Deryn M. Watson

Understanding the relationship between ICT and education means exploring innovation and change

This paper sets the debates of the other papers in the context of a benchmark in time that is after four decades of deliberations about the relationship between ICT and education. The environment for and deliberations about this relationship has been one of rapid change in perspectives, most characterised as a shift of focus from the technology to learning. While contemplating the future however, a number of enduring issues remain, including understanding how learning occurs, learning with or about the technology, and the role of the teacher and professional development. The papers address these issues, as well as exploring national policies and software learning environments; all reflect on the growing complexity of the situation and the conundrum of failure to achieve ‘lift-off.’ Key phrases for debates in the future include lifelong learning, the commonplace of ICT in society, the digital world of the young, and the digital ethical dilemmas. In addition I suggest that the key word of change could be paid more attention.

Blame the technocentric artefact! What research tells us about problems inhibiting teacher use of IT

Despite substantial resource provision and a number of national and regional strategies, the impact of IT in education is still relatively small. There is an apparent resistance by teachers to the use of IT within the normal pedagogy of the classroom. The confusion of purpose about the role of IT in schools is part of the problem. But more significantly teachers’ reluctance is fueled by a complex intertwining of the technocentric focus associated with IT, real barriers to change and professional unease. The key to change, for both developed and developing countries, lies in addressing the concerns of teachers rather than imposing change upon them.

Communications and Networking in Education

Technology is shared minds made visible. It connects people through time and across distances. Our shared past is divided into five periods which are based on the intellectual puzzles that have dominated our collective minds in terms of communication. These puzzles are discussed by focusing on how they have been transforrned by technology in the past and will continue to be transformed by technology in the future. The 21st Century will be the Age of Communities because of the rapid expansion of what is possible in terms of shared values, goals and actions by people who can communicate over time and distances in ways not previously conceived. The four Cs for the future of education are: Community, Collaboration, Curriculum, and Creativity. Each of these is used to organise a discussion of where we are heading in education during the Age of Communities.

The Classroom vs the Computer Room.

Abstract Despite the widespread provision of microcomputers in U.K. secondary schools, their use across the curriculum has only recently been fostered both by government agencies and curriculum bodies. Software is increasingly seen as having a potential to support and enhance curriculum initiatives based on a conceptual understanding and the development of process skills. This growing relationship between microcomputers and the curriculum is threatened by the physical location and management of the hardware. Evidence is drawn from classroom observations and ease studies that supports a preference for using stand-alone computers in subject based rooms. It is possible that the establishment of specialist computer rooms will threaten the very innovations that they are meant to herald.

Networking the Learner

This editorial presents the structure of the book through a matrix of main themes and keywords. Thus the reader may select a particular theme, such as open and distance learning,or national initiatives,or select keywords such as object oriented modelling or virtual learning. Throughout a picture emerges of both the potentials and problematics of harnessing new information technologies in education for networking the learner

A dichotomy of purpose: the effect on teachers of government initiatives in information technology

One perspective on the last twenty years, which has seen the introduction of computers in education in the UK, is that it has been an enormously successful and dynamic time. An alternative perspective which I propose here, is that this period has been characterised by a confusion of purpose and lack of clarity of objectives. A chronology of national initiatives indicates conceptual confusion as to the role of Information Technology (TT) within schools, a dichotomy of purpose, and the shifting climate from Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) to IT skills. These initiatives have also shifted their focus away from software development, to in-service training and support through a number of short-lived agencies each with changing foci for implementation. I believe this has inhibited the success of in-service and explains the relatively infrequent use of IT by teachers in schools.

A CAL development team in the process of change

Abstract The development of educational computing at Kings College (Chelsea) has followed a well-established model. A move towards the 16 bit environment has resulted in changes in both the programming languages and software tools used in the development process. While of benefit to the next generation of CAL, there are implications for the fragmentation of a programming team and of moving the development process further away from the classroom.

The Teacher — A Forgotten Stakeholder?

There are a number of tensions and debates embedded in any consideration of the teacher, ICT and the future. In this complex climate, it is possible to argue that too little attention has been paid to the act of teaching. With widely available and different forms of information and knowledge, learners still need to learn how to learn and to think. Teachers are the essential part of ensuring this process of transformation. Their professional judgement and voice are essential in this process.

The computer in social science curricula

Abstract Exploring the existing or potential relationship between two such dynamic forces as technology and the curriculum is made more complex by the dynamism of the relationship itself. Two variables in the relationship, the current social sciences syllabus and paradigms for computer assisted learning, are used to explore social science software. Simulations and data handling software are examined for their potential for learning domain specific skills, ideas, concepts and theories, and their associated process skills, such as decision-making. Research and case study evidence is used to support the notion that the styles of learning thus generated provides a fertile framework for subsequent research within the curriculum domain.

Projects in networked learning: European experiences

In the last 5 years ‘networked education’ has come to refer not only to computer networks in education but to co-operative networks of educators working together to research, address issues and define good practice in the use of ICTs in education. At the ComNEd99 conference, European colleagues from a number of these co-operative projects presented panel sessions where they shared their work, the issues and findings arising out of their work. Each of these panel sessions was attended by rapporteurs who have written the following accounts of the sessions and projects. Where possible World Wide Web addresses have been provided to allow the reader to seek out more information about each of the projects. The paper ends with a number of reports of Finnish projects. These projects highlight good practice in networked education taking place in Finland, the host country of ComNEd99.