Project Notes-April 2009

AIM: To develop research-based policy recommendations to improve teaching and learning with technology across the curriculum by April 2010.

APPROACH: There are three phases involved in this project.

Phase 1: Investigate the current situation through a case study (completed in September 2008) and an all-school survey (completed in March 2009).

Phase 2: What can be done to improve the situation? This is a very important stage in the project and what I would like to discuss with you over the next 4 weeks. It is similar to laying the foundation to a building and what you could leave as your legacy. Those who follow you as student leaders will have to put into effect what you decide during this phase.

Phase 3: How can we do this? Next academic year I will spend more time with student council reps answering this question, which will involve drawing up the policy recommendations to be presented to school administrators.

Analysing the Survey Results: A good place to begin in trying to decide how the current situation can be improved. Here is an example:

One thing that stuck me the most was responses to questions about access.

In question 1 – 84.3% of the survey participants agree to the statement, The high school provides sufficient access to technology for students, however, in question 6 - How does your use of technology in school compare to use of technology outside of school? – 63.3% of the respondents say they have more access to technology at home.

This seems to imply that students don’t get as much access as they could to the technology provided for them in school.

One thing that could improve this situation is for computer access areas, such as labs, libraries, to be redesigned so that teaching and independent use of the computers in these areas could be happening simultaneously, in addition to providing more areas for student-only access.

Another piece of evidence which indicates that student may benefit from access to more 'informal' areas of learning with computers can be found in responses to question 2 - Who is, or should be, responsible for your learning? 66% of the participants said responsibility for their learning lies not just with themselves, or the teacher, but that learning is best when working with others. So it seems that providing more communal settings for learning would better suit these students.