Computers and communication technologies are rapidly becoming a ubiquitous part of school learning environments. The National Goals for Schooling for the Twenty-First Century (The National Goals for Schooling [1999]) state that when students leave school, they should be confident, creative users of information and communication technologies (ICT).
School classrooms are adapting to the need for young people to develop the skills and knowledge to provide multiple representations of information, to collaborate, and to communicate with others through ICT. The integration of ICT into all major social institutions and organisations means that the necessity to equip young people with the capacity to understand and utilise the potential of such environments is no longer an option, but is now an imperative. The schools in the IBPP sought to break the mould of teaching and learning and to overcome the barriers to changing school learning environments. They also sought to provide the opportunity for young people to learn appropriate ICT- based skills and knowledge.
This chapter synthesises and analyses the experience of the 20 schools in the IBPP that sought to improve learning outcomes for students through the development of innovative strategies in the use of ICT.
Over the past two decades, research on the impact of ICT on student learning outcomes has not produced unequivocal evidence that the use of ICT in school learning environments improves learning outcomes for students. Nevertheless, a significant number of studies have indicated that it is possible to make effective use of ICT in schools in ways that can improve student learning outcomes (Hativa & Becker, 1994). A review undertaken in 1994 of over 100 research reports (Sivin-Kachala & Bialo, 1994) and another in 1996 of almost 200 research reports (Software Publishers Association, 1996) concluded that there is evidence to substantiate the potential of ICT to enhance learning environments.
- Educational technology can have a significant positive impact on learning in most subject areas, and for students with special learning needs (Sivin-Kachala & Bialo, 1994).
- There is evidence that the use of ICT impacts more significantly on higher- order thinking than on lower-order cognitive processing and rote learning (Educational Testing Service, 1989).
- Educational technology impacts on other aspects of student learning beyond cognitive curriculum outcomes, such as student attitudes, self-esteem and the development of social competencies. The use of computers in classrooms increases student motivation, increases enjoyment of learning, and increases student control over their learning and access to information (Rowe, 1993; Joiner, 1996; Wellburn, 1996; Tierney, 1996).
- The impact of ICT is dependent upon the specific student population in which it is used, the instructional design of the learning environment, the teacher's role, the way in which students are grouped for learning, and the access students have to ICT (Sivin-Kachala & Bialo, 1994).
The introduction of ICT into school learning environments can be viewed as having first and second order effects. First order effects refer to outcomes such as those above that are evidenced through improved learning and stronger student motivation. Second order effects arise because the introduction of ICT creates new contexts and environments for practice. It opens up the potential to change work roles, patterns, procedures and organisational groupings compared to those normally adopted in classrooms. Hence, the introduction of ICT can create the potential to redesign learning environments (Sproull & Kiesler, 1991). New technologies change the "social practices within which they are used, with the result of changing the way people talk and think about them" (Lankshear et al., 1997:48). Learning in the traditional sense is based on the notion of nested boundaries, with the "fixed enclosures of the book, the classroom, and larger curriculum structures" (ibid). ICT also has the potential to have a significant impact on the non-school learning environment for young people.
Contemporary attempts to maximise the potential of ICT in classrooms broadly seek to move away from conventional didactic instructional approaches, in which teachers do most of the talking and students listen and complete short exercises in well defined subject areas, to classrooms that provide complex challenges through the integration of authentic learning tasks and cooperative learning. This shift in emphasis is in line with the view that students need to be equipped for a world in which they can access and interrogate knowledge as a basic skill in a social, educational and economic environment that is subject to rapidly changing structures and circumstances (Dennison, 1999; Lee, 1999).
Contemporary learning theories that reflect a social-constructivist view of student learning (Vygotsky, 1986) and learning practices that develop students' capacity to self-regulate their own learning provide the intellectual infrastructure for teaching and learning in many emerging ICT-integrated classrooms (Clements & Battista, 1990; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1997).
ICT is also becoming a significant feature of environments outside of schools. Almost half of all households now have access to a computer (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1999). Students are regularly using a range of electronic and other non-print media in their homes as a matter of course (Sachs et al., 1990; Downes, 1995). National survey results based on student self-reports of their ICT skills and knowledge suggest that two-thirds of students believe that they acquire most of their basic ICT related skills outside of their schooling (Meredyth et al., 1999).
The experience of schools that have sought to integrate ICT into their learning environments over the last decade clearly indicates the need for other concomitant changes. Not only do teachers' instructional beliefs and practices have to change, but also the curriculum and outcomes expected of students need to be adapted to the changing framework of learning (Fisher et al., 1996).
Of the twenty schools in the IBPP that sought to enhance learning outcomes through the innovative use of ICT, four focused on the early years of schooling, eight on the middle-years of schooling and the remainder on the senior years. However, in many schools the innovation was developed in a way that provided a basis for its adoption across the whole school and for all subgroups of students.
...the introduction of the whole-school approach to the use of these technologies and resources has fundamentally changed the school environment. What counts as effective learning, as out-of-class learning, and relationships between learning and class time activities has altered. These changes are not just evident in alterations to the timetable and to some classroom practices, but represent significant shifts in teachers' perceptions of the new skills and collaborative activities required to cope with, and utilise the capacities of, the technologies. In this sense, the technologies and their capacities have necessitated changes to teachers' conceptions of their expertise, to teaching methods and practices, and to what might count as evidence of effective student learning. ...Technology [has] improved tools for particular skill development or conceptual development within subject areas of the [Year 12 examination], while other technology uses have produced marked changes in teacher beliefs and practices. (Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School)
The innovations in five of the schools were based on laptop programmes. All students in these programmes in non-government schools had their own laptops. The one exception was a government school where the students used a class-set of laptops. The research evaluations for the laptop innovations did not produce evidence of their impact that was as strong as that for the innovations based on the integration of desktop computers. No conclusions can be drawn about the potential impact of the laptop programmes because two of the laptop programmes were still at an early stage of implementation, two of the research reports did not include data on student outcomes and one innovation performed less well than normal classroom teaching.
A small number of the innovations were at the stage of moving beyond the traditional curriculum structures and teaching practices. Many of the innovations espoused an aim to move beyond the traditional classroom teaching and learning environment to one that is based more on constructivist learning principles. Most provided some evidence that the innovations were impacting on learning and learning outcomes beyond the standard cognitive curriculum outcomes that are the norm in most schools.
There was wide variation in the way in which schools went about the introduction of ICT into their learning environments. They each had quite specific objectives in mind, and often had quite different underlying philosophies about the potential role of ICT in school learning environments. Most of the schools had implemented strategies to integrate ICT into their everyday learning environments. They focused their innovations on using computers and associated hardware (mostly scanners, printers, and video cameras) and standard educational and business software to enhance the learning environment for students. This mainly took the form of ensuring that students had access to computers in the classroom for planning, drafting and producing products from their learning in the format of text based documents and multi-media presentations. Some of the classrooms were utilising the internet as a source of teaching and learning resources, but the quality of access to the internet in most schools significantly curtailed its use. One of the schools was engaged in the development of on-line programmes for its students to study from home or other sites in the school and another was producing multi-media learning resources for its classroom-based programmes.
Schools were responding to perceived pressure from one of four sources:
- a need for improvement in particular aspects of the school's work as identified by teachers;
- improvement of the achievement for specific subgroups of students;
- external pressures from parent choice and market-related forces; and
- participation in an initiative or the continuation of collaborative arrangements with other schools.
In many cases, staff had identified that if they were to provide students with the skills that they need to perform in the world of tomorrow they needed to change from traditional approaches to teaching and learning. Their conception of the student learning outcomes required in this emerging environment were broader than the contemporary curriculum, including skills and competencies such as: time management, creative thinking, team-work skills, technological competence and literacy, decision making and the development of a capacity to manage learning independently. A recognition of the need for change led teachers to consider a shift to a more student-centred, integrated and interactive style of teaching and learning. They considered the possibility of providing alternative learning environments to those offered by traditional day classes in schools. They also factored in the potential productivity gains from the effective use of ICT that was evident in organisations outside of schooling.
[We were] at a point where we needed to revisit and review the practices that we have embedded over the last four years and to test, challenge and validate, or change existing approaches to teaching and learning, and student welfare . (Caledonia Primary School)
We also imposed pressure upon ourselves by attempting to predict where we wanted our IT programme to be in five years time...we predicted that the Internet would be a significant factor in communication and information access in the near future . (St Anne's Primary School)
Schools were keenly aware of external pressures associated with accountability and market-related aspects of the changing school environment. Many saw the need to enhance their capacity to meet the changing needs of their client populations, particularly in the climate of increasing parental choice evident in Australia.
...there was increasing competition from well-equipped, low fee independent schools which had opened in the local feeder area...Many of the families who could afford to pay the school fees were not traditional supporters of independent education and had different expectations of customer service and the product they were buying . (St Cecilia's Anglican Girls School)
Case study schools
Although the analysis presented in this chapter draws on the full range of evidence available from the 20 ICT-based innovations, six schools are described in greater detail as representing the range of innovations and the impact that they had on teaching and learning.
St Anne's Primary School
St Anne's Primary school is a Catholic school serving a community with significant pockets of social and economic disadvantage. The school sought to ensure that students developed the skills and knowledge to effectively use ICT to support learning. Initially, the school introduced a commercially developed multi- level theme-based curriculum as a means for achieving this purpose. By the time the innovation had been implemented and in place for a year or so, the school felt that it had outgrown many of the opportunities offered by the curriculum component and was focusing on integrating computers across the curriculum in Years 3-6.
The school had created a purpose-built learning environment in which four classes of students had continuous access in a common area to one computer for every five students. Students did much of their work in small groups, and accessed the computers for specific tasks when they felt that there was benefit in doing so. The principal and deputy principal had each taken a small teaching load to free teachers to develop their knowledge and skills in the effective integration of ICT in classroom learning. The research findings indicated that students had acquired considerable ICT-based skills and had learnt how to use ICT to support their learning by the time they left primary school. The school believed that:
...the introduction of the technology would facilitate improved collaborative and cooperative learning, that the computers would assist teachers to plan and teach together in teams. Any pressure from outside the school was `big picture' influence from our interest in phenomena such as mega-trends rather than `small picture' issues emanating as direct pressure from local groups. To some extent, this pressure was self- imposed as we actively sought information about current best practice in the area of communication and information technology . (St Anne's Primary School)
Summer Park Primary School
Summer Park is a government school that had achieved its plan to have one computer for every four students in the school. The student population is from disadvantaged families and 10 per cent are from non-English speaking backgrounds.
The school had invested a very high level of effort in radically changing its approach to teaching and learning over a five-year period. Classrooms had been reorganised to provide students with a high level of access to computers. The school's pedagogy had been changed in line with a constructivist view of learning, and the school had received recognition from external sources for the high level of achievement of its students. The school has made considerable use of the flexibility that it has gained from being able to allocate its funds according to need and to select teachers that complement the school's vision for learning.
The school's research provided strong evidence of changed student learning patterns, with students being more collaborative, resourceful, independent and taking more risks in their learning. They also developed increased ability to explain what they are doing and why.
The overriding number one priority when selecting staff has been to select teachers who have been able to work successfully within a team. As the innovation has been introduced, this prerequisite has continued to be a priority. The school is confident it can support teachers to acquire technology skills...[but]... it is much harder to train staff to be more team oriented if that has not been a previous practice . (Summer Park Primary School)
The school is very interested in determining the way classrooms change in a technology rich environment as compared to a `normal' more traditional classroom environment...[The] time children are on task, the range of tasks that children are required to undertake, the amount of time that the teacher spends in directly teaching the whole grade compared to the amount of time spent working with groups of children, the amount of time children are using computers in a day, the subject areas in which children are using technology, equity of usage between boys and girls, equity of usage by children at various levels of development . (Summer Park Primary School)
Caledonia Primary School
Caledonia Primary School is located in an outer suburb of a large city in a community with a high proportion of economically and socially disadvantaged families. A large proportion of its students are from families where a language other than English is spoken at home. The school has computers available in most classrooms and has a strategic focus on improving learning outcomes through the integration of ICT in classroom learning.
The major focus of the innovation was to enhance the capacity of teachers to use the internet as a teaching resource. A programme of structured professional development was implemented. Students in the innovation achieved higher outcomes on a number of affective measures and gained higher learning outcomes than a matched control group. The teachers in the innovation group experienced significant levels of frustration and difficulty in accessing the internet and locating appropriate teaching resources. Their ratings of the usefulness of the internet were lower at the end of period in which the innovation was implemented than before they commenced the project.
Staff began to question: what new capabilities the Internet and its related technologies may impart to teachers and students; how these capabilities might impact on teachers' work and the physical and interpersonal nature of the classroom; the types of changes in educational practice that must occur to take full advantage of these new models of teaching/learning (e.g., shifts in professional development, in the practices and culture of the school and actions that will optimise the transition to more effective, technology-based educational practice); the hidden consequences and side-effects that may occur through the use of these emerging information technologies including the challenges to equity, privacy, community participation and the steps we will need to take to minimise potentially negative outcomes . (Caledonia Primary School)
Lyons Secondary School
Lyons Secondary School can be described as a typical government suburban secondary school. Most of its computers were arranged in laboratories and monopolised by the Information Technology curriculum. The school sought to make better use of its computers and to provide access to students across year levels. Year 10 students were offered the opportunity to undertake the Information Technology course in one of three modes: through the normal means of using the computer laboratory, as an after-school course, or as an on- line course which they could study from home during the day.
The research findings indicated that students who elected to study in the on-line environment achieved at higher levels in terms of curriculum outcomes in Year 10, improved their capacity to manage their time, developed better relationships with their teachers, worked more cooperatively with other students, and had higher levels of motivation to learn.
Staff were interested in trying alternative approaches to traditional day classes based on the emerging information technologies and the variety of literature on concerns about the traditional schooling paradigm. The school had recently upgraded computer facilities. The Computers and Information teacher and the World Studies teacher were keen to use the new technology to its best potential. It seemed that negotiated, self- paced, cyber curricula were worthy of investigation.
The recent upgrading of computer facilities created additional demands from most other learning areas. The technology learning area had a monopoly on the facilities with subjects such as Computers and Information, Design Graphics and Information Processing. To ease the burden on facilities the [school initiated] evening and virtual classes [to] create space on the day timetable and enable other learning areas access to the computing facilities.
Various subject areas were experiencing change as a result of the growth of information technology. Course criteria included access to information technology as a requirement. This added to the demand on facilities.
Students who undertake an evening or virtual class have a `free line' in their timetable. It was envisaged that this time could be used as an opportunity to provide extension programmes for these students . (Lyons Secondary School)
Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School
Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School is a large senior secondary school in a rural city. Its client population represents the full range of the socio-economic context of its community, which includes families from disadvantaged through to middle socio-economic backgrounds. Almost half of its students come from families who qualify for welfare support. The school made a decision several years earlier to push the possibilities of technology to the limit. It has given strong emphasis in its strategic planning and budgeting to the development of a high quality ICT environment and has 2-6 computers accessible from each classroom and others available in larger purpose-designed student work areas. The school's ICT facilities are open to students from 8am to 6pm. The school has developed an Intranet that can be used by students and parents to access curriculum materials and other resources from home. The school has also undertaken substantial restructuring of its management, organisation and teaching and learning environments. The timetable was restructured to provide longer blocks of learning time and a scheduled and targetted programme of professional development for all staff.
The school has achieved substantial gains in the levels of achievement of its Year 12 students as a result of its broad-based reforms to the learning environment.
The innovation was premised on the assumption that if the [school] was to be relevant to...broad changes in the nature of post-school work and emerging communication systems, then a general restructuring of the school from classroom to front office was needed to create an appropriate learning environment and learning methods. The introduction of new communication and information technologies was seen as essential in enabling the school to meet the new learning needs of students and also to manage the school change process.
Extended access beyond class time to information and communication technologies for staff and students was also perceived to be an effective way to enhance the [school's] learning environment. This increased access was seen as a necessary condition to more effective use of the technologies.
An increased focus on school self-management by the current State government has created some conditions favourable to a major redirection of the [school] budget. The [school] has also received funding through the provision of professional development programmes that have influenced the College's ethos and sense of its role in the broader state education system. (Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School)
St Cecilia's Anglican Girls School
St Cecilia's is a non-government girls school catering for approximately 1000 day and boarding students and is located in an urban area adjacent to a major city. The school receives most of its income from tuition fees and is acutely aware of the need to maintain the quality of the education it provides. The school had developed a substantial ICT infrastructure for both teachers and students to use and was integrating the use of ICT into teaching and learning across the curriculum. Students were generally comfortable in using computers and the school sought to develop and evaluate the impact of multi-media, the internet and computer assisted learning in courses for students in Years 8-10.
The findings of the research indicate that students learnt at least as well in the ICT-integrated classrooms as others while at the same time increasing their use of higher-order thinking. The ICT-integrated classrooms also had higher levels of student participation in learning, were more adaptable to student needs and led to more in-depth investigations by students than classrooms that did not use ICT.
It was thought that technology might also produce savings by making teaching more efficient, allowing reductions in staffing, and providing opportunities for flexibility in location and hours of study. In terms of teaching and learning, a final consideration was that computers seemed to motivate and interest students and it was of interest to look for ways of harnessing this to improve learning outcomes.
[The] significant feature for this study was the introduction of information technology as a tool for teaching and learning across the curriculum. It has been at once a lever for introducing change, a mechanism for curriculum development and innovation in teaching and learning, and a feature the school can promote in marketing to the niche market of its clientele. (St Cecilia's Anglican Girls School)
Some of the innovations focused on using technology to displace activities that were carried out in other ways in current learning environments. An example is the use of word processors to support the development of literacy skills through writing and revising text. Functional uses of ICT of this kind are often referred to `learning with technology'. The more advanced schools were seeking to use ICT as part of the process of a transforming pedagogy to support constructivist approaches to learning. This type of approach is often referred to as `learning through technology'.
Schools recognised the potential that ICT provides to meet the learning needs of individual students, to develop new configurations of collaborative learning teams, and to access information and communicate in a virtual environment. Such an environment opens up new opportunities for the communication, display and storage of information and knowledge that reaches far beyond the linear and text-based representation of knowledge and information in print format.
Restructuring learning
Many of the schools that were reframing their learning environments around a constructivist theory of learning sought to support the development of cognitive tools, commonly referred to as `higher-order thinking skills'. The combination of a focus on meta-cognitive processes, higher-order thinking skills and cooperative/collaborative learning is referred to by some schools as the emerging `thinking skills' curriculum Schools in the IBPP sought to use this framework to address the individual learning needs of students through a more student-centred approach to teaching and learning.
[The] aim is to train students...to use their technological tools to explore, to take risks, to gather and manipulate data, to think critically and apply knowledge in new and creative ways. (Middle Road College)
Schools sought to enhance the level of student engagement in their learning by focusing on the needs of individual students, rather than establishing a learning environment that is focused principally on the curriculum.
The breadth of impact that schools sought to make through ICT-integrated learning environments is evident from the objectives that Moreton Primary School had for the learning environment that it was creating. Students would:
- develop proficiency in making decisions about how, when and why they can use technology to amplify, extend and transform their learning;
- learn how to learn and how to think, rather than simply how to retrieve and replicate information;
- develop skills as critical and strategic thinkers and problem solvers;
- negotiate and design significant aspects of their learning programme;
- use ICT to enhance and expand communication skills;
- use opportunities for social interaction to inform, refine and motivate learning;
- interrogate and critically reflect on the appropriate uses of learning technologies;
- maintain an active engagement with tasks;
- choose an appropriate learning style; and
- develop the capacity to reflect on their learning.
Many of the schools had restructured the physical learning environment to cater for the introduction of ICT. This generally focused on providing individual classrooms with direct access to computers as part of the normal classroom learning environment. A quarter of the schools had developed an extended learning environment that went beyond the school. These extensions to the learning environment took the form of virtual classrooms that were available for both in-school and out-of-school learning. Schools sought to provide access to the ICT environments beyond the normal school day. Lyons Secondary School developed parallel delivery modes for one of its courses: in-school time classes, evening classes, and on-line access for learning from home. Students who studied the course through the on-line option were given `time release' to work from home during the day. The on-line course was supplemented with regular contact with a supervisor via email, tutorials, and one-to-one support.
Schools indicated that their focus on ICT-based innovations was part of a strategy for targeting high expectations and excellence in the establishment of a strong track record of student achievement. In general, the ICT-based innovations were motivated to a great extent by a desire to build on and further improve existing practices or programmes in other areas.
A general observation from the teachers, and in particular from the middle grade teachers, was that they [developed] much higher expectations about the quality of students' stories and project reports when they used the computing resources as part of their investigations and publishing. (Lyons Secondary School)
Students are now expected to: be more independent and more interested; [have] higher standards and outcomes from year to year; [take] more risks; be more collaborative and to learn from other children, not just to learn from the teacher; learn things that the teacher doesn't know; learn in diverse ways; verbalise, think through and remember things a lot better; and manage their files on a local area network from their first year at school. (Summer Park Primary School)
Because of the need to allocate significant funds to ICT-based innovations, schools sought to keep their communities fully informed about their nature and the expected outcomes for students. Parents viewed such programmes as adding to the prestige of the school. They showed the schools to be innovative and progressive and responsive to the needs of students in the modern world. There were cases, however, of resistance from parent communities.
Parents were active in questioning the priority for the innovation in some schools:
[They sought assurances about the] impact on other areas of fundraising e.g., P&F Fundraising, Parish Planned Giving, the balance between IT and other areas of the curriculum, the impact on families with more than one child or families with reduced income, [and whether] there is a need for Junior Primary students to access IT. (St Anne's Primary School)
Schools implemented strategies to achieve strong staff and community ownership of the innovation. In many, the principal developed the vision and took responsibility for creating the necessary enthusiasm and motivation to implement the innovation with the support of the various stakeholder groups.
A...major implication arising from this study is the central importance of effective leadership and coherent management of the introduction of new technologies for learning. (Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School)
If we did not have an effective School Board with vision, high level decision-making skills, financial skills and a team ethic, the project would have been at risk. Our school was one of the first undertaking this reform, thus parents at the school had no other experience to relate to in assessing the merit of our proposal. (St Anne's Primary School)
The innovations often meant a considerable increase in workloads for teachers during the development and implementation phase. Further, a number of the school research reports indicated that it was necessary to develop strategies to address a cultural shift in teacher attitudes before the innovation could be implemented.
...we were willing to share problems and ways individuals dealt with or overcame the problems to achieve successful implementation. This was part of our need for it to be a whole school approach [and] to recognise the differences of individuals and value them. (St Anne's Primary School)
Every staff member assists others, seeks help from others. Especially more experienced teachers seeking the assistance of less experienced teachers in this area. (teacher, St Anne's Primary School)
Impact on teaching
The innovations provided teachers with the opportunity to develop their teaching practices in a way that provided them with almost immediate feedback, without any detrimental impact on student learning outcomes. The organisation and arrangement of classrooms changed as a result of the innovations. The schools provided evidence of changed teacher beliefs and attitudes about learning and changed teaching styles-from traditional `chalk and talk' to student-centred learning.
[The] movement of [students to] virtual [classes] from the day timetable for computing subjects...opened up the timetable, allowing greater access for the rest of the school. (Lyons Secondary School)
The schools also provided evidence of a gradual shift by teachers towards a more constructivist model of learning.
[Student work samples are] indicative of a...paradigm shift, and point to a move by staff towards a more constructivist approach to instructional design; where students are challenged to design and solve meaningful problems by utilising a range of tools, resources and strategies. (Middle Road College)
The Internet has challenged teachers and students to consider a new way of learning that relies on collaborative problem solving, requires a team effort in the classroom and shifts the learning responsibility from teacher to student. (Caledonia Primary School)
Other areas of teaching were influenced by easier access to resources-through CD digital texts, the internet and specialist software-that allowed teachers to demonstrate concepts more efficiently and effectively than by other means, music composition to explore a wider range of music related activities, and data logging devices for collecting information from laboratory experiments and investigations.
Despite the difficulties teachers experienced while preparing for classes using the Internet, they reported that they were now incorporating the Internet into more of their lessons or were developing skills in using the Internet to incorporate into their lessons at a later time. Teachers of older students were particularly motivated to use the Internet as a teaching resource. (Caledonia Primary School)
Teachers in a number of the innovations reported that once they had become familiar with the new learning environments, the increased levels of student learning and the management of the classroom for effective learning through technology was more satisfying for them professionally. For example, they were better able to match learners to tasks and texts in order to cater for individual student differences. They believed that they were able to do this much more effectively in the ICT-based learning environments than had been the case previously in their classrooms.
Analysis of the things that the teachers began to do differently reveals that in some cases classroom practices changed dramatically. Examples that were offered [were] highlighted [by the following]: group work was used much more frequently; children worked on a variety of tasks that called for record keeping in the form of contract sheets and daily activity check lists; students were given greater autonomy over the way they made presentations in Kid Pix or Hyperstudio; teacher confidence grew with experience of using Quicktake and video cameras, and scanning images; and this opened up possibilities for the students; and teachers found they had new challenges with people visiting the classroom, [the] involvement of parents and informing the school community. (Summer Park Primary School)
Impact on student learning
The model of curriculum being developed by many of the schools does not fit easily with the traditional curriculum and assessment regime that is common in most school systems.
There were also perceived inconsistencies between the constructivist framework of the innovation and [its] pedagogical underpinnings and the maths curriculum. (Summer Park Primary School)
[There were] concerns by some staff that the effective use of technologies is hampered by the current prescriptions about learning outcomes for particular subjects in the [Year 12 examinations]. For example, the Board of Studies for English...ruled in 1998 that only `printable' texts would be assessed, thus ruling out the use of hypertext as assessable student work. (Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School)
Although most schools did not seek directly to focus on ICT skills and knowledge per se they found that students did gain significantly in these areas.
...students have made significant inroads into the processes of information skills. (Airport Avenue Primary School)
The innovation had a significant impact on the achievement of information processing outcomes. (Airport Avenue Primary School)
...students produced their first Web page...They do their own research, compile [HTML links], pass comment, make suggestions, then proudly post their work for all to see. They view HTML source codes and alter them for their own purposes, making errors and criticising each other...constantly looking for new [ways] to use these creative tools to present more traditional assignments. (Middle Road College)
The schools produced evidence that their innovations in many cases supported the enhancement of higher order thinking skills.
...the group were accessing more sophisticated problems with the help of the technology. (Lawson College)
The results provide evidence to support the view that the computer- aided instruction in Year 10 German was effective in pressing students into higher-order thinking, in achieving high levels of investigation, participation and personalisation. (St Cecilia's Anglican Girls School)
Students are better problem-solvers and seek advice from those they judge to be more capable. In addition, the definition of `capability' has been broadened within the students' and teachers' thinking. Some of the less literate students have [become] acknowledged software experts in the classroom and their own thinking has expanded. (Jupiter Avenue Primary School)
The range of outcomes the schools considered important were, in general, much broader than those specified in current curriculum frameworks and systemic testing and assessment programmes. The schools addressed a wide range of aspects of learning and learning outcomes for students. A dominant feature of the ICT innovations was evidence that students had enhanced their social competencies through cooperative and collaborative modes of learning. Students acknowledged the work of others more readily, worked in groups, collaborated on particular learning tasks, and gained greater enjoyment from working in the contexts produced by these innovations.
[Students] opt for more participative sharing by almost literally hand-in- hand co-operation. This form of decision-making requires high levels of co-operative [behaviour] because both partners are actively engaged . (St Brigid's Primary School)
There is also evidence from these innovations that in ICT-integrated classroom environments students have increased opportunities and enhanced capacity to self-regulate their learning.
[The] much higher interest level among students has broadened their knowledge and deepened their knowledge for learning. (Jupiter Avenue Primary School)
[The innovation] enabled students to become strategic in their learning. (St Brigid's Primary School)
Sometimes I used to do things long ways, but now I have learnt to shorten things up...You can do some work, save it on your `S' drive and keep coming back to it later-and restart where you finished. (St Brigid's Primary School)
Many innovations resulted in students having enhanced time management skills and greater responsibility for their own learning.
This programme has given students the ability to develop time management skills. Students who undertake an evening or virtual class are allocated a `study line' of four 50 minute periods per student . (Lyons Secondary School)
There was evidence that by taking more responsibility for their learning, students developed better communication skills with their teachers, partly because they felt they were treated more like adult learners . (Lyons Secondary School)
I can be easily distracted and look as if I am working but I am not getting it done. I have learnt the hard way - if you don't do the work, you have to make it up in your own time . (student, Lyons Secondary School)
I have good communications with the teacher, he is not so tied up with other students and busy all the time so he can give me more help . (student, Lyons Secondary School)
There was significant evidence that these innovations provided more effectively for the individual learning needs of students. Students adapted to the use of self- paced and open-ended learning and had higher motivation and engagement in their learning. They also appreciated having more control over their work.
Our results indicate that moving toward a more student-centred learning environment produced...opportunities for more engaged learning . (Belltown Primary School)
...effective use of computers provided opportunities for learning to be individualised, student-centred, self-paced, and open-ended . (St Cecilia's Anglican Girls School)
...the technology allows students to work productively at their own pace in a responsive context... The opportunity to individualise learning in a responsive environment has certainly strengthened the quality of the outcomes for students . (St Xaviers Secondary College)
What is interesting here is that kids seem to stream themselves according to [their] preferred learning style...Given the chance, there are many students [at Year 10] who prefer to learn on an individual basis without the constant supervision of a teacher and without the confines of a classroom . (Lyons Secondary School)
The following excerpts from the Summer Park Primary School research report show that many of the above impacts on learning can occur simultaneously and lead to second-order changes in the learning environment.
Students are much more collaborative and acknowledge each other's work to a far greater extent. This was true across all year levels, and equally stressed by teachers working with very young students. Students are more resourceful, independent and better risk takers. They come up with their own ideas and decide where they want to go to do their research.
Students are better problem solvers and seek advice from those they judge to be more capable. In addition, the definition of capability has been broadened within the students and the teachers thinking. Some of the less literate students have become acknowledged software experts in the classroom and their own thinking has expanded....Poor readers are motivated to read what is on the computer.
The students are judged to be more confident than those taught in previous years.
The students' time management skills are much better than in the past because of the way the class works. Activities for a weekly programme are set out and students opt to do some things at home if they spend more time on other activities in class. Connected with this was the perception that students showed more initiative in doing things at home without any suggestion or expectation from the teacher. The quotas set by the teacher for a range of tasks are often exceeded. This means that there is now less demarcation between school and out-of-school learning.
Much higher interest level amongst the students has broadened their knowledge and deepened their enthusiasm for learning. They are also much more persistent in the time they will devote to a particular task. Students are better at self and peer evaluation.
Students have acquired more lifelong learning skills.
Students have a greater ability to verbalise what they are doing and why...Students are able to concentrate and not be disturbed or distracted by people entering the room.
Improvement in student learning outcomes
The schools that had developed ICT-based innovations were able to demonstrate improvements in learning outcomes for students in both the cognitive and non- cognitive domains. Thirty-five per cent of the schools were able to provide strong evidence that their ICT innovations had a direct impact on the improvement of learning outcomes, and a further 40 per cent demonstrated improvement in student learning outcomes that were associated with the innovation and other associated changes that the school had made. There was strong evidence that the ICT innovations had led to student improvements in the following areas:
Mastery of curriculum-based learning outcomes
There is also strong agreement between staff and students about the enhanced learning outcomes of students' use of software programmes that are designed to create products or perform analyses or calculations that exactly match the specified learning goals in some [Year 12] subjects...the purpose-built design elements in Illustrator (Graphic Design) Ashlar Vellum Software (Technology Design and Development) computer-aided composition of multi-instrumental arrangements (Music Performance) and Graphics Calculators (Mathematics) are perceived by both teachers and students as providing significant learning advantages over past methods or resources . (Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School)
...71 per cent of day class students achieved awards on the less demanding course...73 per cent of virtual class students achieved awards on the more demanding syllabus. The evening students are in between these 2 extremes with 52 per cent achieving awards on the less demanding course and 48 per cent achieving awards on the more demanding syllabus...The results indicate that it is possible to teach in cyber space without adversely affecting outcomes . (Lyons Secondary School)
Improvement in Year 12 examination achievements of students
The most significant quantitative evidence of change in the [school] is the improved levels of student performance across most subjects in the [Year 12 examination] over the last three years...when compared with State average scores, results of schools with similar socio-economic profiles, and with State averages on [Year 12] testing...[There was an] increased percentage of students achieving scores of A+ and A . (Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School)
Improvements in learning against pre-specified outcomes criteria
Innovation classes demonstrated significantly greater improvement in teacher-rated mastery than the control classes . (Caledonia Primary School)
Increased use of higher-order and problem solving skills
...computer-aided instruction in Year 10 German was effective in pressing students into higher order thinking, and achieving high levels of investigation, participation and personalisation . (St Cecilia's Anglican Girls School)
Improvement in student performance in ICT skills
...improved performance of students in a National Schools Computer Studies Competition over three years [the proportion of students scoring in the top 20 per cent increased from 22 per cent to 52 per cent] . (Jupiter Avenue Primary School)
Many of the ICT-based innovations focused on improvement of cognitive learning outcomes only indirectly, preferring in the first instance to focus on the improvement of non-cognitive aspects of learning outcomes. There was widespread evidence that student engagement and motivation could be substantially enhanced by the effective integration of ICT in both primary and secondary school learning environments.
...90 per cent of students enjoyed using technology...their level of interest and motivation remained high throughout the project . (Airport Avenue Primary School)
...students not previously engaged are giving up their lunchtimes to work on the Web pages . (Eastbourne Secondary School)
...children are motivated to learn and are `switched-on' using multi- media and technology. They are empowered to try new skills and use the skills to help their learning . (St Anne's Primary School)
The ICT innovations noted that the capacity of students to become more self- regulating was evident in their management of time.
65 per cent of students felt that participation in virtual or evening classes had improved their time management skills. But it's not been easy. [60 per cent] agreed that `Managing time efficiently' was harder than I expected.
Parents also strongly indicated (84 per cent in favour) that their child appreciates the flexibility and responsibility which comes from studying in these [virtual] classes . (Lyons Secondary School)
The schools had to overcome a range of technical and skills related problems in the implementation of their innovations. The most common technical problem schools had to address was that of hardware/system reliability. Most of the schools had high levels of technology resources that required significant technical and maintenance support to maintain them in reliable working order. Software problems relating to the need for continual upgrading of application packages and operating systems were also a major hurdle for many schools.
Equipment problems are a potential source of frustration and some teachers felt that extra technical support would have positive outcomes for the programmes . (Summer Park Primary School)
The effects of equipment failure are self-evident: general breakdowns with computers, mice not working, children changing files, computers not functioning . (St Anne's Primary School)
The schools with laptop programmes found it necessary to develop specific structures to support the maintenance of this equipment. Given the nature of these innovations, it is perhaps not surprising that we should see the emergence of `laptop under repair' as a significant excuse used by students for not being prepared for their lessons. The maintenance schedules and structures for the repair of computers had to provide contingency planning to cater for students when their laptop was not in working order. Laptop maintenance programmes had to develop strategies to deal with a range of operational problems in addition to hardware problems experienced with the laptops themselves. For example, there were problems with batteries running low, machines crashing, machines requiring upgrade, ineffective network connectivity, and insufficient memory to operate the software and learning environment developed. Teachers, generally, did not have the skills and knowledge to assist students with these problems when they occurred in the classroom.
Another area in which schools needed to develop strategies to address problems was in relation to the internet. Schools needed to allow for the fact that not all students could connect to the internet at the same time. This had to be factored in when planning lessons. The lack of bandwidth for internet communications limited activities in many schools.
Perhaps the major challenge faced by the schools was that inherent in all innovation and change processes-mustering support and commitment from a critical mass of staff to give credence to the innovation. In many cases this involved winning over staff who were wary of continual change in schools and who were not receptive to the idea that integration of ICT could assist in providing enhanced learning opportunities for students.
Changes in teacher behaviour were also revealed in terms of how individual teachers were required to engage in more extensive planning within their teaching team structures . (Summer Park Primary School)
My personal feeling of inadequacy in the area of computing was an area that I personally had to work to overcome . (teacher, St Anne's Primary School)
I now think that teachers should be forced to move outside their comfort zone. But I do not think they have to know how to do everything at the same time. It has to be gradual . (teacher, Summer Park Primary School)
Although there was some resistance, their concerns were totally understandable. We were asking them to "dive in the deep end" and take on a programme for which there was little precedent . (St Anne's Primary School)
Assumptions were made initially in terms of where teachers were in relation to levels of skill and confidence in using the Internet and the Worldwide web...The introduction of new practices can be stressful and frustration arises as a result...frustration [was] also felt by some teachers who found it difficult to measure or to see immediate improved student performance that could be unambiguously linked to the introduction of Internet and computer-based technologies . (Caledonia Primary School)
The pressures on time and the crowded curriculum were also noted by schools as significant sources of stress in the implementation of their innovations.
...the major constraints as those related to availability and use of time for particular activities that were deemed to be of value to the students' learning . (Summer Park Primary School)
The huge amount of time it was taking me to get ready for my lessons... . (teacher, St Anne's Primary School)
Another significant challenge in restructuring learning environments for the effective integration of ICT was the sourcing of professional development and recruitment of staff to take advantage of the new opportunities offered by the environment.
[There is a] need for systematic and sustained professional development of teachers so that they are skilled from the outset in the effective use of these technologies, and can therefore make informed judgements about which applications are best suited to the achievement of particular learning goals . (Potter's Gold Senior Secondary School)
As teachers, we have learned the importance of being open to new ideas and approaches, and that we need to be aware of individual learning styles and what motivates today's students. We have also learned the importance of keeping up with [changes in] technology . (Airport Avenue Primary School)
[On] the whole, teachers are not aware of the potential of on-line learning environments to support rich and valuable learning experiences . (Jericho College)
There was a need for a continual updating of teacher skills as the environment developed and new opportunities emerged. One of the problems schools needed to address in this context was the fact that the development of strategic teaching skills to integrate ICT often did not keep pace with the development of the ICT technical skills of teachers.
This problem was exacerbated in many cases by the focus of systemic training and development initiatives on technical skills, with little or no provision of programmes to support professional development in the integration of technology into the practice of teaching and learning. This reflects the limited nature of current system perspectives about the nature of teaching and learning with technology, but, more importantly, it indicates a lack of vision about what can be achieved by learning through technology.
Systemic professional development is based on technical skills acquisition, not strategic teaching skills . (Belltown Primary School)
[There were] not many opportunities for systemic professional development in considering creative and sustained cross-curriculum and pedagogical reforms with IT . (Rover Hill Girls College)
Systemic skill development programmes were rarely set within an articulated theoretical framework of teaching and learning in technology-rich environments. Schools in the non-government sector reported that it was difficult to access high quality professional development appropriate to their context.
The schools in the IBPP that focused on ICT-based innovations were mostly in the early phases of exploring the potential role of ICT in school learning environments. They were of the view that schools in the future will have access to substantially enhanced ICT environments and they sought to learn about ways in which the potential of these environments could be harnessed for the improvement of student learning.
The ICT-based innovations faced similar challenges, particularly in terms of changing the culture of teaching and learning in schools, as many of the other significant innovations in the IBPP. The schools that developed ICT-based innovations found the discipline of researching and measuring the impact of their innovations to be a significant challenge, as did many of the schools that developed innovations in other areas in the IBPP.
In many cases, schools that implemented ICT-based innovations also implemented substantial other changes to the organisation and working environment of the school. Thus, the impact of the ICT component of their innovation was confounded with the impact of the other changes that they had made.
The leading-edge ICT innovations that had reached a degree of maturity had moved beyond a focus on the ICT to a primary focus on learning environments and student learning. Contemporary theories of learning informed the use of ICT in these emerging environments, particularly those that recognised the need for simultaneous pressure and support to challenge what students know and to move beyond what they currently know to `new' knowledge.
The IBPP ICT schools exposed a significant gap in the provision of professional development for teachers, especially in integrating ICT into learning. Although there were ample opportunities for teachers to gain access to training and development in the functional use of ICT, there was a paucity of opportunities in professional development programmes to develop an understanding how ICT can be effectively integrated to support student learning. The task that teachers faced was not one simply of integrating computers into teaching and learning in a technical sense. It was the acquisition of a deeper understanding of processes of cognitive learning and affective and social development, beyond that which is common in many schools.
These innovations showed that ICT itself can act as a catalyst to learning. This can be either through the simple process of providing enriched access to learning resources or through the much more complex interplay between students' cognitive functioning and the capacities embodied in ICT.
Schools demonstrated that ICT can be effectively utilised to improve learning outcomes in both the cognitive and non-cognitive domains. The impact of ICT was far broader than simply improvement of curriculum outcomes. Schools found that they were able to integrate ICT into their learning environments to support significant enhancements in student engagement, enjoyment and motivation to learn. Many schools were successful in integrating ICT into their learning environments to provide more authentic and adaptable contexts to better meet the learning needs of individual students in the middle-years.
When implemented as part of a more wide-ranging reform of school organisation, management and teaching practice, the second-order effects of ICT provided opportunities for students to learn in more constructivist and flexible ways. Students gained substantial additional learning outcomes. These included the capacity to regulate and manage their learning and the skills and capacities for collaborative and cooperative learning to achieve team-based outcomes that were beyond those achievable by students working individually.
Schools provided evidence that cognitive curriculum outcomes, as reflected in standard assessments at the end of Year 12 and earlier stages of schooling, can also be improved through the use of ICT. This was particularly evident when ICT was used to generate learning that addressed higher-order skills, self-regulation and used software and hardware that was aligned with the curriculum and outcomes to be achieved.
The IBPP supported schools to undertake rigorously researched evaluations of the impact of their innovations. These evaluations demonstrated that ICT can be integrated into school learning environments to enhance the quality of teaching and learning and to achieve improved learning outcomes for students.