Innovative use of ICT in schools based on findings in ELFE project (The European e-learning Forum for Education)

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Innovative use of ICT in schools based on
findings in ELFE project(The European e-learning
Forum for Education)

• Ulf Fredriksson
• Centre for Research on Lifelong Learning, Ispra,
  Italy and
• Mid Sweden University, Sweden
• Tjeerd Plomp
• University of Twente, the Netherlands
• Gunilla Jedeskog
• Linköping University, Sweden
• Elsebeth Sorensen
• Aalborg University, Denmark
• Maria Rasmusson
• Mid Sweden University, Sweden

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Innovative use of ICT in schools based on
findings in ELFE project

• The ELFE project a short presentation
• Findings from the project
• Discussions and conclusions

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The ELFE project

• Initiated by ETUCE
• 2 year project financed by the EU
• allow ETUCE and the wider society to get a
  better understanding of the strengths and the
  weaknesses of using ICT in primary and secondary
  education

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The ELFE project aims

• Aim 1 Analyse and share good experiences and
  identify good practices in using ICT
• Aim 2 Study the possibilities of transferring
  these good practices to other schools and
  countries
• Aim 3 Create a debate on how the European policy
  on eLearning and use of ICT in education should
  be developed

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The ELFE project

• Cooperation between researchers and teacher
  unions
• Denmark, Germany, Norway, Portugal and United
  Kingdom
• Three schools from each country
• An additional study in Sweden (three schools)

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The ELFE-project selection of schools

• normal - no extra budgets and support
• primary and secondary schools
• pedagogical innovation
• the school as a whole
• national trade union representative
• three school - one day per school

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ELFE instruments

• interviews - questionnaires - documents
• principals - innovative teachers - other teachers
  - ICT coordinators - students

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Seven questions

• What difference does the use of ICT make in
  schools where ICT is intensively used for
  instructional/pedagogical purposes?
• To what extent are teachers practices and
  outcomes changed?
• What are perceived advantages and disadvantages
  of the use of ICT in teaching and learning?
• What factors influence the intensive use of ICT?

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Seven questions

1. How are the students influenced by this different
   way of teaching as compared to the traditional
   classroom education, both individually and as a
   collective?
2. What are the possibilities to sustain and to
   transfer good ICT based teaching/learning
   practices?
3. To what extent did the local discussions on and
   experiences with use of ICT have contributed to
   whole school development?

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What factors influence the intensive use of ICT?
(Q 4.4)

• Vision on teaching and learning
• Schools involvement in other innovations
• Leadership style of the principal
• Integration of ICT in the schools culture
• Teachers professional development
• Teacher collaboration
• External policies and linkages relevant for ICT
  use and pedagogical changes

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What difference does the use of ICT make in
schools where ICT is intensively used
for instructional/pedagogical purposes? (Q 4.1)

• Interaction between teachers
• Interaction between teachers and students
• Better communication with parents
• Other type of interaction with local community
• Influences on teaching and learning
• New physical arrangements
• Increased efficiency of school administrations
  and effectiveness of school management

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How are the students influenced by this different
way of teaching as compared to the traditional
classroom education, both individually and as a
collective? (Q4.5)

• What students do with ICT
• How students experience working with ICT
• no hard evidence of what impact the intensive use
  of ICT in subjects and/or in projects and
  independent learning tasks has on students
• new competences such as being able to work
  independently and in projects, to search for
  information, to collaborate and communicate, etc

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How are the students influenced by this different
way of teaching as compared to the traditional
classroom education, both individually and as a
collective? (Q4.5)

• Students show more confidence and have better
  learning motivation
• Students have no instrumental problems in
  working with computers and more general with ICT
• In general students like working with computers

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To what extent are teachers practices and
outcomes changed?(Q. 4.2)

• Project based teaching
• Teachers - facilitators
• A variety of resources
• More individualised instruction
• New competences
• Some teachers - forerunners - enthusiasts
• Some teachers - disagree with policies of change

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What are perceived advantages and disadvantages
of the use of ICT in teaching and learning? (Q4.3)

• Perceived advantages - the use of email, problem
  solving, critical thinking, improve learning
  processes etc.
• Perceived disadvantages - not enough hands-on
  activities,difficult to work independently,
  distraction, copying from Internet etc.

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To what extent did the local discussions on and
experiences with use of ICT have contributed to
whole school development?(Q4.7)

• Influences on teaching and learning
• Interaction with local community
• Interaction between teachers
• Interaction between teachers and students
• Better communication with parents
• Increased efficiency of school administrators and
  effectiveness of school management
• New physical arrangements

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Discussion and conclusions The teacher as the
key

• The appropriate role of technology depends on the
  individual educational designers/teachers views
  and perception of the goals of education
• A conscious choice
• Time

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Discussion and conclusionsTime is an
issue(Fullan, 2001)

• Three stages
• Initiation
• Being informed
• Implementation (change)
• Fear, risk, etc.
• Pedagogical imagination
• Competence
• Institutionalization

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Discussion and conclusions A set of questions
for reflection

• The role of the teacher/student?
• How to balance student initiatives and teachers
  need to control?
• Dialogue/collaboration?
• How to use ICT to foster collaboration?
• Imagining appropriate assessment models?

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Discussion and conclusions

• The findings from the ELFE project are not
  possible to generalize.
• Comparing schools that are supposed to be in the
  forefront may give some hints about the
  directions of developments in the involved
  countries
• The differences between the schools in the
  project seem to reflect the differences between
  the countries.

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More information about the ELFE- project

• http//www.elfe-eu.net/

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Merci
Danke
Thank You!
Tack
Gracias