DEVELOPMENTS IN THE USE OF COMPUTERS IN EDUCATION:

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DEVELOPMENTS IN THE USE OF COMPUTERS IN
EDUCATION A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Mary Webb Kings College London
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Introduction

• The process of changing teaching and learning
  with ICT
• Lessons from past UK experiences
• The future of ICT in schools

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Moving Forward with ICT
A Vision
Personal Visions
Shared Visions
Learners skills, knowledge, values and attitudes
Teachers skills, knowledge, values and attitudes
The Process
Hardware Resources
Software
Social Pressures
Education Initiatives
Improved Teaching and Learning
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Components of shared visions
Personal Visions
Shared Visions
A Vision

• Transforming schooling
• Changing teaching and learning
• Improving communication
• Linking with schools across the globe
• Providing pupils with access to information
• Streamlining management and administrative
• Enabling flexible use of time

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Lessons from past UK experiences

• Education Initiatives
• 1979 80 Micros in Schools Competition,
  Department of Industry 250k
• Application to teaching and learning
• 200 schools get a free computer
• Microcomputer users in schools (MUSE) association
  set up
• Lessons from Research
• Networks of teachers can provide incentives for
  teachers to take risks and use IT

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Kemmis 1977 Four Paradigms for CAL

• Instructional Paradigm
• programmed learning
• Skinnerian/behaviourist theory
• drill-and-practice
• Revelatory Paradigm
• based on theorists such as Bruner
• activities where things are revealed gradually to
  learners
• discovery or experiential learning
  simulation,problem-solving.
• Conjectural Paradigm
• Based on constructivist theories (Piaget, Papert)
  
• learner control, tries to teach the computer, or
  creates models
• computers as toolsword-processing,
  data-handling, modelling
• Emancipatory Paradigm
• reducing workload
• the degree to which student 'labour' is authentic
  (essential to learning process) rather than
  inauthentic
• e.g. classifying and sorting large amounts of
  data

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Lessons from past UK experiences

• Education Initiatives
• 1980 86 Microelectronics Education Programme,
  Department of Education and Science 35m
• Micros in Schools Scheme
• Training Vocational Initiatives (TVEI)
• Application to teaching and learning
• Schools provided with educational software,
  teacher training, subsidised computers
• Lessons from Research
• Cascade training - one teacher training others is
  unsuccessful
• Uptake of IT use by teachers needs more than
  brief training courses
• Investigative software enhances and progresses
  pupils skills and concepts

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Taylor (1980) Modes of computer use

• Computer as tutor
• computer presents the student with some
  subject-matter content and a set of questions or
  directions the student responds and the computer
  evaluates the response, before presenting further
  content.
• Computer as tool
• generic software applications
• word processor for writing in English
• spreadsheet to help with analysis of data in a
  Maths problem
• data-handling tool to help analyse geographical
  information.
• Computer as tutee
• programming, modelling, multimedia authoring

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Impact on teaching (1980s)

• More powerful software meant more training
  required for teachers
• Quality of teaching with IT varied according to
  the training teachers had had
• Only a minority of teachers were using IT
• The uptake of IT in schools depended upon the
  attitude of the head-teacher and the school
  policies to accommodate change

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Moving Forward with ICTMajor changes in the late
1980s and 1990s

• 1988 present NCET ? BECTa
• 1989 1994 Education support grants Department
  of Education (and Science) 80m
• 1989 2000 Computers in Teaching Initiatives
  Department for Education 1m
• 1992 - 2000 Teaching and Learning Technology
  Programme Department for Education 33.5m
• 1998 2004 National Grid for Learning (NGfL)
  Department for Education 1.8bn

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Carrots and sticks in the UK (1988 - 2006)

• A National Curriculum for schools 1988
• School inspections
• New ICT training requirements for teachers
• National grid for learning 1998
• a computer for every 5 pupils in secondary
  schools by 2004
• enabling school leavers to have a good
  understanding of ICT, with measures in place for
  assessing their competence in it
• Subsidised computers for teachers

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National Curriculum for ICT (1995) Early
Primary (age 5-7)

• Pupils explore ICT and learn to use it
  confidently and with purpose to achieve specific
  outcomes. They start to use ICT to develop their
  ideas and record their creative work. They become
  familiar with hardware and software

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National Curriculum for ICT (1995) Later
Primary (age 8-11)

• Pupils use a wider range of ICT tools and
  information sources to support their work in
  other subjects. They develop their research
  skills and decide what information is appropriate
  for their work.

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National Curriculum for ICT (1995) Early
Secondary (age 11-14)

• Pupils become increasingly independent users of
  ICT tools and information sources. They have a
  better understanding of how ICT can help their
  work in other subjects and develop their ability
  to judge when and how to use ICT and where it has
  limitations. They think about the quality and
  reliability of information, and access and
  combine increasing amounts of information. They
  become more focused, efficient and rigorous in
  their use of ICT, and carry out a range of
  increasingly complex tasks

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Pupils carry out increasingly complex tasks e.g.
writing procedures to control external devices
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National Curriculum for ICT 1995 Secondary (age
14-16)

• Pupils become more responsible for choosing and
  using ICT tools and information sources. They use
  a wide range of ICT applications confidently and
  effectively, and are able to work independently
  much of the time.

They choose and design ICT systems to suit
particular needs and may design and implement
systems for other people to use.
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Kinds of ICT materials

• Tutorials
• Simulations
• Framework software e.g. modelling environments,
  web design packages, presentation software, dtp
  packages.

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Kinds of ICT materials Tutorials
User
Choice of variable values
Decision Practice
Fixed model Few variables
Confirmation of correct answers
Help for incorrect answers
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Kinds of ICT materials Tutorials
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Kinds of ICT materials Simulations
User
Choice of variables and values
Study relationships Hypothesize Investigate
theories
Semi-fixed model Range of variables
Results of hypotheses and investigations
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Simulations The Water Cycle
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Kinds of ICT materials Framework Software
User
Develop model Choose variables Analyse data Build
theories
Framework
Choice of model Learning framework
Creation and analysis of users theories
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Framework Software Modelling
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Research findings contributions of ICT to
learning 1999

• Improved subject learning and vocational
  training.
• Increased differentiation, a shift towards
  project work and a more integrated curriculum.
• The development of network literacy the
  capacity to use electronic networks to access and
  create resources, to communicate with others.
• Improved motivation and self-esteem, particularly
  for pupils with special educational needs.
• The development of independent learning, research
  skills, creative thinking problem-solving.
• BECTa summary (1999).

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Research finding contributions of ICT to raising
standards

• Some evidence that the use of ICT can lead to
  improved standards of achievement
• More research needed
• (BECTa, 2000, BECTa, 2001).

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Research finding Use of simulations and modelling

• modelling enables students to express, expose and
  to test their beliefs, thus enabling the
  cognitive conflict which has to accompany any
  belief change. (Conceptual change in science
  project Draper et al., 1992)
• when students make their own models they
  understand better that a model is simplified,
  fallible, can be changed and may need to be
  remade altogether. (Tools for exploratory
  learning project Bliss et al., 1993)

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The future of ICT in schools The greatest
challenges (2000)

• Integration
• How can ICT take its place as a crucial aspect of
  all students education?
• Does ICT need to be taught?
• Generalisation
• Examples of good practice
• ICT is often badly taught

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Integration Solutions (2000 onwards)

• Better equipment suitably arranged
• Basic ICT skills for pupils
• Suitable software
• Changing pedagogy

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Generalisation Solutions (2000 onwards)

• Teacher Professional Development
• Sharing best practice
• Electronic fora for teachers to discuss ideas
• Appropriate integrated assessment

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THE STELLENBOSCH DECLARATION 2005ICT IN
EDUCATION MAKE IT WORK

• Aimed to improve the integration of ICT in
  Education as a resource for both better teaching
  and learning and as a preparation of citizens for
  the Knowledge Society
• We are in the Information Society - information
  is an essential and valuable commodity that one
  can buy, sell, store, or exchange.
• Digital Divide, enlarging the gap between the
  haves and the have-nots.
• We want not only an Information Society, but also
  a Knowledge Society in which Knowledge can be
  shared and distributed all around the world,
  enabling all children and all people to access
  Knowledge and to benefit from being educated.
• Education is a key issue in the Knowledge
  Society, and Educators have a major role and
  mission
• 6 major areas that will shape a beneficial use of
  ICT in Education
• Digital Solidarity
• Learners and lifelong learning
• Decision-making strategies
• Networking
• Research
• Teachers..

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EDUsummIT09 Call to Action

• These actions included a challenge for
  researchers, leaders and policy makers
• To establish a clear view on the role of ICT in
  21st century learning and its implications for
  formal and informal learning
• To radically restructure schools to be able to
  use multiple technology-enhanced pedagogies to
  address individual needs of students.
• development of infrastructure for mobile
  technologies, digital content and pedagogies
• To better understand student technology
  experiences in informal learning environments, in
  order to inform work in formal settings
• implications of immersion in technology-rich
  informal learning environments
• To develop new assessments designed to measure
  outcomes from technology enriched learning
  experiences
• alternative assessment approaches and instruments
  
• understanding of the impact of IT on assessment.
• To develop and use distributed leadership models
  for technology use in schools and teacher
  education programs
• ecological perspective is needed to study ICT use
  in classrooms, in order to help explain and
  influence the complex interactions and events.
• To develop and use models for teacher learning on
  technology use in schools and classrooms at the
  pre- and in-service levels
• Further research and development of the TPaCK
  (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge)
  model collaborative models for teacher learning
  on ICT integration, at the pre- and in-service
  levels.
• To develop ideas on international opportunities
  relating to new and emerging technologies in
  order to address the needs of developing
  countries and promote global social awareness and
  responsibilities
• To develop and disseminate a list of essential
  conditions that need to be in place to ensure
  benefit from technology investments

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THE END
Mary Webb Kings College London mary.webb_at_kcl.ac.u
k
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Researching learning with ICT
Teachers Experiences
Software Development
Teachers Professional Development
Whole School Development
Learners Experiences
TechnologicalDevelopment