Ways to use ICT in schools to optimize the impact on teaching and learning Paper presented at ECER, September 28 – 30 in Vienna, Austria Ulf Fredriksson, Mid Sweden University, Sweden Elżbieta Gajek, University of Warsaw, Poland Gunilla Jedeskog, Linköping University, Sweden

2 Ways to use ICT in schools to optimize the impact on teaching and learning The ELFE project Objectives Research methods: Selection of schools, Instruments, Collection of data Findings: ways to use ICT, factors supporting or hindering the use of ICT, Finance, School management, Sustainability, Transferability Discussion Summary

3 The ELFE project - European eLearning Forum for Education Funded by the European Commission Organised by ETUCE (European Trade Union Committee for Education) Realised through cooperation between teacher unions and researchers ELFE1 (2004 – 2005): Denmark, Germany, Norway, Portugal and UK ELFE2 (2008 – 2009): Denmark, Latvia, Poland, Slovenia and UK

4 Purpose Building on the ELFE 1 findings, the ELFE 2 aims at: A better understanding of the strengths and the weaknesses of using ICT in education Identifying ways to use ICT that promotes an added learning value Identify factors that support or hinder the pedagogical use of ICT

5 Selection of schools Selection of schools was done by the national trade union representative of the participating countries in the ELFE Steering Committee. There were two criteria for the selection of schools: 1) We were looking for secondary schools, both lower secondary and upper secondary schools. 2) The visit to the school could only take one day.

6 Selection of schools In addition to the two more general criteria there were four additional criteria: 1. The schools should be 'normal' as opposed to schools that receive extra budgets and support as part of a specific project. 2. The use of ICT in the schools should be aimed at pedagogical methods (e.g. student centered pedagogy) and/or addressing new curricular goals (e.g. goals related to developing lifelong learning skills). 3. ICT is intensively used in teaching and learning processes in the school as a whole. 4. Given the expected variation between European countries, the criteria mentioned above should be locally defined. The schools should be regarded as advanced in respect of ICT use in their countries.

7 Selection of schools Denmark: 1 lower secondary school, 1 upper secondary school United Kingdom: 1 lower secondary school, 1 upper secondary school Slovenia: 2 upper secondary schools Poland: 1 upper secondary school, 1 lower secondary school Latvia: 2 upper secondary schools

8 Collection of data Data collected from: Head teacher: interview and questionnaire Teachers: interview in focus group Students: interview in focus group ICT coordinator (staff member responsible in the school for the ICT infrastructure): questionnaire

9 What can we do with the collected data? a case study approach Small number of schools– but schools with an advanced use of ICT It is not possible to generalize from the observations to a European or national level The experience of the ELFE 2 schools may show us the risks and opportunities that schools will meet in the years to come

10 Findings: Ways to use ICT in schools to optimize the impact on teaching and learning interactive boards facilitate experiments video and sound PowerPoint to support lectures different computer programmes and web pages to animate internet to find information

11 Findings Ways to use ICT in schools to optimize the impact on teaching and learning Internet and Learning platforms to post general information about the school to an audience outside the school to disseminate information to teachers and students and to create archives with information contact with other schools distance education

Factors supporting or hindering the use of ICT ICT infrastructure available in school and at home Shared vison of the use of ICT Margin for trial and error Teachers - enthusiastic and confident In-service formal and informal training focused on ICT-based instruction Gender diferences mentioned but not dealt Ethnicity is not an issue

ICT and strategic use of available financial means Public and private financial means are used to provide hardware Budget for maintenance of the infrastructure Budget for technical support Budget for teacher training

ICT and school management Head teachers enhancing and supportive role Vision ICT based communication administration

Transferability - infrastructure the extent to which experiences gained in these schools can be transposed to other schools Budgetary issues Introducing computers into schools Maintenance Upgrading

Transferability - Pedagogy Bi-directional transfer of pedagogical practice Transfer of change

Sustainability the possibility for the studied schools to continue their work and to further develop it Critical approach to change All institutions plan to change infrastructure Teachers work on new methods and approaches The positive attitude towards change and innovative practices can be sustained in the institutions visited and transferred to any other school

18 Discussion – research method Did we find the types of schools we were looking for? Yes, the schools we visited seem to have a more advanced use of ICT than most other schools in respective country. One criteria could be discussed: normal and not received extra budgets and support as part of a specific project

Discussion – research method Small number of schools visited - perceived as advanced in the use of ICT Findings are comparable with other studies

Discussion – stages in the development of the use of ICT Plomp, Brummelhuis, & Rapmund (1996) approach: use of computers to support traditional methods of teaching (most cases) use technology as part of more innovative instruction, including, team teaching, interdisciplinary project based instruction, and individually pace instruction (some attempts) use of technology to support active, creative and collaborative learning (a few attempts)

Discussion - A comparison with the findings from ELFE1 ELFE 1 findings ( ELFE Steering Committee, 2006; Fredriksson, Jedeskog, Plomp, 2008 ) Vision on teaching and learning, Schools involvement in other innovations, Leadership style of the head teacher, Integration of ICT in the schools culture, Teachers professional development, Teacher collaboration, External policies and linkages relevant for ICT use and pedagogical changes.

22 Conclusions Ways to use ICT in schools to optimize the impact on teaching and learning : PowerPoint supported lectures, Animations used to make lectures more concrete (mainly science subjects), Experiments supported by ICT (mainly science subjects), Using internet to find information, Using internet and for communication, Websites to make information available to the public and to students, Contacts with other schools (also in other countries), Blended learning, Out of school activities.

Thank you Danke Tack Dziękuję

24 To contact us: Ulf Fredriksson, Mid Sweden University, Elżbieta Gajek, University of Warsaw, Gunilla Jedeskog, Linköping University, More information about the ELFE project: