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This project explores the perceptions and reality of using ICT as learning tools in secondary schools, identifying barriers and obstacles to their diffusion. The research methodology includes literature analysis, interviews with experts, and a questionnaire filled in by teachers. The goal is to improve the quality of education by integrating ICT into educational programs and introducing innovative educational technologies.
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Bridging Insula Europae 134214-LLP-1-2007-1-IT-COMENIUS-CMP Bridging IESurvey 3 – 4 October, 2008 Tampere, Finland 2nd Meeting This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
1. Use of ICT as learning tools: perceptions and reality of the ICT in secondary schools 2. Barriers and Obstacles: main problems that represent real barriers to the ICT learning tools diffusion in the schools
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Analysis and review of the literature (existing researches, studies, reports, normative documents). Review of the web or other publications – existing cross-national, national and regional researches, projects, initiatives, good practices, etc.; Review of the National Strategy for ICT Interviews with experts in the field of ICT educational approaches in Italian’s pedagogical practice: Mr. Mario Rotta _ Expert on ICT, e-learning and on-line learning environments in education Ms. Rita Minello_ Pedagogues expert in learning processes and training methodologies, in room and on-line, Mr. Antonio Fini_ Expert in e-learning platforms and in particular of cooperative and collaborative systems. Questionnaire, filled in by 32 teachers from different schools throughout the country;
Importance of thesocial interaction and experience in education Technology is now such an important part of children’s everyday lives that a learning environment without it would be completely out of touch with their own realities. The technology is now part of our social and economic fabric, and it is hard to imagineeducation and training without it. Our vision draws on the shifts and trends that are transforming the way people work, learn and—to tell the whole—make sense of the world in a digitalised, networked and knowledge–based society. «I believe that the only true education comes through the stimulation of the child’s powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself. Through these demands he is stimulated to act as a member of a unity, to emerge from his original narrowness of action and feeling, and to conceive of himself from the standpoint of the welfare of the group to which he belongs. Through the responses which others make to his own activities he comes to know what these mean in social terms» (Dewey 1897)
Conclusions drawn from the review of normative regulations Situation The Ministry of Education strategic documents and laws (D.lgs. 59/04, )underlined the importance of the ICT Integration into Italian Schools. E-learning is defined as the use of new multimedia technologies and Internet in order to improve the quality of learning by facilitating the access to resources and services. Main goal To improve the quality of education To enrich the educational contents through ICT To introduce innovativel educational technologies Specific goal To include ICT into educational programs To integrate the ICTS into educational aims at a national level and at local level ICTs would have to work in tandem with the development of school development plans.
Barriers This is not currently the reality. There is no discernable policy of integrating ICTs into the curriculum. ICTs are not yet adequately incorporated into the general subjects’ educational plans and thus they are limited, accidental and dependent on the teacher’s personal initiatives. The question of planned funding is fundamental to the development of ICT. Schools must know what funding will be available to them on an annual or two yearly basis. It is no longer sufficient to starve the system for years and then to pump in some funding because there is an election pending, this helps only to politicise the system and does absolutely nothing to encourage good planning and prudent spending. Furthermore school development planning cannot take place in a vacuum! How can any principal teacher plan meaningfully, for the integration of ICTs into curricular areas, when s/he has no idea from year to year if there will be funding to replace obsolete hardware or to replenish/replace software?
We are now in the ludicrous situation of broadband and networks being placed in schools that for the most part are equipped with a stock of ageing computers that date back to 2002 at the latest, or in many cases, right back to 1997.
What the experts say about the situation? Potentialities The experts pointed out in particular the importance of the social dimension of the use of the new technologies in education During the last decade, the Internet has changed our life in many ways and especially the way that we communicate. Technologies like e-mail, discussion forums and chats are considered today almost out-of-date, while new and promising technologies like weblogs, wikis and podcasts emerge and contribute not only to the development of the individual expression but also to the creation of Communities of Practice (CoP).
These emerging technologies signal a transition to Web 2.0, i.e. the second generation of the Internet, which is characterized by greater functionality, interoperability and connectivity of resources and information, better organized and categorized content, open communication and active online communities. No doubt that this new milieu will have a great impact on research, education and teaching as it is also a transition from the “Read Only” Web to “Read/Write Web”.
Social software contributes to the construction of knowledge with the others and for the others. The focus is on the community itself and not on the individual user The new technologies can Foster cooperation and construct students/teachers networks that promote sociability through knowledge and mutual participation in new forms of activities Support the collaboration among students and schools Help teachers raise their pupils' awareness of what “learn” means There is also evidence that ICT has a positive impact on learning processes and teaching practices. It leads to better teamwork, collaborative working across schools, and a more student–centred approach which gives learners more autonomy. Using ICT affects the nature of learning itself. It encourages inquiry, problem solving, and critical thinking. The technology offers unprecedented learning tools: creating more dynamic interaction between students and teachers; favouring teamwork in problem–solving activities; and helping students to personalise and monitor their own learning.
Barriers • The potential of ICT for learning is not being fully exploited yet. There is a need to keep up with technological developments, in particular to extend the use of broadband, available in just two thirds of schools at present • Too many educational programmes are concentrated on the acquisition of computer skills, and insufficiently on the use of ICTs as a tool for teaching and learning. • There is a lack about the confidence required to use ICT for methodological improvement. • Institutional innovation is slower than technological development • Most current developments in the use of modern technologies in education and training are… “little more than relatively naïve transpositions to new environments of the much criticised educational paradigms of the past. Driven by an invisible force that calls us to the past, we seem to keep putting emphasis mainly on the use of the PC itself rather than on learning opportunities that the new technologies are pleading to offer us”.
Expert Recommendations for Decision makers • A climate of collective ownership and responsibility for the development and implementation of ICT policies should be created. • Stakeholders should use innovation and success stories of others to create and promote future ICT policy and implementations. • Decision-makers should use the results of research; researchers should make their results readable and usable by decision-makers. • There is a need for more practical implementation oriented researches into schools • Educational policies should consider teachers as key agents of Education, of the evolution of Education, and of the preparation of players and citizens of the knowledge society.
Expert Recommendations for Teachers • Teachers must be involved in a lifelong learning context. Teacher professional development in the context of Lifelong Learning should include ICT knowledge and expertise. This knowledge should include not only technological abilities but also cultural and cognitive roots of computer and computer science, such as, for example, a knowledge of the history of the field, which is essential for understanding the present - its beliefs, desires and intents for ICT in education and how it might evolve • Networks of teachers should be developed and activated
What the teachers say about the situation? What teachers think about the introduction of e-learning methodologies
Barriers Are your schools well equipped?
Is the school management pro-active about the introduction of ICT into schools?
Have you time at your disposal for the introduction of the new ICT approaches into your school-programmes?
Do you have any kind of experience concerning ICT innovative projects into your schools?
Do you think that the new ICT educational appoaches can improve your professional teaching activities?
Teachers survey conclusion • There has been some progress in teachers’ understanding of the contribution of ICT to teaching and learning • However, opportunities for teachers to acquire or extend their own skills, to review their programmes, and then to incorporate ICT strategies in schemes of work and in lessons, have been too variable. • The best work is from teachers who, despite having undertaken the generic training, are largely self-taught in applying ICT to teaching, or who have received informal training from a more knowledgeable colleague. • Teachers now have more knowledge about the effective use of ICT but the focus is still on technical skills rather than conceptual understanding of the new educational potentialities of the ICT. • To realize the potential inherent in ICT, there is aneed for innovative ICT pedagogies in secondary education.
GENERAL CONCLUSION Rapid developments in ICT are difficult to manage for Ministry of Education, educational managers and schools. Approaches to ICT development in Italian schools are in the Emerging and Applying stages
The emerging approach Administrators and teachers are just starting to explore the possibilities and consequences of using ICT for school management and adding ICT to the curriculum. Schools at this emerging phase are still firmly grounded in traditional, teacher-centred practice. The curriculum reflects an increase in basic skills but there is an awareness of the uses of ICT. The applying approach There is a new understanding of the contribution of ICT to learning: administrators and teachers use ICT for tasks already carried out in school management and in the curriculum. Teachers largely dominate the learning environment. Schools at the applying approach phase adapt the curriculum in order to increase the use of ICT in various subject areas with specific tools and software.
The infusing approach The infusing approach involves integrating or embedding ICT across the curriculum, and is seen in those schools that now employ a wide range of computer-based technologies. Teachers explore new ways in which ICT changes their personal productivity and professional practice. Subject areas to reflect real-world applications. The transforming approach Schools that use ICT to rethink and renew school organization in creative ways are at the transforming approach. ICT becomes an integral though invisible part of daily personal productivity and professional practice. The focus of the curriculum is now learner-centred and integrates subject areas in real-world applications. ICT is taught as a separate subject at the professional level and is incorporated into all vocational areas. Schools have become centres of learning for their communities.
Thank you for your kind attention! 3 – 4 October, 2008 Tampere, Finland 2nd Meeting
