role of these factors as interrelated aspects within the evolutionary process was most clearly illustrated by the changes in practice of one of the most ICT proficient users interviewed over the course of the three years. In 2004, this teacher was converting his lesson materials to electronic format adding in interactives, images and video clips as he did so. He was making use of one of his school’s two data projectors during most lessons. In 2005, his classroom had a ceiling-mounted data projector and an interactive whiteboard. He demonstrated how he used these tools to project and adapt lesson materials in response to student interests and needs. In 2006, he was keen to extend his knowledge of what was possible.

4.7.2 Variation in impacts: The influence of teacher subject specialist area

In the TELA evaluation study, a disproportionate number of science and technology teachers self-assessed themselves as expert users of the laptops. Science teachers from the case study schools were enthusiastic about the use of the laptop-plus-data projector/Internet for teaching science. They reported extensive use of lesson materials that integrated text, simulations, interactives and real-world data (images and video clips) to stimulate student interest and engagement. Similarly, technology teachers were enthusiastic about the laptops as a tool to access and search the Internet for information and for PowerPoint presentations, these often incorporating digital photographs of student work and Computer Aided Design (CAD) demonstrations. Digital photographs were useful as a record and a tool for assessment. Physical education teachers used the video capabilities of the laptops for analysis, teaching and assessment of student performance, both individual and team, curricular and extra-curricular (tennis, golf, netball). Social science teachers in one school considered their area of expertise “lends itself nicely” to the use of PowerPoint, virtual field trips and websites such Google Earth and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). As mentioned earlier, English and mathematics teachers were more ambivalent. These differences suggest the need for policy initiatives and associated professional development to be sensitive to subject-specific needs.

4.8 IMPACTS OF LAPTOP USE ON SCHOOLS

An interesting finding from the case studies, and to a lesser extent the focus groups, was that teachers’ acquisition of laptops had begun to have an impact on schools as they became focused on, but struggled with, managing the introduction and use of the laptops. There is evidence that, as has been found elsewhere, laptops in and of themselves did not catalyse change at the school or department level. In schools where ICT had been a focus prior to the TELA scheme, the laptops had accelerated the pace of introduction and integration of ICT partly because money was released to, for instance, purchase data projectors, expand and upgrade the school infrastructure (network classrooms, upgrade the school student data management system) and allow the school to take advantage of school-wide professional development initiatives such as ICT PD⁴ cluster involvement. Laptops afford teacher access to web-based resources and their introduction to schools has leveraged the introduction and/or enhancement of school internet access and school intranet facilities, which, with the appropriate leadership has supported communication and collaboration at the department, school and, in some cases, student level. With senior management leadership the use of electronic communication has increased in some schools. By 2006, teachers in all schools were making more use of school data management systems, this probably driven by the NCEA and the upgrade of their systems. With all student data collected and collated in a central electronic database, one school was undertaking more in-depth data analysis. In another case study school, the laptops as a school-wide initiative was thought to have paved the way for teacher involvement in other school-wide initiatives, creating a culture of “This is OK. This is what we do.” In a school with a few laptop users, those with laptops thought they had become ‘a community within a community.’

The TELA scheme was reported to have impacted on teacher recruitment and retention. Teachers applying for jobs assess a school’s ICT infrastructure and support systems; some schools have lost staff to ICT-rich schools. Teacher expertise, particularly in relation to providing leadership in the use of ICT for teaching and learning, was an area of concern and interest in most schools.

Footnotes 

1. Where a quotation is identified by a date and ‘comment’, it comes from the questionnaire responses of that year. Other quotations are identified as coming from case study or focus group participants.
2. NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement) is New Zealand’s main national qualification for secondary school students and part of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).
3. TKI is a bilingual portal-plus web community, which provides quality assured educational material for New Zealand teachers, school managers, and the wider education community.
4. In 1998 a national ‘ICT Strategy for Schools’ was announced which established a new, ‘national’ system of funded professional development school clusters. This programme has become known as the ICT PD School Clusters programme. The programmes focus on the integration of ICTs into a variety of teachers’ professional practices.