Impact of ICT on education.

University Degree Education and Teaching

IMPACT OF ICT ON EDUCATION

Classroom computers in the past

In the very beginning computers were introduced to classrooms around 1986. Manor Gardens Primary School bought 4 Commodore computers for learners. A few parents had the responsibility for giving the learners computer lessons, because none of the teachers were trained to do this. Over time, the parents also trained some of the teachers, now it was the teacher’s responsibility to train learners. However one of the teachers involved in this computer teaching found it a complete waste of time.

The parents urged the school to obtain new technology, as the stuff they had was outdated, but there was not teaching programme to make this new technology useful. This equipment was expensive to maintain and broke down regularly. Computer lessons were not steady due to the amount of downtime. By the late eighties this equipment was no longer functional.

The introduction of PC’s in the early nineties was a HUGE success. Teachers used them for administrative purposes, and word processing made work much easier for teachers. The reason this launch was successful was because teachers got full training on how to use the applications effectively.

I discussed this matter with my teacher and ask him, how computers were different in the past in this school to how they are now;

He replied,

“There was no network connecting all of the computers together meaning that we could not share information easily. There was limited storage space on the computers, however they were not used much so I suppose it wasn’t really an issue. There were no teachers specifically trained on how to use these computers, so that’s why the time spent on them was very small.”

Classroom computers as they are now

Most schools now will be equipped with a network of computers because they have become a vital part of education. Without these computers, work for both teachers and pupils would be unimaginable as we depend on these machines. This network allows information to be shared easily between computers therefore making life a lot easier! If we did not have a network then it would time consuming transferring a single document from one user to the next. Some schools also have wireless networks, which is basically the same as a normal network just without the mess of the wires.

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Computers these days are completely different than in the past. The most obvious thing would be the size; they are a lot smaller and more compact than they once were, you can fit many in one classroom because they are now that compact. Another obvious thing would be the speed of these computers and the vast amount of programs that are available today compared to when they were first introduced to classrooms

Computers now have a huge amount of hard drive capacity compared to earlier years. This means that a lot more work can be done on computers rather ...

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Computers now have a huge amount of hard drive capacity compared to earlier years. This means that a lot more work can be done on computers rather than writing them out because we have the capacity to save a lot more.

The internet is now playing a large part in education because there are vast amounts of information to help students with their homework and coursework. There are also revision tips and questions to test their knowledge before exams. The internet also helps the teacher with course information, teaching tips and they might be able to get learning activities for the students to do.

There is also a huge amount of programs available for use in schools, from Microsoft Word (MS Word), to do homework, coursework etc, to MS FrontPage which allows you to design your own simple website. This huge amount of programs has allowed teachers and students skills vastly improve.

The Impact of Computers on Education

Becta is a British based government organisation dedicated to analysing and accessing to ideas and new schemes in education.

According to Becta ICT has had a positive effect on pupils in schools across the country. Impact2 is the name of one of many projects that the Becta organisation has brought forward. Research was done on the impact of ICT on key stage 2 pupils in English, Maths and Science. Pupils were asked how often they used ICT to support their learning in these subjects. The table below shows the average amount of ICT activity reported for English, Maths and Science. It is split up into three sections, lesson, school and home.

This table was drawn up from a total of 700 questionnaires.

Becta Impact2 – October 2001

The level of ICT use in key stage 2 English is the highest reported for any subject at any key stage level. 61% of the pupil’s reported that they use ICT in their English lessons some weeks or more often and 10% of the pupils use ICT every week. There were also 41% of the pupils who use ICT to support their English work some weeks or more often. In school time outside of English lessons is less frequent with 75% using ICT hardly ever or never for English.

However Key Stage 2 Maths indicates a different pattern of use. The level of ICT use in Maths lessons is lower than in English lessons, with over half of the sample, 52% reporting never or hardly ever using ICT in their maths lessons. Home use for Maths is also less than English, with 39% never using ICT at home for Maths work. This indicates that software such as MS Excel is used a lot less at home.

ICT use for Science is virtually the same as Maths with just a few key differences. The levels of use of ICT in Science is lower than English and Maths, with 76% reporting never or hardly ever using ICT in their science lessons, 89% never or hardly ever use ICT for science related activities elsewhere in school, and 80% never or hardly use ICT at home.

I think that if pupils in years 1 and 2 start using computers then once they reach junior school they will already have a basic understanding of how to use them, therefore at key stage 2 they can develop their knowledge and understanding. Once they reach secondary school their understanding will have developed, therefore allowing for further development.

However in my experience there has been a negative effect against literacy because if I spell a word wrong on MS Word I just right click and choose the appropriate correct word, I do not think to see how it has been spelled. I think this problem may also affect the majority of people who use computers.

According to a BBC report schools have reported to be using computers less and less. Over the past years the use of computers has fallen dramatically. The government said that the wording of the question distorted the answers of the annual survey because it’s not how much they use computers its how they use them. However another survey that was conducted said that there is a positive effect in pupil’s achievement that has used ICT.

A further survey was conducted to see how much schools spend on ICT. In primary schools the average spending rose from £10,300 to £15,400 in the space of a year. In a typical secondary school the spending rose from £60, 300 to £76,900.

The amount of secondary school teachers trained to use ICT was 73% and the proportion who felt confident enough to use ICT in lessons was 75%. In primary schools, 93% had been trained, from 80% the previous year, however the confidence level had not changed; it was still 76%.

Now that more teachers in primary schools had been trained there were dramatic changes in the use of ICT in the curriculum, depending on the subject, from 89% in English to just 1% in Modern Languages and PE. However the following year, 2002, this percentage had dropped across the board. English had now fallen to 65%, Maths had dropped from 74% to 48%, Science had dropped by just under half from 50% to 26% and in history the fall was dramatic from 46% to only 9%.

Secondary schools also followed the same pattern,

Maths: 60% to 21%

Science: 67% to 29%

Design Technology: 81% to 56%

Not surprisingly the only subject which had a substantial use and received benefit from this training was the subject of Information Technology itself.

My opinion, according to the above research, is that schools have wasted valuable money on computers because no subjects, besides ICT, use computers to a great degree implying that they have just been a waste.

Another BBC report shows how teacher training has had no impact in England’s classrooms three years after it began, according to inspectors. According to Ofsted the government were making a £1 Billion an important contribution to ICT in schools. However teacher training using lottery funds has not yet had an impact and this has been running since

April 1999. The lottery’s New Opportunities Fund said there was much that was positive in the report but it had only been written when only half of the teaching staff had been fully trained.

Classrooms and Computers in the Future

The above picture is a classroom of the future. It was designed to show teachers and parents how PDA’s in the classroom can help with learning. Not only will the students have one but also the teachers so work can be transferred to each other. I think this classroom of the future will be a great idea because not only will it be great for the students because they get their own personal PDA but for the school as well because the price of this classroom will be much less than the price of three brand new computers.

This classroom will solve many problems…

You no longer need to worry about access to the computer lab for technology activities, software assignments, or Internet access
Documents can be instantly shared from student to teacher and vice versa
Reference materials, such as e-books, images, and programs can be distributed instantly at the teacher's wish
Work from PDA’s, or the teacher's computer, can be instantly viewable by all through the TV or projector
Students can take tests in class and have instant grade results
Teachers can have automatic updates of their grade books and student records
Student portfolios can be stored digitally
Teachers and students can print their assignments, homework, or lesson plans while remaining at their desk

In the future every student is going to have a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) which will allow students to easily get work to and from school. The student can complete the work set by their teacher on a computer at home and then save it to their PDA. The student can then bring their PDA to school and with wireless technology send their work to their teacher to be marked. The teacher will then easily be able to mark the work and send it back to the students PDA within the same lesson. This means students will get their results back instantly.

This method would also be a lot easier for teachers because there would be no paper involved so work would not be getting lost or ripped. Their records of the student’s marks could be automatically updated so this would save a lot of time.

PDA’s wireless technology means the transfer of documents would be quick and easy because you wouldn’t have to mess about connecting wires to each PDA etc.

I think PDA’s for each student and teacher would be a great idea because it would mean everyone would be more organised. Nobody would need paper because the teacher could just send the work to the students PDA and when the work is complete the student could just send the work back. However if students lose their PDA then it would cost quite a bit to replace them and this even might increase bullying because students may get their PDA robbed etc.

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