El parte de lesiones constituye un documento imprescindible, ya que es el punto de partida para la apertura de diligencias previas en el procedimiento judicial que se vaya a seguir.

The literature review has described how digital technology is being used by teachers and students for teaching and learning in the classroom, predominantly described in terms of frequency of use and how it is used. Whilst it is important to know how frequently and what purposes the technology is being used for, it is perhaps more important to find and understand the reasons for the use or non-use of that technology. Van Scoter and Boss (2002) pointed out that technology adds to, rather than replaces, the teachers‘ complement of tools and activities:

Technology adds to the set of tools available for children to use and adapt, to feel at home with, to make part of their repertoire, and to help express themselves, verbally, visually, and emotionally. New technologies offer teachers additional resources to use as they plan to meet a range of levels, learning styles, and the individual needs of students (Van Scoter & Boss, 2002, p. 10).

68 Early studies (Goodlad, 1984; Gross, Giacquinta, & Brenstein, 1971; Hyman, 1981) attempted to describe how innovations and change occurred in schools and they identified that teachers were one of the main sources of resistance to school change in ICT usage. Come forward through two decades and educational researchers were still identifying teachers as reluctant to invest in additional time to incorporate new technologies into their teaching (Gillman, 1989, Palfrey & Gasser, 2008). In the past fear was identified as the big de-motivating and inhibiting factor to teachers using technology in the classroom (Kerr, 1991) and teachers saw some technologies as a threat to their nearly authoritarian role (Becker, 2001). Over the next two decades the situation is essentially the same ―the…rhetoric is remarkably consistent regardless of the specifics of the machine issue‖ (Hodas, 1998, p. 21) and that digital technologies are still a ―major driving force in re-engineering schools…[and that] the…introduction of ICT into a school can seriously challenge its day-to-day practice‖ (Toomey, 2001, p. 36) and alter the teaching and student learning process (Barker, 2000; Hopson, Simms, & Knezek, 2002; Marina, 2001; Smith, 2002).

Therefore, as with any educational tool and resource, technology can be used well, badly or not at all (Siraj-Blatchford & Whitebread, 2003). Therefore, the appropriate application of technology in the classroom is dependent on the skills, knowledge and confidence of the user which is often the teacher. This leads to the case that it is no longer a question about whether technology will be used in schools, as ICT has reached almost universal levels, it is now a question of what technologies will be used and how. The Meredyth et al. (1999) study maintained that students were learning how to use ICT predominantly at home, and Brand (1997) ascertained that teachers already knew how to use computers, so the question still remains, why hasn‘t the digital age impacted more on the education sector? These studies of technology use in schools in the 1990‘s suggested that the digital age had not yet impacted strongly on the education sector. Perhaps the pertinent question is now in 2011, is the digital age having more of an impact?

69

Inhibitors and promoters of ICT use

An understanding of the factors that inhibit or facilitate students‘ and teachers‘ use of ICT is crucial in order to understand how to support and improve digital technology use, and to account for and perhaps legitimize the expenditure and time spent on digital technologies in schools.

Australia, like other developed countries, has invested heavily on providing digital technologies for schools, and this expenditure is not a one-off amount as the technology needs to be maintained, upgraded, integrated and users trained, and once this is done it needs to be repeated again as the technology evolves. Indeed, one researcher (Carroll, 2000) compared the scale of ICT-integration expenditure in United States schools to be on a par with the investment made to the NASA space program. This vast funding of technologies for schools has been criticized, especially by Cuban (1999, 2001), because despite the widespread roll-out of digital technologies into schools it has had minimal impact on teaching and students‘ learning outcomes and performance (Cuban, 2001; Granger, Morbey, Lotherington, Owston, & Wideman, 2002; Hattie, 2009; Scrimshaw, 2004).

In understanding how inhibitors and promoters affect school technology uptake and use, the following subsections will explore each in turn before bringing the factors together to understand the ‗counter-levelling‘ effect that inhibitors and promoters have. To aid comprehension of these important concepts Table 2.1 highlights the inhibitors and promoters, as indicated in this review of the literature.

70 Table 2.1.

Inhibitors and promoters to classroom digital technology use by teachers

Inhibitor Promoter

Lack of hardware and software (Siraj- Blatchford & Whitebread, 2003);

Lack of time for classroom use of the technology (Mathews, 2000);

Lack of teacher training & professional development (BECTA, 2001);

Teachers‘ fear/attitude (Conlon & Simpson, 2003);

Level of access (Mathews, 2000);

Lack of teacher competence/confidence (Smith, 2002);

Maintenance and reliability (Kozma, 2003); Personal beliefs (Smith, 2002);

Unsupportive social climate (Conlon & Simpson, 2003);

Gender-female teachers used ICT less (Marina, 2001)

Competence of the teacher (Siraj- Blatchford & Whitebread, 2003); School support (Scrimshaw, 2004); Satisfaction with the technology (Kozma, 2003);

Professional development (Butzin, 2000);

Mentoring (Pullen, Reid, & Lavery, 2008)

Factors which can be either an inhibitor or a promoter

Teachers‘ professional technology beliefs (Conlon & Simpson, 2003); Professional learning (Smith, 2002);

Lifelong learning (Butzin, 2000), and

Increasing teaching and learning flexibility, including the delivery and assessment (Van Scoter, & Boss, 2002)

71 Given the number of factors inhibiting or promoting teacher ICT use, Sheingold and Hadley (1990) reported that it took teachers five to six years to master computer-based practices and approaches, provided that they were supported by infrastructure; management and time allocated to learn.

A closer examination of Table 2.1 reveals some common findings. First, teachers hold views that persist during innovations; technology use is dependent on available infrastructure and technical support, and second, teachers need time to learn to incorporate the technology into their practice and this may not always be easy due to self-perception and confidence issues. As such, technology-based educational change may be slower than the ‗roll-out‘ of the technology because time is required to up-skill teachers and to give them enough opportunities to practice with the technology to increase their familiarity and confidence.