Rae Condie

The Impact of an Online Learning Program on Teaching and Learning Strategies

Just as the workplace, for many adults, has been transformed by the introduction of information and communication technology (ICT), expectations are high that educational establishments, particularly schools, will follow suit. This article explores the impact of technology on learning and teaching in the classroom. It draws on the findings of several recent studies conducted in Scotland concerning the impact of technology. In particular, it considers the findings of an evaluation of an online learning program (Scottish Common Higher Open Learning and Access Resources [SCHOLAR] Program). The article discusses the impact of active, self-regulating learners on the role of teachers and highlights some of the implications of blending traditional classroom teaching with online student learning. The implications that emerge for learning and teaching strategies and for the leadership and support function of teachers are relevant for any school systems using technology in classrooms

Introducing ICT in secondary schools: a context for reflection on management and professional norms

Within the Scottish educational system there have recently been significant moves towards devolution of decision taking and the expressed intention that schools must be more responsive to changing community requirements and expectations. We focus on two aspects of those organizations considered successful within changing external contexts: their processes for the effective acquisition, generation and flow of novel information; and their internal mechanisms for informed decision taking and complex communal problem solving. We use data from two studies on the introduction of ICT as the vehicle for exploring the characteristics of the professional activities and organizational features within secondary schools that appear to be barriers to the effective operation of devolved management and empowered professionalism. We interpret the data on the identified nodes of decision taking—the central and local government, the different levels of the secondary school management, and the individual teacher—in terms of aspects of the cultural norms within secondary schools and indicate the multi-level action taken by the Scottish government which may ultimately ‘reculture’ the schools.

Inclusion and Education in Europe: The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom team investigated policy and practice in relation to students in four key categories of disadvantage, according to participation and achievement data: asylum seekers and refugees; gypsies and travellers; minority language speakers; and looked after children; and. The link between policy and practice was found to be a tenuous one and although there were many examples of good practice documented, few were systematically evaluated or disseminated in ways that would allow others to learn about, adopt or adapt apparently successful initiatives.

T'aint What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It): ICT and Creativity in the Primary School Classroom

This paper reports on one strand of a PhD study that examines newly qualified teachers’ use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to support teaching and learning in Scottish primary classrooms during the first two years of their career. Preliminary data analysis indicates that some of the new teachers are creative, innovative users of new technologies who have embedded ICT effectively into their classroom practice while others remain reluctant users. This paper looks at some of the factors that differentiate the creative from the reluctant. Three levels of influence are discussed, and the interactions between them. They are the national/authority level, the school level and the individual or personal level. Some necessary, although not in themselves sufficient, conditions for creative use of ICT are identified as well as some desirable ones.