Ejecución de la estrategia en Social Media de El Acebo de

There were three separate samples: first, of countries for inclusion in the study; second, of individuals for the expert panel and third, of schools for the case studies.

3.5.1 The sample countries

The countries sampled for investigation needed to have significant levels of ICT use in schools, otherwise there would be nothing to include in the case studies. However, to make the study generalisable, they also needed to have as rich and broad a range of cultural values and other factors as possible within the limitations of travel budget, time available and researcher linguistic ability. This sample is therefore a purposeful

ample, chosen for the maximum opportunity to learn about the phenomenon

tation for advanced uses of computers in education. The link g factor.

ls between it and the USA in respect of CT in schools. The commonality of language between the two countries and the

or , student:teacher ratios and students/computer made them valid comparators for the Australian situation.

The validity of the study would have been restricted if data were only collected from wealthy highly industrialised countries. Estonia was chosen as a suitable contrast to these other countries. It had a very low GDP per capita and a very small population with national income principally deriving from forestry resources. However, it offered an environment accessible to the researcher, since English was widely understood and it had a reputation for advanced take-up of computers in the post-Soviet era. The existence of the Tiger Leap Foundation as a national organisation to promote ICT in schools gave a point of contact similar to that found in the UK and USA. The number of Internet hosts per head of population was above average for its GDP (Dodge, 1998) putting it on a similar level to the UK in this respect (UNDP, 2000).

3.5.2 The sample of expert panel members

Communication is an essential characteristic for the diffusion of innovative ideas (Valente, 1995; Karsten & Gales, 1996). Strogatz and Watts (1998) argued that ideas spread through personal contact (bottom-up) as much as through media (top-down) in their investigations of small world theory. This theory emerged from a study of communication networks and allows the conclusion to be drawn that human networks s

(Merriam, Mott & Lee, 1996, p. 9).

The USA was selected because of its globally dominant position in trade and politics, together with its repu

between the researcher’s professional association in Australia and ISTE in the USA was also an enablin

England was selected because of the paralle I

researcher’s own made these easily approachable sources of data, especially valid f comparison with Australia. Their similar characteristics in terms of GDP per capita

onge & Contractor, 2002). An average of 3.65 links was found between the 225,000 socially connected acto tthews, 1999; Watts, 1999).

al of educators ith ICT can be considered in the same

way, espec ce the laterally connected through

net ac e rked organisa

through modern com from to

bureaucratic and multidivisiona the expe efore

ched m a i

least one other of the as selection criteria c

1) The individual was involved through an executive onal , an

a se me a in

school education; or

reco nde ember of the expert panel as having a

significant role; or

appo as ional

responsibility for ICT

he membership of the expert panel is described in Table 7, representing a mix of national decision-makers and people engaged in projects of national significance. (M

rs around the world (Ma The soci network

ially sin

ce th

involved w y were highly likely to be Inter ss in post-modern netwo

munications technologies l forms. Members of

tional form that has evolved p-down hierarchies such as

rt panel were ther approa to for n opportunity sample following

following categories (which are odes):

dentification in the first and at also used in the following Table

role in educational ICT projects at a nati level d

2) Was nior mber of an organisation with prime responsibility for ICT 3) Was mme d by at least one other m

4) Was inted the spokesperson by a nat in school education.

organisation which had a prime

C

panel member

[and selection criteria]

Responsibilities

Table 7: The expert panel.

ountry Expert Position

USA DM e-president of

rnational Society for Nominated by ISTE: manager of national project on teacher and Vic

Inte

Technology Education (ISTE) [1 & 4]

student ICT standards

Estonia EM Director of nationally funded g

‘Tiger Leap’ computer

education project for Ministry of Education [1 & 2]

To provide targeted co-fundin for school ICT equipment and direct a program of professional development for teachers Estonia

ools TE National project officer

[1 & 3]

Direct externally funded project to develop administration information systems for sch

England NM Schools Director of Becta [1 ent

& 2]

Direct research and developm into ICT in schools

Englan

sional d KB Officer of Teacher Training

Agency [1 & 4]

Implementation of national program for teacher profes development in ICT

E national

professional ngland MR Independent consultant

[1 & 3]

Quality assurance of program for teacher development in ICT England BM Professor of Education in

University largely using distance delivery of education [1 & 3]

Major supplier of professional development for national program of teacher professional development in ICT

3.5.3 Selection of schools for case studies

In each of the sample countries one primary and one secondary school from the public ls

. T

). sector with mixed gender students were selected for the case studies. The schoo selected for case studies were chosen because:

• They were accessible from the locations designated by the members of the expert panel for their interviews.

• There was sufficient information available on the world-wide-web about each school to assure the researcher that ICT was being used across the curriculum • They were not selected on the basis of exemplary performance in respect of IC

case f

l

e of

. (Reeves, 1999) n this study multiple methods were intentionally chosen to maximise the

establishment of a framework in Research Question ta gh

o

view technique nabled narrative inquiry where the contributors to the study built a story of the situation as they saw it from a personal perspective. In this sense, the perspective gained was a privileged one, since most of the participants had highly instrumental The case study schools therefore represented an opportunity quota sample. In one (a primary school in England) the school selected was not visited because of illness o the responsible teacher on the agreed meeting date.