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The use of ICT for learning: the Ireland experience

The use of ICT for learning: the Ireland experience. Education ICT and the Information Society Agenda in Ireland’s schools. CMEC - OECD - Canada Seminar Montreal, April 28 - 30 2002. Dr Conor GALVIN UCD Education Department Dublin. Where we’ve been. Early 1970s.

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The use of ICT for learning: the Ireland experience

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  1. The use of ICT for learning: the Ireland experience Education ICT andthe Information Society Agenda in Ireland’s schools CMEC - OECD - Canada SeminarMontreal, April 28 - 30 2002 Dr Conor GALVINUCD Education Department Dublin

  2. Where we’ve been... • Early 1970s. • DES involvement in courses since 1971. University involvement since 1973. • 1980s saw a series of unconnected but innovative school-based IT projects; • Primary Curriculum Unit IT project, • Secondary Computer Studies • Vocational IT programmes - Euro TecneT

  3. The watershed? • 15 December 1994: Netscape Navigator.By mid-1996, millions of people were accessing the Web, thousands of companies were serving it, and the press was writing about it constantly. Berners-Lee (2000: 117) • EU Action plan, 1996-8: Learning in the Information Society.

  4. So, what did Irelandneed mid- to late-1990s? • Imagination: vision: leadership • Time to plan • Significant investment in cutting-edge people and projects.

  5. And what do we get?

  6. And what do we get?

  7. And what do we get?

  8. And what do we get?

  9. And what do we get? Schools IT 2000

  10. The Full Details • “ Schools IT 2000: A Policy Framework for the New Millennium” (1997) • http://www.ncte.ie/overview.htm

  11. What was Schools IT2000 ? • A four year plan (1997 - 2001) to put in place a permanent schools’ IT infrastructure; seen to involve not just the machinery but also the teacher skills to use it. • The biggest single investment in living memory in any educational initiative in Ireland.

  12. Three core elements • Technology Integration Initiative (TII) • Teaching Skills Initiative (TSI) • School Support Initiative (SSI), incorporating the School Integration Project (SIP), and ScoilNet.

  13. The TII • 60,000 multimedia computers in Irish schools by the end of 2001 • The NCTE helped schools in building up their ICT equipment infrastructure during the course of the initiative • The Telecom machine • The purchase grant

  14. The TSI • The development of an ICT skills development programme to ensure teacher progression from novice to expert • IT Skill development for at least 20,000 teachers nationally (and to at least one teacher per school) • Phase courses / Front Line Maintenance • Primary /second level differences

  15. The SSI - ScoilNet • A Web site to publish Schools IT 2000 advice sheets, guidelines and curriculum materials to assist ICT integration in the classroom. ScoilNet support staff to provide expert advice to schools via e-mail. Curriculum materials to be developed in partnership with educational organisations and teacher groups. Curriculum resources produced by ScoilNet to be made available to every school.

  16. The SSI - SIP • A schools project to lead to the identification of policy, training and support models, pedagogical strategies and classroom resources for ICT adoption in Irish schools. • A core group of 40 schools to be involved in piloting various models of ICT integration.

  17. So… • Did this initiative have the imaginative force to change radically the teaching & learning experience provided in Ireland’s schools? • No. For a number of reasons:

  18. Policy, planning and practice • Underfunded • Technology rather than pedagogy led • Not enough focus on digital content • Imposed rather than negotiated

  19. For the record...

  20. Computers in schools Up 40% Up 125% Source: NCTE Survey, April/May 2000

  21. Schools with networks (%) Up more than a third 4 times as many Source: NCTE Survey, April/May 2000

  22. Other achievements • A significant narrowing of the gap between the best equipped and least well equipped schools. • 1:18 in primary, 1:13 in second level.[Belgium 1:25, 1: 13. France 1:31, 1:17. UK 1:13, 1:8] • Almost 3:4 second level schools have ISDN (up from 1:20). 8:10 primaries have internet access.

  23. Training up to 3 out of 4 teachers in many schools. A significant start on the journey towards integrating ICT usage into teaching ScoilNet a national web portal a platform for future development in ODE for teachers on an individual and group basis. SIP Schools Integration Project We also got...

  24. The Clonakilty SIP: ‘You are what you eat.’ • An all-girls school, mostly female staff and a ‘low technology’ culture. • PCs - iMacs • A range of data capture and image capture PC peripherals… • … 9 pigs.

  25. Cross-curricular SIP • English, Gaeilge, Business Studies, Art, Home Economics… • … Presentation events; newspapers, television, DES officials. • Confidence, IT with a purpose, motivation (for both student and teachers)

  26. A closing note

  27. On-line • We are immigrants to the information age; our students and our children will be the natives. c.j.galvin@ucd.ie

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