It seems to me that there are 6 ways in which we can use ICT to improve education. I make no claims for the originality of these ways, indeed the first 3 have come from a forum discussion with
Peter Twining on the
Vital website (you may need a login to see the Vital page).
These 6 areas are;
- Support – Using ICT to allow us to do things more effectively or efficiently but without changing the fundamental curriculum or pedagogic approach
- Extend – Using ICT to present things in new ways or using ICT to access resources which would otherwise be difficult to access
- Transform – allowing us to do new or different things that would not be possible without the technology and thereby changing the curriculum or pedagogy
- Engagement – involving learners in activities through the motivational influence of technology or the functional use of technology (e.g. access from home as well as school) or social engagement (e.g. with fellow learners or between families and school)
- Inclusion – using ICT to overcome learner disabilities or disadvantages
- Improvement – saving time, being able to enrich a learning experience or using ICT to make a learning outcome possible which might not otherwise have been possible.
I claim no great originality in any of these but it does suggest to me that we might have the basis of a framework or matrix by which staff or institutions can record their use of ICT and the impact it has.
