ICT in Education

Use of computers for school / college administration Schools and colleges employ staff, pay for goods and services, keep records of student attendance, keep records of students etc. They now use ICT systems wherever possible to assist with these tasks. There are two main systems used in schools Student registration Student records

Paper-based registration system This systems worked as follows: Marks made on a sheet of paper /\ containing a list of names Marks completed each morning and afternoon Registers collected and kept at a central point for record keeping Marks added up each term for statistical purposes

Paper-based registration system DISADVANTAGES Registers often left unattended meaning that pupils could easily alter them Mistakes and corrections often made registers hard to understand Teachers were solely responsible for the accuracy of the register Students could register and then play truant before turning up again for the afternoon session

Computer-based methods Any ICT system used for registration in schools or colleges should: Capture attendance accurately Capture the attendance automatically Be very fast at recording attendance details Reduce the misuse of the system Enable lesson by lesson monitoring Be relatively inexpensive Be able to communicate with other school administration systems

Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) The teacher marks the register by shading boxes in on a sheet of paper This is then scanned into a computer using an optical mark reader (similar to the National Lottery) Once processed reports can be generated. Disadvantages are: Registration not checked in real time Teachers may forget to send systems for processing Registers can be easily altered by students If OMR forms are folded they cannot be read by the scanner

Smart Cards A smart card is a plastic card the same size as a credit card that contains a microprocessor or microchip. Smart cards can be used for: Monitoring attendance using a card reader Payment in canteen Accessing school site and buildings Logging in to school network Using the school library

Swipe Cards Students are given a swipe card that they use for registration purposes by swiping a card using a reader. These cards have a magnetic strip similar to a credit/debit card. These cards work in a similar way to a smart cards. Advantages Cost of cards is low compared to Smart Cards Readers can be made almost vandal proof Disadvantages Cards are often lost Students can swipe each others cards

Biometric Devices Biometric devices provide a fast, easy and secure way of recording students’ attendance Make use of a human feature such as retinal scan or fingerprint to uniquely identify each student These systems are ideal for primary schools where students may loose smart or swipe cards and for the more forgetful/lazy older student

Advantages of ICT methods Details are recorded in real time Teachers have administration burden removed Not possible for students to abuse the system Promotes health and safety Encourages students to be responsible Possible to do lesson by lesson attendance Allows comments to be entered on to system Can also monitor behaviour/achievements Can be accessed on any teacher terminal

Disadvantages of ICT methods Biometric devices are expensive Human rights issues with fingerprint scanners used (although actual prints are not stored) Readers must be kept clean or false readings will occur MUST ICT systems can develop faults so there MUST be a backup system in place

Student Record Keeping Schools and colleges keep information about their students this typically includes: UPN (Unique Pupil Number) First name, middle names, surname DOB (Date of Birth) Gender Ethnic Origin (though this is stored according to DPA) Language spoken at home (if not English) Names of parents/guardian Name of school, date of arrival, date of leaving Name of family doctor Emergency Contact Details

Schools Information Management Systems (SIMS) Advantages of SIMS are: Reduce teachers workload and also the workload of office staff Provide up-to-date information for parents Support decision making for school managers Can assist with tackling truancy Used for timetable planning Used to strengthen home-school links