Up on a Straight Line? ICT Skill Development of Icelandic Students Sólveig Jakobsdóttir, Iceland University of Education Presentation at Ed-Media, Orlando, June 29th 2006 Research supported by the Icelandic Research Council, part of larger project called NamUST (LearnICT),

This presentation Introduction and background Method and focus Results Discussion, further thoughts

ICT-related skills? ICT = information and communications technology 90’s, race in Western countries – curriculum, policy, computers & Internet in schools, top-down Vital for countries, communities, individuals?

We as educators want...? Students to... Become literate – (also new types of literacy – computer, IT, culture... ; Icelandic national curriculum describes further)? Be able to use computers and ICT for the benefit of themselves and others in communications, collaboration, creative work, in learning, work, play..? Become better and more active citizens in a democratic society? Be confident, critical, positive? Don’t suffer from problems related to computer use (physical problems, social isolation, Internet or game addiction)?

What do we know...? New curriculum and policies call for ICT skills Those skills are not assessed very well in the school system Too little is known about how those skills are developing

Studies *Distributed research 1998*2002*2004 Grad. s’s10171 Schools10147 Grades 5-10: 11+ 9:113.:17:0 City:rural5:59:54:3 Total part.’s Gr (73%)797 (57%)325 (97%) % gr %62%

Studies - participants

Survey based on idea of computer culture See SJ doctoral thesis

This paper/presentation How are ICT-related skills of students developing? Related attitudes? Related problems? Divide in use between homes and schools?

Results

Skills

Attitudes (grades 7-10) scale 1-5 (5=most positive)

Attitudes – confidence (scale 1-5, 5= most positive)

(Pain in the ass) & other problems (% who say considerable/big problem, grades 7-10, 2004)

Main problem? Individual: younger less, older girls most Technical, older girls least Personal protection older girls most Type of sw and social p girls more

Problems, individual (too much use/addiction?; negative feelings; lack of knowledge, 23% of answers) ”one has been using it [the computer] through the night and cannot wake up the following day and oversleeps or comes really fowl to the school the day after and learns less at home (girl grade 9, school R1). Just one comes a little hooked difficult to survive without a computer when one has been a computer addict for 4 years! (girl grade 7, school R3) spend too much time for computers and forgot to learn or rather use computers than do that and because I use msn too often far into the night, wake upp really tired and then that does not have good consequences for the family or my study (girl grade 9, school R2 The addiction, one gets far too hooked on this! (girl grade 9, school R2) You get hooked on CM just like nicotin but just fun and good for you (CM 03-04) (boy grade 8, L1) Cannot stop (boy grade 7, school R1). One becomes a robot (boy grade 7, school R1) It is fun in my computer I love it enormously and I would be ready to kill anyone for the cause and og go like a virgin towards the bill of rights! (boy grade 9, school R2)

Problems, individual.. After having spent half an hour in the computer a guilty feeling forms,.... (boy, grade 10, school L1) I hate everyone and everyone are terribly mean and I hate everyone. My only friend is the computer and the players in counter strike (boy grade 9, school R2 That is that some people become so violent from being in the computer (boy, grade 7, school R2) not to know [how to do?] something (boy, grade 9, school R3) Sometimes I don’t quite understand because it is in English (girl, grade 7, school L1) One looses or destroys sometimes important data and cannot find them again (girl, grade 9, school L3)

Problems, technical (21%) Viruses (in 10%), computers froze (5%) or were slow (4%), environment complicated (1%) or some other computer problems (3%) Older girls least bothered

Problems, personal protection (14%) others are getting to know people that are really pervert... child molesters that is.... computers are dangerous (girl, grade 9, school L3) that my friend had the experience that she was added to some MSN of some boy... then it turned out that this was a 56 year old man that was a child molester and he was stealing pictures of her and showing them to her... (and she had never seen him or talked with him) he had broken into her computer and got a lot of pictures of her that she had never seen......this I find is a big disadvantage of using the Internet and also sometimes porn sites og something like that pop up when one is trying to go to a completely different site....and also one should not give their name and such (girl, grade 9, school R1) that child molesters can seduce children and that hackers can destroy other... (boy, grade 7, school R3) that it is possible to send out everything about anyone which can cause bullying on the net (boy, grade 8, school L2) that people can get your from everywhere (girl, grade 8, school L2). somecan get into application that we are using so it is unpleasant that others can look at things one is doing!! (girl, grade 8, school L1)

Problems, others Type of software (11%), girls mention MSN and blog, a few boys games Social problems (10%) – e.g. girls talk about others writing something bad or untrue about them on the web or MSN, one even mentioned ”fake love” – a boy friend on the net that was just bluffing Content (7%) some mention porn (none of the older boys) but especially boys mention adware, popup windows and/or spyware (” THESE BL. VIRUSES AND AD-WINDOWS AND ALL THIS SPYWARES AND ADWARES OF COURSE) I SAY ONCE AND FOR ALL (’GOOD TOGETHER’) (boy, grade 9, school L3) Physical problems (3%) Cost (1%)

Computer use, home+school % indicating 2+ hours per week

Computer use, home

Correlations In 1998 the highest correlation of total number of skills both among girls and boys was with home factors (in addition to confidence), especially the number of types of software students used at homes. School effects were minimal. In 2002 and 2004 a more complex picture emerges. But confidence remains an important factor linked with number of skills.

Discussion

Limitations of study E.g. Skills list very limited – (number of skills, how well they know, do they really know what the say they know or don’t know what they say they don’t know...) – gives just an indication

Digital divide? Gender differences in some way decreasing in terms of number of skills and confidence – however, gender differences still exist (e.g. amount of home use, and game use vs. communications) But there is a digital divide between home and school (and likely between students and teachers)

Iceland in the global context

(Mind)tool vs. medium? Everything is relative, Really vast changes in tools for the past two decades – compared to changes during the two hundred years 1785 to 1985 (bark, chalk, pencils/pens) Now, mobility of computers.../becoming personal items rather than medium delivering content

Life style changes

The third wave “What is inescapably clear, however, whatever we choose to believe, is that we are altering our info-sphere fundamentally. We are not merely de-massifying the Second Wave media, we are adding whole new strata of communication to the social system. The emerging Third Wave info-sphere makes that of the Second Wave era – dominated by its mass media, the post office, and the telephone – seem hopelessly prmitive by contrast.” (Alvin Toffler, 1980, The Third Wave p. 183)

Life was saltfish Is life now Internet? Mynd fengin frá:

School computer culture Teaching and using ICT skills?

Fishing culture in schools?