Connectivity and ICT Integration in Canadian Elementary and Secondary Schools

1
Connectivity and ICT Integration in Canadian
Elementary and Secondary Schools

• Industry Canadas SchoolNet Program Statistics
  Canadas Centre for Education Statistics

2
Background Rationale for the ICT in Schools
Survey

• Educational experts on key advisory committee
  asked for systematic, regular and reliable
  information on the impact of ICT in learning
• To benchmark progress in becoming ICT-enabled
• To identify gaps and barriers to increased ICT
  use in education
• To assess SchoolNet Program priorities and
  performance
• To formulate effective future policy
• To share with partners and educational researchers

3
Mandate and Objective

• The Objective of the ICT in Schools Survey was
  to provide national baseline data on the quality
  and quantity of ICT facilities, support
  structure, access and services, as well as some
  usage patterns.

4
Overview of the Survey

• A questionnaire was developed for all elementary
  and secondary schools in Canada (approx. 15,500)
• It was completed by the school principal (with
  assistance from IT specialist in the school or at
  the school board level)
• A survey of First Nations/Band schools is being
  conducted separately results expected in autumn
  of 2004

5
The only Canadian schools excluded from the
survey were...

• Continuing Education/Adult Day School
• Trade/Vocational School
• Language and Cultural Educational School
  (Chinese, Italian, etc)
• Home School
• Community Education Centre (includes Outdoor
  Education Centres)
• Social Services Centre
• Demonstration Schools

6
Questionnaire

• 49 questions covered topics such as
• Information about the School
• Hardware and Software
• Internet and Intranet Connections
• Internet and E-mail Use
• School Website
• Videoconferencing
• Students Online Courses
• Teacher Skills and Professional Development
• Technical Support
• ICT Policy and Plans
• Attitudes Towards ICT
• Challenges to ICT Use

7
Analysis and Report

• Response rate of 46 (43 usable 6,700
  schools)
• Sub-committee of experts permformed the initial
  analysis of the data
• It prepared tables on topics such as
  demographics, infrastructure, access, use,
  connectedness, teacher skills and challenges
• Report on initial findings will be released on
  June 10, 2004

8
Canadian schools are well equipped...

• More than 99 of all Canadian elementary and
  secondary schools have computers.
• Over one million computers are available for
  educational use by students and teachers in
  schools across the country.
• There is an average of 72 computers per school.

9
Students have access to computers...

• The median student-to-computer ratio is 51 (half
  of schools have a higher and half have a lower
  ratio).
• Canada at the same level as the United States and
  Australia in terms of lowest computer-to-student
  ratios in the world.
• The Organization for Economic Co-operation and
  Development median is 13 students per computer.

10
Connectivity is widely available

• About 97 of all elementary and secondary schools
  are connected to the Internet.
• Nine out of ten school computers are connected to
  the Internet and available to students.

11
But school computers are aging...

• Only 23 of school computers use the newest
  operating systems (eg. Windows, NT/2000/XP,
  MACTMOSX).
• Just over half (54) of the computers in all
  schools are equipped with medium processing speed
  (i.e. 233 MHz to 1.4GHz).
• Only about 16 use computers with high processor
  speed (1.3-3.8 GHz).

12
Some other findings...

• About 74 of all schools have a website.
• Videoconferencing technology has not made a big
  impact on schools (only 7 of schools have it).
• Schools are more likely to give their teachers
  e-mail accounts than they are to provide such
  accounts to their students.

13
According to principals, teachers need more
training in using ICT for learning

• 76 of principals reported that more than 75
  of their teachers have the necessary
  qualifications to use ICT for administrative
  purposes
• 46 of principals reported that more than 75
  of their teachers had the necessary
  qualifications to engage students in using ICT to
  enhance their learning.

14
Principals said...

• Funding was seen to be the biggest challenge in
  promoting ICT use in schools
• However, 92 of all principals felt the
  investment was well worth it
• Government efforts to promote ICT in schools seem
  to have been successful

15
Possible next steps...

• The baseline data generated by the ICTSS will be
  the platform for future studies on impacts and
  outcomes of ICT
• It will be integrated with other surveys which
  also contain ICT information (PISA 2006, ALL,
  SAIP)
• Next areas of inquiry include training teachers
  in use of ICT, the impact of ICT on learning
• The long-term strategy is to provide educational
  community, stakeholders, policy developers and
  SchoolNet with ongoing information on ICT
  integration and use in schools

16
For further information contact...

• Vesna Knezevic
• Knezevic.Vesna_at_ic.gc.ca