PDF hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen The version of the following full text has not yet been defined or was untraceable and may differ from the publisher's version. For additional information about this publication click this link. http://hdl.handle.net/2066/18859 Please be advised that this information was generated on 2021-09-27 and may be subject to change. The Impact of Information and Communication Technology on the Teacher Ed Smeets Ton Mooij Hadewych Bamps Antonio Bartolomé Joost Lowyck Dave Redmond Karl Steffens Institute for Applied Social Sciences (ITS) University of Nijmegen P.O. Box 9048 6500 KJ Nijmegen The Netherlands http://www. its.kun.nl in co-operation with: University of Leuven, Belgium University of Cologne, Germany Nexus Europe Ltd., Ireland University of Barcelona, Spain 2 The Impact o f Information and Communication Technology on the Teacher © 1999 Institute for Applied Social Sciences (ITS); University of Nijmegen; Nijmegen; The Netherlands No part of this book/publication may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publisher Contents Summary 5 1 Introduction 16 1.1 Information and Communication Technology in education 16 1.2 From an innovation-oriented to a teacher-oriented approach 17 1.3 From an objectivist to a constructivist view of learning 17 1.4 Defining the scope of this study 22 2 The multi-level approach 23 2.1 Introduction 23 2.2 The community 24 2.2.1 Definition 24 2.2.2 Factors influencing the implementation of ICT 24 2.2.3 ICT policy in the five countries 26 2.3 The school 30 2.4 The teacher and the learning environment 33 2.4.1 Introduction 33 2.4.2 Factors influencing the use of ICT by teachers 34 2.4.3 Modelling and managing the learning environment 37 2.4.4 The teacher’s role in the ICT learning environment 43 2.4.5 The teacher’s professional development 46 2.4.6 The impact of ICT on the teacher’s task perception 46 2.4.7 Innovative impact of ICT on the teacher’s role 48 2.4.8 Hypotheses 48 2.5 The pupils 49 2.5.1 Relevant background variables 49 2.5.2 The impact o f ICT on the pupils 50 2.6 Conclusion 51 3 Method 53 3.1 Introduction 53 3.2 Research questions 53 3.3 Selection of cases 53 3.4 Activities and instruments 56 3.4.1 Interviews with school principals / ICT co-ordinators 56 3.4.2 Teachers’ survey 56 4 The Impact o f Information and Communication Technology on the Teacher 3.4.3 Classroom observations 57 3.4.4 Interviews with teachers 58 4 Results 59 4.1 Introduction 59 4.2 The interviews with school principals / ICT co-ordinators 59 4.3 The teachers’ survey 61 4.4 Classroom observations 63 4.4.1 Media availability and use 63 4.4.2 Lesson activities, grouping of pupils, and learning content 66 4.4.3 The role of the teacher 71 4.4.4 Innovative uses of ICT in the classroom 76 4.5 Impressions from interviews with teachers 88 5 Conclusions 91 5.1 Introduction 91 5.2 Factors influencing the use of ICT by teachers 91 5.3 Actual use of ICT by teachers 92 5.4 The role of the teacher in ICT learning environments 94 5.5 The hypotheses revisited: teacher roles in innovative ICT approaches 100 5.6 Towards optimal education with ICT 102 5.7 Recommendations 107 References 110 Annexes 120 Annex 1: Overview of project partners 120 Annex 2: Overview of participating schools 122 Annex 3: The case-studies: results from the interviews with school principals and ICT co-ordinators 124 Annex 4: The case-studies: results from the teachers’ survey 143 Annex 5: ICT in Belgium 162 Annex 6: ICT in Germany 174 Annex 7: ICT in Ireland 190 Annex 8: ICT in The Netherlands 224 Annex 9: ICT in Spain 235 Summary Introduction In spite of all efforts made, the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in primary and secondary education in general is disappointing. High expectations with regard to the potential of computers in education have not been met. Initially, attempts to introduce the computer in education were technology-centred, the role of the teacher in the innovation process being neglected. Many innovators conside­ red the teacher to be merely a barrier which had to be overcome. These innovators tended to view teachers as executors of prescribed tasks, implying that detailed tasks had to be formulated in order to get teachers to use computers in the classroom. This appro­ ach proved to fall short. Gradually, the approach shifted from technology-centred towards teacher-centred thinking. More and more, the teacher is perceived to be the crucial factor in the innovation process. Simultaneously with this shift from a technology-centred to a teacher-centred innovation approach, educational theorists started to advocate a shift from teacher-centred towards pupil-centred learning environ­ ments. This shift is expected to influence the role of the teacher to a large extent. Until now, only few studies focussed on the impact of ICT on the teacher. Research has primarily addressed the implications of learning with ICT for students or factors influen­ cing the implementation of ICT by teachers. In order to gain more insight into the changing roles of teachers using ICT in their (primary and secondary) classes, the European Commission (EC) put a study of the impact of ICT on the role of the teacher to tender. This study, which was initiated by Directorate General XXII of the EC, was carried out in five countries, involving researchers from Belgium, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, and Spain. The study was co-ordinated by the Institute for Applied Social Sciences (ITS) from the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands. The focus of the project is on the way ICT affects the practice of the teacher, and the way this practice may be improved. 6 The Impact o f Information and Communication Technology on the Teacher Theory Implementation of ICT in education Many studies have addressed implementation issues with regard to ICT in education, re­ sulting in an extensive list of relevant factors and actors. These may be categorized into four levels: 1) the community (national / regional / local level); 2) the school; 3) the teacher and the learning environment; 4) the pupils. The results of the studies as to which are the most important variables influencing ICT use in the classroom, however, are inconclusive. There is an interaction of factors which, according to some studies, de­ pends on the stage of the implementation process. The community level and the school level In order to foster the implementation of ICT in classroom practice, several preconditions have to be met. These may to a substantial part b e influenced by the policy towards ICT which is adopted at the community (i.e. the national, regional, or local) level. Among these preconditions are giving financial support to schools, fostering courseware deve­ lopment, fostering adequate teacher training, providing technical and pedagogical support, and stimulating the use of ICT by integrating ICT related abilities in the curricu­ lum and examination requirements. At the school level, the implementation of ICT may be stimulated by: providing access to hardware acquiring (educational) software or allocating budgets for the acquisition of software setting up internal support (by an ICT co-ordinator and a system operator) stimulating communication about ICT in the school stimulating teachers to use ICT stimulating the school staff’s professional development, and allocating time for ICT-related activities to the staff. The teacher modelling the learning environment Optimal learning processes cannot be obtained unless there is an optimal learning environment. The teacher plays a crucial role in modelling and managing the learning environment. In this respect, teachers fulfill numerous tasks: selecting goals, selecting content, selecting media, selecting learning materials (including courseware), selecting teaching methods, grouping pupils, allocating time for the ac tivities, enabling differentia­ Summary 7 tion, interacting with pupils, monitoring pupils’ progress, and assessing the learning effects. The use of ICT may influence the learning environment in terms of infrastructure, classroom structure, grouping, learning tasks, interaction patterns, behavioural control, mental effort, interaction, time schedule, teaching and learning methods, etc. The nature of this influence is to a large part determined by the teacher. The skills of teachers that most influence their uses of computers are, according to studies, those skills related to their competence in classroom management activities, to their pedagogical skills and, less importantly, to their computer-handling technical skills. Fear is often cited among teachers as a reason for resisting the use of computers in the classroom: fear of losing control of ‘centre stage’, or fear of ‘looking stupid’ in front of the class. A teacher’s adjustment to the use of technology requires considerable effort, new knowledge, and a willingness to change existing teaching strategies. Studies show it is a general practice that using ICT implies a challenge to traditional whole-class teaching. The rise of individualized learning and co-operative learning ne­ cessitates specific teachers’ skills in terms of individual management and group manage­ ment. Moreover, the increased use of technology reveals a new but complex challenge to the skills of teachers. At the micro level, teachers are faced with many types of decisions and are required to fulfill many different tasks related to the daily use of ICT (decisions about when pupils should use computers, how to link their use with other instructional activities, which software to use, how to co-ordinate use of computers among different classes and among pupils within a classroom, etc.).