ICT integration in schools: Where are we now and what comes next?

Schools and ICT integration: The Australian policy context

Australian national and state education initiatives over the last 25 years stress the integration of computing technologies into compulsory education (AEC 1989; State of Victoria, 2001; Tas 2002; MCEETYA 2003; 2005). Like Western governments worldwide, in Australia computing technologies are considered a motherhood solution to the needs of a highly skilled and technologically capable workforce. Implicated in this 'final solution' is compulsory school education and its connection to future workplaces. The 2005 MCEETYA Joint Statement on Education and Training in the Information Economy resonates with this kind of digital rhetoric as we move towards a "...leading edge education and training system" that "drives development of an innovative society" (MCEETYA, 2005). ICTs (information and communication technologies) in education are burdened with the promise "to raise education standards and minimum skill levels" marking the arrival of the "future economy". The 'quality training through new technologies' of this new legion of workers will address Australia's need for competent, lifelong learners in "a world of continuous technological change where knowledge is becoming a commodity" (MCEETYA, 2005).

The cry for more technology in schools is deeply connected here; the origins of a school based solution are traceable to the Common and Agreed National Goals for Schooling (AEC, 1989), which included the goal that students develop skills in 'information processing and computing'. In 2005, MCEETYA released its Joint Statement on Education and Training in the Information Economy, proclaiming a new blueprint for ICTs to 'empower' teachers and raise the standards of students' learning outcomes. The 16 year period between AEC (1989) and MCEETYA (2005) is a telling one; espoused views on computing technologies and student learning shifted from an initial preoccupation with the teaching of computer skills, to focus more on issues of ICT access for all students (MCEETYA, 1999), the relevance of a 'whole school' approach to ICT teaching and learning (Curriculum Corporation, 2003), and more recently to issues of school based change management and teacher professional development (Henderson, 2004). If we listen closely to this shifting 'learnscape', we can discern a quiet mantra: in terms of ICTs in schooling, more is definitely better.

In Learning in an online world (MCEETYA, 2000) evidence of a governance approach to integrating 'more ICTs in schools' can be found. Iterations of what it means to integrate ICTs are rolled out as a suite of statements and frameworks including the Online Content Strategy (2004); Learning Architecture Framework (2003); Research Strategy (2003); and Bandwidth Action Plan (2003). Notably, a Pedagogy and a Leadership and Professional Learning Strategy (2005) earmark a new direction in ICT statements for schools. This is notable for two reasons; (1) until this release, pedagogy has been a silent space in the evolution of ICTs in schools, and; (2) leadership has for the first time been problematised in the ICTs in schools debate.

Teachers, learners and ICT uptake in schools

This is a significant shift in emphasis; historically, existing digital rhetoric (particularly in relation to teacher professional development here in Queensland) foregrounds the'use' of ICTs and locates learners, teachers and ICT leaders as 'users' of technologies. Teacher ICT competency has in the past been likened to a 'skills continuum', embedded in school based ICT professional development - teachers must be willing to adapt to change, assemble reasonable ICT competencies, and demonstrate capacity for time management (Guha, 2003; Bitner & Bitner, 2002). Not only must the teacher have access to a 'working' ICT tool kit, but this skill set must be matched by pedagogical compatibility, and social awareness (Zhao, Pugh, Sheldon & Byers, 2002). Variations in access to ICTs and levels of school based ICT infrastructure are also critical to the successful uptake of ICTs in the classroom (Loveless, 1996); this is deeply connected to levels of teacher and systems support, such that the stronger the ICT culture of a school, the more likely it is to 'use' ICTs as a teaching and learning platform (Lim, Khine, Hew, Wong, Shanti & Lim, 2003; Bitner & Bitner, 2002).

This 'user' mindset positions school based users of ICTs within a broader administrative set of relations, encompassing service level relationships based on identified client needs. The problem with being an ICT client in contemporary schools is that clients are 'done to' and 'done for'; they are not expected to impose themselves on the technology, but are much more expected to have the technology imposed on them. Technology is at risk of becoming utilitarian; ICT integration in practice means gravitation to prescribed technological norms of use and performance, and an abeyance and deference to user protocols and proprietary ICT desktop standards. Certainly, there will be more people in schools using technology but this use will be patterned rather than inspired, reactive rather than proactive, and reproductive rather than creative (Cuban, 2001). In < I>Telling Tales out of School: Why ICT is Problematic, Mark Brown (2004) of Massey University (NZ) challenges this context of ICT 'use' in schools, pointing to ICT integration as multifactorial, in so far as it must involve:

• Curriculum integration - how ICTs relate to school based curriculum goals and content.
• Spatial integration - how ICTs are embedded in classroom learning activities.
• Temporal integration - how ICT activity connects to established learning activities.
• Pedagogical integration - how ICT choices constructively align with teaching approaches; and:
• Attitudinal integration - the extent to which ICTs are considered problematic by teachers and students.

In a personal communication (July, 2005), Brown concludes "Of course, there is still an implicit assumption embedded within these categories that integration is the ultimate goal and they offer no explicit recognition of the need for teachers to go beyond what is currently possible by reconceptualising the curriculum itself". Thus it can be said, that the management and marshalling of resources to achieve desired as well as mandated school based ICT outcomes is a significant challenge facing schools (Lim et al,2003). This paper looks at the material effects of this challenge as it impacts on 18 local schools on the Queensland seaboard. It poses, and investigates, some important and fundamental questions about ICT integration in these schools.

The technologies in use

Like school clusters anywhere in Australia, a range of technologies are in use across the cohort. These technologies enable ICT activities that are supported through online networks and databases. These include record keeping (students' attendance, student achievement outcomes, finance and asset management); information provision (newsletters and daily bulletins); communications (email, discussion boards, blogcasts and podcasts); online content (accessible over the Internet); and library borrowing. In some schools, computers are linked to the Internet through telecommunications services including high speed broadband, dialup and through satellites; wireless technologies; personal digital assistants (PDAs) and handheld devices such as notebooks and laptops. Some schools in the sample are trialing interactive whiteboards, while others are reintroducing blackboards. Both synchronous and asynchronous (the majority of cases) software is used to support online exchange between both learners and teachers. In all instances in the survey, the computing infrastructure and architecture provisions of participating schools included the hardware, software, intranet and Internet services, networking and connectivity requirements necessary for the teaching, learning and administration of schools.

SOURCE / AUTHOR : Australasian Journal of Educational Technology 2006, 22(4), 455-473 | Colin Baskin & Michelle Williams