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ICT Implementation in Education

Discussion and Recommendations

During the course of this survey, schools presented a number of criteria that they consider have determined their own successful ICT implementation. These can basically be combined into three categories which together define the ability of the school to integrate ICT into teaching practice:

• school climate (particularly evident in the experience of the Ranaana Secondary School in Israel), and considering such aspects as a shared vision for ICT implementation, commitment to the school-level strategy, information sharing within the school, work teams for specific tasks…
• ICT management: budget, modalities of the ICT implementation plan, technical support and teacher training, ICT maintenance strategies…
• ICT knowledge: purchase and upgrading of equipment, software and peripherals, pedagogical integration, modification of curriculum content, development of adapted assessment methods… These three categories correspond to the constructs of a model used to analyse the innovative capacity of schools in a private study 1carried out in Israel (see figure 1).

 
Capacity for successful ICT Integration
 
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Figure 1: Model for ICT Integration in Schools2
 
This model was originally developed for determining the ICT integration capacity of private companies, but it could be very useful for analysing successful ICT implementation in schools. An in-depth case study on a broader number of schools would enable it to be further refined and completed for subsequent use as a tool that would provide schools with a guide and a check list to devise their own school-level implementation strategies.
 
A major concern that has become evident in the course of this study is the insufficient attention that is being given to two key research issues in ICT implementation: assessment methods in the classroom and long-term assessment of outcomes of ICT-integrated learning. Before focusing on even more comprehensive ICT integration, it appears judicious to analyse the positive and negative effects ICT-based learning may be having on future citizens in order to ensure positive outcomes before it is too late. A further area of concern underlined by national authorities is the need to develop teacher trainers with a double expertise in pedagogy and ICT. Certain schools are overcoming an insufficient ICT-integrated pedagogy knowledge base by hiring ICT coordinator/directors, to work in collaboration with pedagogical adviser/directors appointed from subject area specialists within the school. This is possible for independent schools able to invest the required resources, however, it is not the case for most schools, which are forced to rely on more directive national initiatives.
 
Through the constant dialogue carried out with national and local authorities, teacher trainers, researchers and head teachers, a comprehensive network of implementation "experts" has been developed. Most of these express a profound interest in conducting an ongoing "poli"logue, in the form of an electronic forum or other, as a means of sharing ideas, enriching their own implementation strategies and learning from the successes and failures of others. Ongoing collaboration and "peer learning" in this domain could provide an important opportunity in tackling the challenge of the changes underway in education.