Using ICT to support home-school links: innovative practices

1. Becta Research Conference 21 June 2002 Using ICT to support home-school links: innovative practices Bridget Somekh, Diane Mavers and Cathy Lewin Manchester Metropolitan University

2. Aims and background of the study • Commissioned by DfES/Becta • February to August 2001 • Aims • to gather information about existing content, organisation, management, structure and use of electronic home-school links • to evaluate and exemplify good practice • to inform policy and practice

3. Specific objectives • Types of technologies and infrastructure models of use • Particular benefits to teaching and learning, management and administration • Software and web based content available in the home • Implications for decision makers, schools, LEAs, pupils and parents • Issues around implementation and management • Further potential benefits

4. The evidence base • A ‘knowledge mapping’ exercise • A survey of 100 schools • A consultative seminar • A survey of commercial providers • Case studies of a small number of schools

5. Choosing the case study schools • Innovative practice or vision • A range of resources used, including networked and portable technologies • Different phases and geographical regions • The work of a special school • Contrasting approaches and practices

6. Survey of schools • Aim: to provide an overview of innovative practices in English schools • Selected schools, not a random sample • Responses from: • 37 primary • 65 secondary • 6 special • 7 independent

7. School survey: findings • It is still very early days • There are differences between secondary and primary schools • School websites are being used for a variety of purposes • Schools have different views of the benefits of email • 25% schools have tried pupil laptop schemes but only 6 believed they had been effective • Barriers are perceived to be – time, funding, expertise, security, technical limitations, and the digital divide

8. Commercial Survey: findings • 5 commercial companies: AAL, ABK, CISCO, NTL, Oracle • Supporting home learning is a developing market • Products and services include Internet access, portable technologies, online provision of resources • Perceived issues for schools: • The digital divide • Infrastructure • Support structures and time

9. Findings: transfer between home and school • Continuation of work • Email • Floppy disc • Access to content • School intranet access from home via website • Video conferencing

10. Findings: curriculum content • Pupils use ICT at home for: • - leisure (high level skills) • - neat presentation of work • - Internet-based research • - revision websites • Little use of curriculum materials on school intranets from home: • - content is still under development • - schools need a policy and strategies for development • - need for a dedicated web manager and/or technician

11. Findings: laptops • Teachers’ laptop ownership increases confidence and skills • Pupils’ laptop ownership/hire promotes very high levels of skill and use • but ... • - problems when not all pupils in a class have one • - uptake affected by cost • - anxieties about ‘mugging’ • - weight of older machines • - some machines not robust

12. Findings: benefits to teaching and learning • Pupils are developing good skills at home • Convenience • Pupil enthusiasm (word processing, PowerPoint, Internet) • Quality online resources (where they exist) • Concerns about handwriting, spelling, ‘replacing books’and plagiarism) relate to changes in society as a whole • Exceptional support for children whose schooling is disrupted

13. Findings: school management and administration • Electronic registration • Web-based administration (e.g. attendance) • Computer aided report writing can reduce teacher workloads • Assessment information made available to parents

14. Findings: the digital divide • Schools are very aware of the digital divide • Pupils without access to ICT at home are disadvantaged • Pupil’s home use of ICT and their home-developed skills often ignored by schools • There are divides kinds of use at home as well as access • Laptop schemes enable greatly enhanced capabilities and confidence but some projects have increased existing inequalities

15. Findings: implementation • Needs to be part of the school’s overall vision • A flexible, exploratory approach • High level coordination • Embedded in the school’s work as a whole • Need for expert knowledge and skills • Gaps between aspirations and delivery • Security, safety • Cost

16. Conclusions • Teachers’ ICT skills • Laptops for teachers • Training and support (especially in-house) • Collaborative involvement in developing online materials • Daily use to establish habits of use • Expert knowledge (setting up and maintenance) • Technical knowledge on technology and infrastructures • Business knowledge on procurement practices

17. Conclusions • Sustainability • Little evidence of planning for upgrading infrastructure • Need for long-term planning • Equity of provision • Funding (more advanced schools had received extra cash) • Regional infrastructures and inequities • Broadband versus ISDN provision • Planning for future development in technologies • e.g. hand-helds, digital television

18. Conclusions • Two levels of digital divide • Equipment and internet access in the home: a disappearing problem • Kinds of use made of ICT in the home: ‘cultural capital’ • Voluntary use for school work increases the divide • Proposed strategy to overcome the divide • School audit of home-based ICT resources • School-based facilities for accessing work via email/floppy • School provision of alternative electronic resources (e.g. CDs) • Personal Access to ICT Plans (PACTs) • An agreed proportion of homework to be computer-based