It appears that the research evidence for ICT improving traditional learning outcomes has been supplanted by a need to provide ICT skills and knowledge for assumed economic productivity (Amable, 2002, p.2). The emergence of the ‘knowledge-ba economy’ as a phrase to encompass the importance of ICT in global markets has resulted in national and regional action plans. These plans address issues such as changes to intellectual property law, integration of government activities,
transformation of education, digitisation of trade, and health care telematics.
Examples of such plans include strategy policies such as eEurope 2005 (Commission of the European Communities, 2002) and administrative implementations such as United Kingdom’s eMinister with an associated ‘Office of the e-Envoy’ (OECD, 2002a). The equivalent policy document in Australia is A Strategic Framework In
policy for ICT in schools (Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, 2000) is entitled Learning for the knowledge society: An education and training action plan for the information economy.
One consequence of these national and regional action plans has been the regular reporting of ICT developments on a comparative basis. For instance, Australia w identified as being second in the world for the percentage of households with a computer, and seventh for home internet access (Di Gregorio & de Montis, Using the OECD (2002b) information, Australia ranked third in the countries surveyed in terms of the percentage of 15 year olds that used a computer at school a least a few times a week. Therefore it is clear from these measures that Australia leading user of ICT.
If Australia is amongst ‘the leaders’ for the extent and use of ICT in education and young people, why then is there such a huge trade deficit in
as 2002).
t is a
by ICT-related goods and ervices (Australian Computer Society, 2002)? This question epitomises the pressure
om the commercial and government sectors to prioritise work-related ICT skills in schools. One view is that if the problems associated with declining programmer productivity and a fall from ip in telecommunications technology are
ional
s s
fr
global leadersh
to be solved, then more ICT competent school leavers are important. This view was held so strongly that a project was run by the National Education Performance Monitoring Taskforce in this area. The project report recommended piloting nat tests of student ICT skills in Years 5/6 and 9/10 (Cuttance & Stokes, 2000). The objectives of this testing are obscure, since the report refers in one section to the “acquisition of ICT knowledge and skills across the curriculum by all students from the first to the last year of schooling” (Cuttance & Stokes, 2000, section 4), wherea they also identify full integration as occurring “when learning takes place through ICT” [my emphasis]. This distinction is an important one, where the deciding factor is
e topic intended to be learned by students. For instance, when students use historical e
le th
simulation software, are they expected to acquire an understanding of life in th Middle Ages or improve their computer operational skills? The pedagogical rationa argues for the former, whilst the economic rationale would argue for the latter.
The Real Time report (Meredyth, Russell, Blackwood, Thomas & Wise, 1999b) m it quite clear that students were using computers more and obtaining their ICT s home, not at school. This report puts into question any presumed link between skill monitoring and school ICT training, showing it is unlikely the two will be related. We are left therefore with the alternative suggestion that the benefits of ICT must come when students are learning through ICT, rather than about ICT. T linkage between national competitiveness or economic gains and the use of ICT schools is therefore one which needs to be examined carefully if it is to be substantiated. Expectati ade kills at ICT he in ons of ICT development (p. 23) also make it questionable hether such skills measured in Year 6 are of any value to a (rare) school leaver at
as to
e of innovation diffusion which has an extensive literature urry & Farquhar, 1997; Clarke, 2001; Pellicone, 2001, p. 33-53). From rural
tion of e the w
Year 10, and decreasingly so to a Year 12 leaver. The argument here is that the technology will have developed so much in the intervening four to six years make such operational skills redundant. It appears that ‘knowledge economy’ thinking has oriented ICT in school education towards the economic rationale by skewing learning outcomes towards ICT skills for pupils.
2.3.3 Innovation Diffusion
This study focuses on the introduction of ICT into school education. It is therefor related to the general area
(S
sociology origins in 1943, the research literature now ranges from the introduc new linguistic patterns and cultural behaviours, to areas more clearly aligned to the adoption of new technologies in a variety of social situations. There appear to be thre important foci for relevant innovation diffusion research: field dependence of
critical factors for diffusion; types of factors and their relative importance; and the particular context of ICT in education.
The literature on critical factors for innovation adoption shows that these are dependent upon the field of application. Parker and Sarvary (1994, Table 8) found ‘relative advantage’ was the main driver in domestic information technology innovation diffusion, suggesting it will be the nature of the ICT itself which will
technology involved in an innovation is more important than the developer or its
ve
come from ifferent fields, there is reason to investigate each new instance of technological
elative costs of equipment were portant, as well as teacher attitudes, home Internet connections, transportation istances and difficulty (Tella & Kynäslahti, 1997). Somekh (1998, p. 11) identified suitable transition time, perceived relative advantage, professional development and
a igher
ol education f
llable opted. rs eg. perceived relative advantage, accessible quality infrastructure, uitable transition time etc., are also needed for progression through the stages of adoption leading to institutionalisation and permanent integration of an innovation. exponents. He concluded that the adopter has final control and that theories of developer based IT diffusion were deficient in that they overstated the role of technological superiority in the diffusion process. This implies that teachers will ha the most significant role in determining the extent of ICT adoption in classrooms. These polarised findings illustrate the debate about some of the fundamental determinants of technological innovation. Since the opposing views
d
innovation separately.
In the specific field of ICT in education, Owen and Liles (1998) classified the factors which facilitated or slowed the adoption of the Internet by teachers such as
accessibility of the equipment, training etc. The r im
d
ccessible infrastructure as the critical success factors for ICT diffusion in h education. The results were congruent with those of Fullan (1991) in scho and can therefore be applied to both fields. The literature thus reveals a variety o important factors, not all of which can be controlled in the adoption process of a technological innovation.
One factor which is perceived as being under systemic control is professional development (Krasnicki, 2003). It appears that an understanding of the content of professional development and its delivery is important to maximising efficacy of its role in the innovation adoption process. Somekh argues this factor is vital to
managing the process of change, but has been “startlingly neglected” (1998, p. 20). Fullan agrees with the importance of the factor, but adds “good professional development by itself is not very effective” (1999, p.10). Therefore this contro factor cannot by itself determine whether a technological innovation will be ad The other facto
The process of innovation institutionalisation can depend upon the different adoption patterns of various types of staff using technology in teaching (Jacobsen, 1998). General recommendations from his study such as such as training, investing in IT infrastructure, and instigating a rewards system could be universal for all groups o computer users, such as the early adopters, the late developers etc. The merits of standardisation may not be equally applicable to all these groups.
f
he literature has therefore identified many of the critical success factors for
Some large scale/long term studies of ICT effectiveness using nationally benchm
improve easured by meta-analyses is similar
le for ICT between identify the
ion literature, T
innovation institutionalisation (Nutley, Davies & Walter, 2002, p. 18). Much of the literature (such as the categories of implementers of Jacobsen) derives from the work of Rogers over the period 1962 to 1995, giving evidence of a well developed field of investigation upon which this study could build.