3.0 Overview
This section of the report describes and evaluates how ICT is used in Scottish education by both teaching staff and learners. It identifies strengths and aspects for improvement in a number of areas.
Teaching staff and learners use ICT most effectively where centres identify and implement the most effective arrangements for deploying equipment to enable access to ICT for learning and teaching that meet most appropriately the needs of users.
Inspectors found many examples of the effective use of ICT in teaching in centres in all education sectors. Such effective use enhances and enriches the learning experience. Effective use of ICT enhances the learning experience by providing a collection of learning and teaching materials that make lessons more attractive and visually or aurally more stimulating than many more traditional forms of resources. Effective use of ICT enriches the learning experience by exposing learners to a wider range of learning opportunities and modes of study than heretofore available. Importantly, effective use of ICT by learners encourages independence in learning. However, inspectors also found many examples of the use by teaching staff of ICT where there was no clear educational gain.
There are many examples of learners using ICT effectively in their studies. Centres support this use of ICT by providing programmes of ICT skills development, in the pre-school and schools sectors through the implementation of national frameworks. Elsewhere, support provided through the incorporation of ICT units into programmes of core skills development. However, many learners have not developed sufficiently their information literacy26 skills and are unable to take full advantage of the search and retrieval facilities of the Internet.
A number of initiatives are taking forward the use of ICT for online assessment and a small number of pilot implementations of online national assessments have taken place. However, most centres do not yet have in place all of the technology required to enable all kinds of online assessment to take place.
Many opportunities exist for learners and teaching staff to participate in online communities. Young people recognise the benefits of such communities more readily than do teaching staff or education authorities, and centres have not yet identified the most appropriate and safest approaches to the use of such resources for learning and teaching.
Key strengths
Aspects for improvement
The pattern of locating ICT equipment was an important factor in determining how effectively it was used by learners and teaching staff.
In pre-school centres the equipment was always deployed throughout the centre and the only limiting factor in learner and teaching staff access was the quantity of computers, imaging equipment and technology toys available for use.
In almost all primary schools sampled, ICT equipment was deployed in the classrooms and this was very effective in allowing teaching staff to embed the use of ICT in learning and teaching where such use occurred naturally in the flow of learning and teaching processes. Typically, equipment deployed in classrooms included a small number of computers: up to three or four with shared printing and, in most cases, with access to the Internet. In such classrooms teaching staff kept a selection of software appropriate to the work of the class. In more than a few schools, a selection of digital still and video cameras, along with equipment such as floor turtles and scanners was deployed in classrooms but on a shared basis. An increasing number of primary schools had installed interactive whiteboards in some classrooms and most teachers with access to them used them effectively for whole-class interaction. More than a few teaching staff in primary schools continued to feel less than fully confident in exploiting the full range of ICT equipment and software in their teaching.
About half of primary schools also had a computer suite. The rationale for this from many headteachers was to promote skills development as a basis for the use of ICT in learning and teaching in the classroom. These suites housed between five and 30 computers. Typically, a computer suite had between 10 and 16 computers. Classes accessed these resources on a timetabled basis. Few computer suites were large enough to accommodate a whole class at a time without learners having to share access to a computer and this limited the range of learning and teaching approaches. Few of these computer suites were supported by adequate bandwidth to allow effective access to the Internet by all members of the class simultaneously.
Generally, primary schools did not have a clearly expressed rationale for the deployment of ICT equipment to maximise opportunities for its use in learning and teaching. Headteachers had to make difficult choices between centralised and distributed resources. Their dilemma was between providing computers in classrooms to promote the embedding of ICT in lessons and equipping computer suites with enough computers to allow whole-class lessons with ICT to take place effectively. In the main, headteachers had not developed their thinking on the deployment of ICT resources effectively enough in relation to intended learning outcomes or teaching processes.
All secondary schools deployed the bulk of their ICT resources to meet the needs of a small number of teaching departments: computing studies; business education; and technical education. This resulted in the location of large numbers of computers in dedicated suites with timetabling of these suites prioritised for these departments. Typically, this deployment of ICT equipment accounted for about half of the computers available for learning and teaching. Other departments booked these resources when they were not timetabled for computing studies, business education or technical education classes. School managers had rarely determined whether such deployment of resources reflected accurately the learning and teaching requirements across the school.
Increasingly, secondary schools recognised the value of making ICT resources available in classrooms, and many schools had equipped classrooms with a variety of resources including small numbers of computers, a printer, a data projector and an interactive whiteboard. In this way teachers had greater opportunities to use ICT for whole-class teaching and, in a few cases, to allow individual or small groups of learners to have access to ICT during lessons where this was appropriate. This distributed approach to embedding ICT in the learning environment was built on recent modernisation of infrastructure in most secondary schools, benefiting from switched systems allowing reasonably fast access to the Internet. However, the size of most classrooms and the space taken up by necessary furniture was a limiting factor in the deployment of ICT, with very many general purpose classrooms unable to accommodate even a single computer and printer. Encouragingly, classrooms in a few recently built secondary schools were big enough to accommodate ICT resources comfortably. In one school, classrooms were clustered round common areas where computers were deployed, allowing learners and teaching staff access to ICT for learning in a flexible and easily managed way.
An increasing number of schools had invested in sets of laptop computers complete with facilities for the rapid recharging of batteries. A number of these schools had facilitated network access for these laptop computers through the introduction of wireless network nodes and many learners and teaching staff valued the additional access to ICT resources that these computers allowed. However, schools found that these laptop systems were not always reliable as a result of poor arrangements to maintain batteries at full strength, and that network access was inconsistent, leading to frustration and disappointment.
Secondary schools had invested heavily in data projectors and interactive whiteboards. In general, school departments were invited to bid for these expensive resources, requiring them to justify their need for acquiring such systems. More than a few schools had purchased portable versions of these systems and these helped in allowing wider access to ICT in teaching.
School departments with a need for specialist ICT equipment, including science, art and music, had their relevant ICT resources located in their teaching rooms. This deployment allowed teaching staff and learners to make use of this specialised equipment within the teaching department and in the context of their wider studies in the subject. However, many teaching staff reported that there was insufficient resource to meet the demands of all learners wishing to use it. In this regard, cost was a significant factor.
Almost all secondary schools had placed a number of computers in the school library. These computers were regularly booked by teaching staff for their classes but very few libraries had enough computers to allow a whole class, especially at S1–S4, to work together without learners sharing access. In many schools, pupils regularly used the computers in the library at breaks and lunch times to work independently on projects, folio work and revision. In more than a few schools, the librarian had responsibility for delivering programmes of information literacy and used the computers in the library for this purpose.
An increasing number of schools had configured their network systems to allow teaching staff to place learning and teaching materials in common areas and to allow learners to access these materials for personal and independent study. In a few schools this system was well organised and learners made good use of the resources. A few schools had implemented a VLE but development of such resources was at an early stage.
The growth in broadband access to the Internet had allowed many schools to provide Internet services to teaching staff and learners. In more than a few cases the speed of access remained slow but in many schools teaching staff and learners had reasonable access to Internet resources. An increasing number of teaching staff realised that it was important to provide guidance to learners on the most appropriate sites for their studies and had created portals to gather together useful learning or revision materials which they presented to learners through a web page. However, a few schools did not yet realise the potential of the Internet to promote learner skills in independent learning and discouraged learner use of the Internet unless under the direction of teaching staff.
Special schools visited were generally well resourced with assistive technology and appropriate software, and made particular efforts to ensure that learners had access to ICT resources that were appropriate to their needs outside the school premises and opening hours. Equipment was generally well deployed to meet the needs of learners.
The deployment of resources was broadly similar in all colleges. A number of computer suites supported learning and teaching in a wide range of subject areas, including computing, art and design, engineering, media studies, business and management, and languages. In addition, all colleges had open access areas, often linked to the library and learning resource services, with large numbers of computers. These areas were most often used by learners to work independently on course work and, in a few colleges, were the focal point for the delivery of programmes of core skills. The third element in colleges’ resource deployment strategies was the resourcing of classrooms and teaching areas with appropriate ICT, including data projectors and interactive whiteboards. Particular areas also had specialist learning and teaching resources such as data logging equipment in science labs and computerised tills in hairdressing and beauty salons.
Computer suites generally contained equipment of modern specification but, with a policy of cascading resources as new equipment was acquired, most colleges had at least one computer suite where the equipment was not always fit for purpose. Open access areas were used frequently by learners, but not always purposefully in pursuit of the aims of their programme of study. Colleges had done little to evaluate the appropriateness of such areas for the range of learning activities expected of learners. Many learners on FE programmes did not have the necessary skills or attitudes to benefit fully from independent and personal study using ICT. Specialist equipment in teaching areas was generally deployed appropriately and valued by learners and teaching staff.
Most colleges had highly developed arrangements to allow learner access to resources to support their learning. These arrangements included:
However, the extent to which learners made use of these arrangements to access learning materials varied from college to college. A few colleges had well-developed VLEs that were fully populated with appropriate learning materials, while others described their VLE as still "in the developmental stage" and consequently not yet often used by learners or teaching staff. Very few learners used the college VLE to gain access to learning materials from home. Most learners made some use of the network storage space provided by their college and a few colleges provided memory sticks to FE learners as part of their bursary allocation. Very few learners made effective use of the college e-mail facilities available. Teaching staff did not emphasise effectively enough to learners the important role that e-mail had in enhancing communication of such material as course work submissions, assessment specifications, and important announcements. In general, colleges did not exploit fully enough the range of ICT opportunities afforded to them by the infrastructure and resources available.
Within communities, libraries were well resourced with ICT equipment through the People’s Network. The situation in community centres was more patchy but had improved as a result of increased learner access to equipment and software, provided directly by the CLD service or through collaboration with other community partners and colleges. In many areas, provision of a set of laptop computers was the preferred method of giving learners access to ICT. In one large urban area, a mobile facility allowed the CLD service to provide community access to ICT at almost any location. Many CLD services enhanced learner access to ICT through partnerships with schools and colleges.
>> Signpost to improvement in deployment of resources |
|
In many pre-school centres, staff used technology toys effectively to engage children in learning through play. Teaching staff in primary schools used ICT most effectively in the development of learners’ capacities in aspects of language, number work and environmental studies. Examples included:
In other aspects of the primary school curriculum, there were examples where teaching staff made effective use of ICT in:
A few teaching staff had the confidence and competence to extend their use of ICT for enhancing teaching into more experimental areas, such as the use of mind mapping software to document and organise class discussions, and the use of an interactive whiteboard for the teaching of listening skills in modern foreign languages. Teaching staff in primary schools made less use of presentation software for whole-class delivery of the curriculum than in secondary schools.
Primary teaching staff reported benefits from the use of ICT in their teaching. These benefits included:
More generally, teaching and other staff in pre-school centres and in primary schools did not exploit fully enough the opportunities available to them and their classes to enrich learning and teaching through the use of the available ICT in their centres.
In secondary and special schools, there was no consistent pattern of use of ICT in teaching. Subject areas with extensive use of ICT in one school would make little use of ICT in another. ICT produced real educational gain in a subject area in one school but had little impact on teaching approaches in other subjects in the same school.
There were varying degrees of sophistication in the use by teaching staff of interactive whiteboards. In primary classes, teaching staff generally engaged learners well in interacting with this equipment, thus involving them more effectively in the learning and teaching process. Some teachers in secondary schools incorporated a wide range of resources, including the built-in text processing applications, handwriting recognition, timers and clocks, symbol libraries, sound and animations, and commercial software designed for teaching. Others did no more than use the whiteboard to present teaching resources for which they had previously used an overhead projector. Their approach was often didactic with relatively passive learners. Imaginative uses of interactive whiteboards across a wide range of subject areas included:
Many teaching staff with reasonable confidence in their ICT skills were using interactive whiteboards effectively, where security arrangements allowed it, to present interesting and appropriate websites to their classes. These resources added immediacy and currency to lessons, and pupils reported that their use enlivened lessons and enhanced their engagement with the subject. Many teaching staff continued to make good use of recorded video material.
In modern foreign languages, the Partners in Excellence initiative, a collaboration by three local authorities in the west of Scotland, had supported S5 and S6 pupils well in their acquisition of foreign languages.30
In the creative and expressive arts, with an emphasis on the production of individual learner portfolios or pieces of work, teaching staff instructed learners in the use of scanners, digital still and video cameras as well as software to support image manipulation, music composition and film editing. This allowed learners to work individually and independently towards the creation of their portfolios. As a result of this approach, teaching staff in these departments placed less emphasis on the use of ICT for whole-class teaching. However, generally, there were insufficient software licenses to meet all learners’ needs and they did not benefit as fully as they might from the limited access that resulted. In art departments more than a few teaching staff made good use of the Internet for the retrieval of images of art works of relevance to learners’ studies.
Teaching staff in special schools and those with responsibility for learners with additional support needs made appropriate assistive technologies available to learners. These technologies included adapted keyboards, other specialised input devices and specially adapted programs. Teaching staff in special schools promoted effective use by learners of the assistive technology identified in section 2.3 of this report.
In too many cases, teaching staff did not appreciate fully the potential of ICT to change the ways in which they promoted effective learning through their classroom activities. They still placed high importance on copying from the whiteboard, regarding this as a means of ensuring subsequent recall, despite the fact that they could make files available to learners online or print the contents of the whiteboard display. They continued to value the exercise of writing down as a learning tool without considering how graphics, animation and sound could provide valuable interaction between learners and learning materials, thus reinforcing understanding and facilitating recall.
All colleges had equipped a number of teaching rooms with interactive whiteboards and data projectors. Only a few colleges had plans to deploy this equipment in all teaching rooms and others reacted to demand from individual lecturers or departments.
Teaching staff used interactive whiteboards to present lessons, for video projection, and to access Internet sites. More than a few also used the added tools provided with the whiteboard. For example, a teacher of physics used the supplied library of symbols for creating electrical circuit diagrams to construct such diagrams on the interactive whiteboard. He amended diagrams with ease and presented learners with a wider range of problems and discussion points more effectively than he could have done with a traditional whiteboard or overhead projector.
In colleges with a VLE, more than a few teaching staff used the materials stored in the VLE as teaching resources. Although these resources had usually been designed for learners to use independently, staff incorporated them usefully in their teaching approaches.
Specialist equipment and software was available in colleges for teaching in many subject areas, including:
Although all colleges had made efforts to encourage teaching staff to enhance their lessons through the use of ICT, the main focus of colleges’ efforts was in relation to the transformation of learning activity through the use of ICT. This topic is covered in the next section.
Where assistive technologies had been identified for use with particular learners in schools and in colleges, staff supported learners very well in their use of this equipment.
Many CLD staff had attended training events to enhance their ability to use ICT to deliver their programmes. However, the focus in CLD remained on the use of ICT to enhance the learning process with teaching staff providing support and assistance, rather than using ICT in teaching activities.
>> Signpost to improvement in teaching through ICT |
Teaching staff:
|
Almost all learners had developed, or were developing, a wide range of ICT skills through engagement with ICT at home, in education or in work. Many learners used a few of these skills to support their learning although, for most young people, this aspect of ICT use was perhaps the least significant.
All education authorities had implemented programmes for the development of ICT skills in young people. These programmes were mostly based on Early Learning, Forward Thinking in pre-school centres and on the 5-14 National Guidelines on ICT in primary and secondary schools. Colleges included ICT (along with communication, numeracy, problem solving and working with others) in their programmes of core skills development for all FE learners, with certification generally at SCQF Levels 4 and 5.
Learners in primary schools generally developed levels of ICT skills that allowed them to use ICT effectively to enhance and enrich their learning. The 5-14 National Guidelines provided the basis for a number of effective programmes of study. These programmes were designed to develop ICT skills in young people in a progressive manner from P1 to S2. However, too little attention was given in these programmes to the development of learners’ skills in information literacy. Almost all learners rated themselves highly confident and competent in their use of ICT but only a few had the skills of searching, selection and analysis essential for fully effective use of the Internet for learning. They had little knowledge of the techniques that could be implemented to narrow down search results, including the use of logical operators such as and, or and not, quotation marks and parameters. This was also true for a large number of teachers. In addition, many learners did not take enough care to formulate their search terms precisely with the result that too often their search results did not provide appropriate information.
In a large number of transitions between primary and secondary education, secondary school managers failed to take adequately into account the prior learning and skills that S1 learners had acquired at primary school. In more than a few cases, secondary school managers planned their S1 programme of ICT skills development on the basis that learners had developed very few ICT skills in primary school. These managers claimed that this approach was essential as learners from different primary schools had achieved differing levels of ICT skills and that the only practicable approach that the secondary school could take was to start largely from scratch. Secondary school managers underestimated significantly the demotivating effect on many S1 learners of such an approach.
Many college learners used ICT-based learning and teaching materials effectively in their studies and, in addition, developed effective specialist ICT skills related to their chosen vocation. Such skills included diagnostic use of ICT in motor vehicle engineering, spreadsheets for management accounting, and imaging applications in multimedia programmes. More than a few college learners did not develop their ICT skills effectively enough, usually because they failed to realise the importance of these skills in the context of their vocational programme. This attitude was more common where lecturers taught programmes of ICT skills development without a meaningful vocational context with which to retain student interest and motivation.
Community-based learners used ICT and developed ICT skills in using community Internet or intranet resources, as well as for programmes of communication and numeracy skills.
The extent to which learners used ICT to enhance their studies differed across sectors. In many pre-school centres and primary schools, learners had very good opportunities to develop knowledge, skills and understanding through use of ICT, independently, in groups or under the guidance of staff. In many cases, learners had excellent ICT skills that they had developed outwith school but did not have an opportunity to exploit them in a learning context. In secondary schools, the emphasis was on learner use for project work throughout the school and for independent study in the upper school. In colleges and, to a lesser extent in CLD, staff expected learners to take a measure of responsibility for their own learning through the medium of ICT.
In the majority of pre-school centres, teaching staff provided good opportunities for learners to use ICT to enhance their learning opportunities. For example, learners shot video sequences and staff then edited them to create their own movies. There was good use of technology toys. In more than a few centres, learners used ICT to form links between home and the pre-school centre. For example, with the help of parents they recorded on video family activities or aspects of their home life. They then used this material as the basis for discussions in the centre. In a few centres, teaching staff were less proactive in their approach to the use of ICT and learners had discretion in relation to their use of computers, technology toys and imaging equipment. On occasion, this meant that staff missed opportunities to lead children’s use of ICT effectively.
In primary schools, the presence of computers and other ICT equipment in classrooms provided ready access to ICT for learning activities but the small number of computers in classrooms generally meant that not all learners could use ICT readily when its use fell naturally within a learning activity. In such cases, access to a computer suite was very useful.
Almost all primary pupils reported that they used ICT for individual research into project or topic work. They found this aspect of their studies particularly enjoyable and motivating. In addition, they developed their understanding of movement, space, direction and angles through work with floor turtles.
Most learners began to develop their word processing skills at an early stage. The use of simple word processing applications helped in this development. By the later stages of primary school, learners had sufficient skills in word processing to be able to focus on their language work, rather than on the mechanics of the word processing application. They incorporated images into their documents, thus adding interest and colour to their work. In many schools, learners in the upper primary became skilled in reporting on their projects through the use of software and presented their reports confidently to their peers and teaching staff. Presentations of project results nearly always included images and, on occasion, video clips.
In a few schools, learners made use of spreadsheet applications for number work but learner skills in the production of graphs and charts were not well developed. In most schools, learners were exposed to number concepts through educational computer games. More generally, most teaching staff did not fully appreciate the potential of computer games to promote the development of learners’ skills in strategic thinking, problem solving, and collaborative and competitive interactions with peers. As a result, teaching staff did little to encourage learners’ use of appropriate computer games to develop the skills identified above.
In other areas of the primary school curriculum, ICT provided valuable stimulus to learning in expressive arts, where learners in more than a few schools made extensive use of digital stills cameras, video cameras and sound files to develop their skills in this area. In environmental studies, in health and in religious and moral education, learners made good use of the Internet to broaden their knowledge and to research topics of study.
Learners with additional support needs benefited from use of ICT. Teaching staff used drill and practice software with pupils to support development of literacy and number skills. Children with autistic spectrum disorders used online documents that supported their work with adapted books. Readers needing additional support used grid-based writing and reading tools to improve their reading and writing skills. A few schools used software successfully to support learners with dyslexia. A range of adapted and assistive technology was in use in a large number of primary schools and in special schools to support the learning of those with additional support needs.
More than a few learners in secondary schools used ICT effectively to enhance their learning experiences across a range of subject areas and through a wide range of applications. Occasionally, they used ICT for trivial purposes such as word searches or for work unconnected with the timetabled subject. In the latter case, learners could choose what they used the computer for, as a reward for completing work early. This did not often lead to enhanced learning in the subject area.
Increasingly, departments such as English and social subjects encouraged and expected learners, especially in the upper school, to use word processing software to prepare essays and project reports. Learners valued and were proud of the professional appearance of their finished work. A few learners had begun to incorporate images into their work but this was not yet widespread and not always encouraged by teaching staff. Few teaching staff encouraged learners to submit their word processed files through e-mail.
Many schools had adopted the SCHOLAR32 suite of online courses in a range of subjects at Higher and Advanced Higher levels. Although in some schools, teaching staff used the SCHOLAR materials for teaching purposes, the main use was by learners for independent study. Most learners active in SCHOLAR valued the resource and reported that it helped them to revise and to continue their studies both in school and outside school hours, mainly at home.
In many subject areas, learners used presentation software well to prepare and present project findings to their peers and to teaching staff. They usually presented their reports orally, supported by their presentation files. A valuable spin-off from this was increased learner confidence and competence in standing up before a group of their peers and teachers and talking about their work. This had the potential to contribute effectively to learners’ skills for employability. Almost all of these presentations followed a linear pattern of exposition and very few learners or teaching staff used, for example, mind mapping33 software to organise and present their ideas and reports.
In all secondary schools, learners at all stages made use of the Internet for research and independent study. In many schools, such use of the Internet had replaced much of the former use of library books for researching project topics. However, because learners had generally not received adequate or sufficient training in skills of information specification, retrieval and analysis to allow them to make the most effective use of the Internet, searches for information were often badly specified. This resulted in many thousands of matches, leaving learners unsure of how to make best use of the information presented to them, most of which was not relevant to their needs. In many cases, teaching staff had identified useful websites for their subjects and directed learners to these sites. This provided a more focused approach to information retrieval for learners.
In many secondary schools, the art and music departments provided learners with opportunities for some of the most imaginative and effective uses of ICT. In music, learners, especially in S3 and above, benefited greatly from use of software for:
In art, learners made effective use of hardware and software to:
Teaching staff in these subjects reported regularly that the quantity of hardware and software available to their departments was a limiting factor in their ability to meet the demand for places on courses in S3-S6, and learners reported that departments often cited this shortage as the limiting factor in offering course places. Ironically this demand had come, in part, from the highly interactive nature of the software available for learning in art and in music.
In a few schools, modern language departments had begun to explore the potential of podcasts34 to enhance foreign language learning. Learners listened to podcasts either on their personal music players or on school computers.
Colleges promoted learner use of ICT in four main ways.
Learners generally used ICT well in class when supported effectively by teaching staff. They used word processing software to good effect to produce their finished course work and assessments. However, many learners, especially those on FE programmes, had not developed their skills of independent learning sufficiently to make most effective use of colleges’ facilities for independent learning in learning resource centres. As a result, many learners were not able to benefit fully from this mode of study. Learners on higher education (HE) programmes generally made more effective use of colleges’ facilities for independent study and welcomed the opportunity to take more personal responsibility for their learning.
Learners on CLD programmes benefited from using ICT to enhance their life prospects. They accessed information related to employment opportunities or to further education. They used ICT to prepare their curriculum vitae and to word process job applications. They used the ICT skills they learned in CLD programmes to develop their personal, social and recreational interests through access to the Internet.
<< Signpost to improvement in learners’ use of ICT |
Learners use:
|
At a national level, SQA piloted online assessment for elements of Biotechnology at Intermediate 2 and Higher in 2006 and planned to extend the pilot in future years. Through its SOLAR35 project, SQA was developing online summative assessments to support its programme of HN modernisation. The Colleges Open Learning Exchange Group (COLEG)36 received funding from SFC to develop online formative assessment items across a range of subject areas at SCQF Levels 1-8. These assessment items were designed to be incorporated into the range of VLE in place in Scottish colleges. SCHOLAR courses contained online formative assessment, generally used by learners to check their understanding of a topic before moving on to next steps. Most commercial software for the curriculum offered learners opportunities for progress checking and self-assessment. Most learning materials in college VLE were supported by formative assessment items. However, across all sectors, individual centres had carried out very little development work in relation to online assessment.
A small number of centres had identified the potential of video technology to record learner performance and activities and to analyse progress. Teaching staff in pre-school centres used video footage to review children’s progress in learning and to plan next steps. In one special school, teaching staff used video technology to analyse their interactions with pupils. They watched this with specialist staff and observed how their own non-verbal cues influenced children’s behaviour. In secondary PE departments, staff regularly recorded learner activity in sports and used the resulting video material to analyse and suggest improvements to learner performance. To a lesser extent, teachers of drama recorded learners’ practical work and discussed their performance with them.
The technology to allow online assessment of all kinds, including marking of extended essay responses, was not yet readily available or affordable in schools and other centres. The available technology coped well with multiple choice assessments and was improving in relation to short-answer responses. Critics of online assessment referred to this partial coverage of assessment methodologies to question the value of online assessment in general, but the existing coverage represented a promising start to work in this area. The benefits of online assessment, including immediate feedback to candidates, improved flexibility of access to assessment. Savings in valuable teaching staff time had the potential to contribute to the flexibility of the curriculum advocated in the programme for A Curriculum for Excellence.37 However, in almost all centres, insufficient facilities and resources were in place to allow online summative assessments to be carried out simultaneously for more than a few learners.
>> Signpost to improvement in the use of ICT for assessment |
|
Communities of learning, through online resources based on websites, make available to users of the websites a range of services to support learning, usually in an aspect of a particular subject area. These services include access to learning materials, advice on learning strategies and approaches and opportunities to engage in discussion with other learners. Many of these resources, especially in colleges, take the form of discussion forums. Communities of practice relate more to the work of teaching staff and provide an online forum for the discussion of teaching approaches in a particular subject area, access to useful teaching and learning materials and sometimes an evaluation service for online teaching resources.
Attitudes among teaching staff in all sectors varied towards the value of online communities of practice. There was no activity in this area in pre-school centres. A very few headteachers saw no value in online communities, discussion forums or special interest groups and did not use them. For these headteachers, this included the online community Heads Together.38 However, among those headteachers across all school sectors who used Heads Together, almost all valued their membership of the group.
A number of communities of practice had evolved round the wide range of subject associations linked to secondary education. Many of these associations had websites that had useful resources for teachers and a few supported discussion forums. Many teachers found these sites of particular value in identifying useful online learning and teaching resources and in promoting discussion of learning and teaching issues in their subject area. Of particular note were the website of SAGT for geography and the MFLE area of LT Scotland for modern foreign languages. The Masterclass community of trained ICT champions was hosted on the LT Scotland website.39
National organisations such as the BBC, LT Scotland, SQA, SFEU and others had websites with significant resources of interest to teaching staff, learners and parents. Many individual teachers (and pupils) had created their own weblog site (blog)40 where they promoted discussion of educational topics. An increasing number of websites now offered web feed services, such as Really Simple Syndication (RSS)41 and more than a few teachers used these services to gain access to up-to-date content from websites of interest to them in their teaching.
Learners made use, in class and at home, of a number of communities of learning. In schools many learners were members of Think.com42 or Grid Club.43 At times, the burden placed on teachers by the need to monitor the content of learners’ personal pages on these sites led some teaching staff to question the net value of these services but all learners found them valuable and enjoyable to use.
An increasing number of schools, both primary and secondary, had created their own school website and these sites were useful in informing learners, teaching staff, parents and the wider community of the life and work of the school. They were often the focus of celebrations of achievement by members of the school community and served to present the face of the school to the wider world. Most of these sites had been created by and were maintained by enthusiastic teachers and learners. As a result, they were not always sustainable if these teachers or learners moved away from the school and more than a few were of poor quality.
A few colleges had made efforts to foster discussion forums among their learners, especially those on HE programmes, particularly in social science. Typically, these discussion groups were hosted on the college VLE and teaching staff encouraged discussion of topics related to learners’ programme of study. These discussion forums were rarely successful. Teaching staff attributed this to a lack of awareness by learners of the benefits to be gained through peer discussion, and to an unwillingness among large numbers of learners to work beyond the minimum level required to pass assessments. College websites acted as focal points for the dissemination of information to the local community as well as enabling potential learners to apply for programmes online.
The most successful online discussion forums were those devoted to the efficient and effective use of commercial applications in widespread use. A few teaching staff were aware of these forums, particularly in the areas of art and computing studies and they directed learners to these forums as a useful source of information and help for the applications they encountered in school or college.
Learners in the community had access to a rich range of online websites designed to develop communities. Many of these had been set up by the local authority and provided valuable information and advice to local people on opportunities to become involved in the development of their communities.
>> Signpost to improvement in the use of online communities |
|