guest editorial: international studies of innovative uses of ict in schools

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (2002) 18, 381-386

2002 Blackwell Science Ltd 381

Guest editorial: international studies ofinnovative uses of ICT in schools

R.E. AndersonUniversity of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA

This Special Issue of JCAL presents major descriptive and analytic findings from in-depth case studies of innovative, ICT-supported pedagogical practices conductedduring the 2000–2001 school year in 11 countries spread across five continents. Asexplained in the following paper by Robert Kozma and associates, parallel casestudies were conducted in 28 countries under the coordination of the InternationalAssociation for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) in a project calledthe Second International Technology in Education Study (SITES), Module 2. In eachcountry an official national panel selected exemplary school sites with innovativepedagogical practices using ICT. While international criteria were specified for theselection of cases, the national panels in each country were asked to modify them tobetter represent their conceptions of ‘innovative’ learning activities using ICT’. ThisSpecial Issue features reports from selected countries in order to provide an initial,preliminary portrayal of the approaches and findings of the study. The papersanalyse the results country by country. An international report with extensivecomparative results is planned for 2003.

This study is unique among international comparative studies. It combines thebest of ‘area studies’, which tend to be culturally in-depth but limited to one or twocountries, and international assessments, that tend to be very cursory but involve 20–40 countries. The study design emerged within IEA because traditional internationalassessments are not well matched to educational topics that are changing rapidly andare not highly institutionalised. In the case of ICT, the content of the field ischanging rapidly and, partly because of that, there is little consensus amongeducators about how it should be integrated into schools and their curricula.

The findings from these case studies illustrate how contemporary information andcommunication technology is pushing the boundaries of education conceptually andmethodologically. Leading-edge ICT pushes education by expanding where andwhen learning can take place and raises questions about best teaching practice(Means et al., 2001). Questions of appropriate teaching roles and learning modesemerge as many students have more ICT knowledge and skill than their teachers andparents. Given the growing importance of knowledge acquisition, and informationhandling in the global economy, decision-makers are reconsidering educational goalsand pedagogical priorities. Most disconcerting is the discriminatory implications ofthe high cost of contemporary ICT, making it nearly impossible in some societies forlower income parents and schools to benefit as much as those with higher incomes.

Research on educational innovations identifies innovative characteristics andcontexts critical to the adoption and sustainability of implementations (cf. Huberman& Miles, 1984). To explore the extent to which these models apply to contemporary

Correspondence: Ronald E. Anderson, 909 Social Sciences Bldg, University of Minnesota,Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA Email: [email protected]

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2002 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 381-386

ICT across diverse cultures, a case study methodology was designed and applied in28 countries. In addition to serving research objectives, these case studies wereintended to provide policy analysts and teachers with examples of ‘model’ classroompractices and offer policy makers findings regarding the contextual factors that arecritical to successful implementation and sustainability of these exemplary teachingpractices using ICT.

Data sources and methods

Twenty-eight countries conducted in-depth, qualitative case studies during the lasthalf of 2000 and the first half of 2001 for the IEA SITES Module 2 project∗. As eachcountry conducted between 4 and 12 case studies, the total number of cases foranalysis added up to 174. To accomplish this investigation, each case study describesand analyses classroom-based processes and their contexts.

The case studies in this project are primary and/or secondary schools (servingstudents of about 6 to 18 years old), selected to be exemplary because they hadclassrooms with innovative pedagogical practices using technology (IPPUT).Additionally these practices at the sites had to: show evidence of significant changesin roles of teachers and students; show evidence of measurable positive studentoutcomes and to be potentially sustainable and transferable.

International guidelines, instruments, protocols and procedures providedcommonality across research sites allowing for local deviations as appropriate. Ateach site the research procedure included interviewing teachers, the Principal, theICT coordinator(s), students and parents. Classrooms were observed and site docu-ments collected. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. Along with the fieldnotes and site documents, these were analysed with codes derived from the study’sconceptual framework. Additional codes emerged that were grounded in the data.

The papers in this Special Issue were adapted from presentations at a 3-hoursymposium at the annual meetings of the American Educational ResearchAssociation, April 4, 2002 in New Orleans. In writing up their preliminary findings,the national research coordinators chose to emphasise different aspects of theirprojects. They have been divided into three groups according to their emphasis on:characterising innovations that use ICT; impacts or outcomes of ICT-basedinnovations and implementation and sustainability factors. They are discussed belowin this order.

Characterising innovations that use ICT

Using the Australian cases Ainley and associates analysed the ICT-based learningand teaching processes along three dimensions: a taxonomy of the type of ICTresource used; the complexity of the knowledge sought for the student outcomes andthe complexity of the cognitive processing required by the student activities. Theirapproach is particularly powerful for those concerned with designing or analysingassessments for student learning with ICT tools. It also provides analytical categoriesthat help to clarify the demands or expectations associated with the higher levels ofknowledge toward which many ICT-based instructional innovations are oriented.

∗ Projects in three of the countries, Canada, Israel, and the United States, simultaneously participated inthe OECD/CERI project on organisational studies of educational change. The OECD study was similar tothe IEA SITES study but it emphasised school-wide reform as well as pedagogical innovation.

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Mioduser, Nachmias, Tubin, & Forkosh-Baruch, in analysing 10 Israeli cases,were challenged by how to characterise differences in innovativeness across theircases. They produced a conceptualisation and rubric called the ‘innovations analysisschema’, that can be used to operationalise levels of innovativeness based upon thedegree to which ICT and associated pedagogies have transformed the school and thenumber of domains (time and space utilisation, student roles, teacher roles,curriculum content and assessment) impacted. It is my judgement that theirpioneering framework will be used extensively in the years ahead by otherresearchers. In their paper in this Special Issue, they not only describe theirframework but analyse several exemplary cases in Israel.

Impacts or outcomes of ICT-based innovations

A number of the researchers focused upon the impact or outcomes of the ICT-basedinnovations they studied. Some concentrated upon micro-level processes in theclassroom while others communities outside the classroom. The papers as a wholeprovide a perspective revealing the wide range of outcomes, many of which arecomplex and difficult to measure, from exemplary use of ICT in classrooms.

Nancy Law and associates from the University of Hong Kong evaluated theircases asking whether or not innovative teaching practices would lead to thedevelopment of learning outcomes essential for preparing the younger generation forthe challenges of life in the knowledge society of the 21st century. They found thatassociated with significant learning gains were the following characteristics oflearning activities: extended learning tasks; personal meaning and relevance of thelearning tasks; involvement of significant others outside of the classroom in thelearning process; and availability of suitable facilitation. They concluded that themost significant outcome of innovative learning activities involving ICT wasempowerment, particularly of students. To evaluate the degree to which students andteachers felt empowered, they focused upon affective and socio-cognitive outcomessuch as learning to learn from a variety of others; learning to create and to contributeto a learning community, and appreciation of different viewpoints. Furthermore, theyfound that all of these outcomes, which tend to be difficult to measure, wereassociated with higher performance teaching roles. In these roles teachers wereengaged interactively with the students and responding flexibly to their cognitiveneeds. In brief, they were implementing student-centred pedagogies using ICT.

In his analysis of the cases from Norway, Ola Erstad took a slightly differentapproach. While he also focused upon learning communities, he concentrated uponmore cognitive and cultural domains. For instance, he examined how digital artefactssupported knowledge construction. He argued that ICT utilisation fosters newframeworks for the students. The cases support his argument that some learningenvironments using ICT are much more effective than others.

Renate Schulz-Zander led the German research team and from their 12 cases theyconcluded that ‘new media’, which refers to ICT with an emphasis upon interactivecontent, promotes a learning culture that engenders problem oriented learning. Theyalso concluded that problem oriented learning in conjunction with new mediapromotes cooperation among students. They give examples of cooperation in termsof students teaching each other, functioning as a learning community andcollaborating in joint partnerships with other schools. They note a number of othertypes of collaboration, all of which were facilitated by ICT learning activities.

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Sue Harris directed the case studies research in England and her analysis yieldedtwo main ways in which ICT had been a major force in redefining the classroom:changing interactions within the classroom as a direct or indirect result of using ICTto support teaching and learning; and the involvement of others (non-teachers)outside the physical classroom in students’ learning activities. For instance, theyobserved how the innovative practices led to a greater emphasis upon students takingresponsibility for their own progress, including self-imposed deadlines, and in otherways improving their study skills and work skills. They also noted evidence that theinnovations fostered students’ ongoing reflection about their own work.

In their paper Hinostroza, Guzmán and Isaacs describe the case studies in Chile.Implementation of ICT in Chile is faced with a major challenge given geographicallylarge rural areas, some of which have poor economies. However, a large, impressivenational government project called Enlaces is coordinating the introduction andsupport of ICT in multiple waves of technology. The study found several factors thatappeared to contribute to successful reform including reform coordination and thepresence of leader teachers empowered with ICT. The researchers analysisemphasises challenges of teaching in large-scale, centralised reform especiallyassessment issues and focus on learning outcomes.

The Danish paper by Inge Bryderup and Krystyna Kowalsky primarily addressesthe policy issue of the impact of their national policy, the ‘Act on the Folkeskole’,which has shifted most of the responsibility of school financing to municipalities.Concurrently schools are required by national policy to ‘integrate ICT into allsubjects.’ Using details from two of their six cases, they showed how difficult it isfor some local authorities to focus upon educational objectives, such as pedagogiesand teacher education, rather than ICT resource acquisition alone. They found thatschools were severely challenged to focus on pedagogical projects, facilitate teacher-innovators, provide adequate support and teacher education in terms of instructionalICT requirements and issues. National decision makers who are consideringtransitions to greater decentralisation in their educational systems should find theiranalysis of special interest.

Implementation and sustainability factors

Two research teams, those of Canada and the USA, went beyond descriptions ofinnovative practices and the outcomes of those practices to ask what school-levelconditions influenced how effectively educational ICT was implemented. Among theconditions examined were formal staff development practices, on-going support forteachers’ ICT use, school-wide decision-making practices and policies related toICT, individual teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and instructional practices, as well asprofessional community. Each of these contextual factors affects how ICT is used.Results were interpreted within the frameworks of ongoing research on educationaltechnology and technology support, school change and reform, constructivistpedagogy, professional community (McLaughlin & Talbert, 2001), andorganisational learning (Senge et al., 2001).

Granger and colleagues describe several schools in Canada and focus uponprediction of successful integration. Data from four of 12 qualitative case studies ofCanadian schools made it possible to address the question of what teachers perceiveas the factors that contribute most to their successful implementation of ICT in theclassroom. Teacher interview data were coded for environmental factors, individual

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characteristics and ways of learning. Findings suggest that formal training has littledirect impact on teaching practice, whereas informal training (e.g. on the job withcolleagues) was most influential. Little relationship was found between successfuluse of ICT and teaching experience or experience using ICT. Among the contextualattributes that they found associated with sustainable implementation werecommitment to a learning community and personal investments by teachers and staffin ICT-supported innovation.

In the final case study paper, Dexter, Seashore and Anderson analysed the firstsix of their 11 cases. They discovered that the metaphor of the learning organisationmade a lot of sense in their schools because of their apparent educational vision,their emphasis upon a learning culture among the staff and teachers, and theiremphasis upon student projects solved in learning communities. Most of theiranalysis focuses upon ‘professional community’, which is defined in terms ofcollective purpose and shared activity in their instructional mission, deprivatisedpractice, and teachers engaged in reflective dialogue, all of which tends to be linkedto their view of themselves as professionals working together in a community. Theconcluded that there is a ‘powerful reciprocal interaction’ between professionalcommunity and effective use of technology.

Overall analysis

It is premature to do much generalisation across these studies because the casespresented here are limited to the initial cases and the cross-case analysis has only justbegun. However, some common themes in these papers will be noted as a sample ofwhat may be forthcoming.

Table 1 gives a sense of the breadth of countries that have at least some schoolsengaged in each of five activities characterised as themes. Each of these themes hasbeen discussed in the educational literature as an approach needed to improveeducation. Furthermore, each theme is often associated with ICT in that ICT istouted as a useful way to accomplish the associated learning outcomes. Of coursethere are other themes than these five that are associated with innovation andtechnology, but this analysis is intended to be exemplary rather than definitive.

The first three themes are sometimes defined as the central elements ofconstructivism, although all three are promoted quite independent of theconstructivist philosophy as well. Table 1 shows that all three themes, learningcommunities, student-directed projects, and real-world projects all were found ininnovative cases in a large majority of the countries. As the constructivist literaturehas largely come from English-speaking countries, it is noteworthy to find interestand commitment to these approaches in other countries as well.

Table 1. Common cross-national themes*

Theme AUS CAN CHI DEN ENG GER HKG ISR NOR USA

Learning communities √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √Student-directed projects√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √Real-world projects √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √Knowledge management√ √ √ √ √ √Life-long learning √ √ √ √

*Not all of the cases studied in each project were reported in their articles here.

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The terminology of ‘knowledge management’ is less well known and understoodin education. Hence, it is not surprising to see fewer instances of this theme acrosscountries. Life-long learning, and its conceptual ally, ‘learning to learn’, have beenpromoted extensively by numerous reports for several decades. Yet the relativeabsence of this rhetoric in these case reports suggests that school educators havelittle excitement for these educational concepts, perhaps because there is littleagreement on how to define and measure them.

Conclusions

One consequence of the selection criteria used across the country projects was thatnone of the sites required the latest or leading-edge technology. In most, if not all, ofthe cases, the hardware and software used had been available ‘off of the shelf’ for anumber of years. This in itself is an important finding because it means that theinnovative practices under investigation can be implemented in a much largersegment of the schools than those with ‘innovative technology.’

Keeping in mind that the criteria for selecting cases varied slightly in eachcountry, the cases selected were considered the most exemplary or representative ofthose learning and teaching activities considered innovative (and using ICT) in eachcountry, respectively. Consequently the results of this research provide glimpses ofwhat the future holds with respect to pedagogy that uses ICT in teaching andlearning. Leading-edge innovations do not necessarily lead to widespread adoptions,especially with such a rapidly evolving resource as ICT, but some of the teachingmethods mentioned here are likely to become much more common place in schools,especially as education becomes even more globalised. What we can say with greatercertainty is that the organisational processes noted in these papers as most effectiveare likely to be given greater and greater attention in the future.

In her paper Harris summarised the case results in England, she captured anapropos conclusion for a majority (if not all) of the cases described in these 10reports. She said: ‘The clear message . . . is not the importance of ICTs in their ownright, but the benefits to be gained when confident teachers are willing to explorenew opportunities for changing their classroom practices by using ICT.’

References

Huberman, A.M. & Miles, M.B. (1984) Innovation Up Close: a Field Study in 12 SchoolSettings. Plenum, New York.

McLaughlin, M.W. & Talbert, J.E. (2001) Professional Communities and the Work of HighSchool Teaching. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Means, B., Penuel, W.R. & Padilla, C. (2001) The Connected School – Technology andLearning in High School. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

Senge, P., Cambron-McCabe, N., Lucas, T., Smith, B., Dutton, J., & Kleiner, A. (2001)Schools That Learn. Doubleday, New York.

guest editorial: international studies of innovative uses of ict in schools

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