Roy Barton

'First do no harm': Factors influencing teachers' ability and willingness to use ICT in their subject teaching

Abstract The paper reports on a Department of Culture, Museums and Sport (DCMS) funded project which provided modest amounts of time for teachers to be freed from their classroom teaching to explore the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in their subject teaching, and to meet up together to discuss their use of new technology. The funding was sufficient to provide a day of supply cover for two groups of secondary teachers in different curriculum subjects (history and science) to meet towards the start of the academic year to discuss their use of ICT, a day of supply cover to work on their ideas and interests, and a day to meet together again towards the end of the year to share ideas and experiences. The rationale behind the project was to allow teachers the freedom to explore their own areas of interest in the area of ICT and to avoid a prescriptive or ‘coverage’ based approach. There was a conscious attempt to avoid target setting and audits and teachers were encouraged to come to the end of year meeting even if they had nothing ‘to put on the table’. The concluding section of the paper describes the outcomes of the project. The main issue to emerge was the highly positive reaction of the teachers involved. Whilst for some there were significant ICT outputs, all those involved found the process useful and enjoyable, especially the collaborative sharing process in the final session. This was in marked contrast to other ICT training experiences which many of the teachers had been involved with.

A Partnership Approach to Information Technology in Initial Teacher Training

ABSTRACT This paper describes the changes to the IT element of the secondary Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) course at the University of East Anglia, in the light of the government initiatives requiring a shift to a partnership approach to initial teacher training. This shift means that only one third of the 36 week course is now delivered at the University. The paper describes the recommendations of a joint working party representing partnership schools and university staff. The implementation of the groups suggestions involved a fundamental revision of the IT component for both university and school based elements and a re‐definition of the roles of all staff involved. This paper concludes with a discussion of the evaluation of the new scheme, including the results of a student questionnaire, after it had been implemented for one year. This found that our move to deal with IT as a subject specific issue was successful and highlighted the level of IT use in school subject departments as th...

Supporting Teachers in Making Innovative Changes in the Use of Computer-Aided Practical Work to Support Concept Development in Physics Education

There continues to be a gulf between what have been identified from the literature as the potential benefits of using computer‐aided practical work and the difficulties of realizing them as reported by practising teachers, even from those who are committed to the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This article reports on a pilot study that aimed to explore ways in which teachers could be supported as they explore the extent to which this approach could enhance the development of pupils’ understanding of physics concepts. The study was based on a collaborative partnership between a researcher and a classroom teacher. The indications are that there is the potential for considerable benefits from such an approach, with the need for further development of materials and teaching methods being identified.

Why Do We Ask Pupils to Plot Graphs

It is argued that the use of computer-generated graphs has several advantages and few disadvantages over asking pupils to plot graphs manually.