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Senior staff

Senior staff can provide valuable modelling and consistency  by demonstrating their own use of ICT, especially with a focus on using ICT to do a better job.

Luck can be a factor

Key people (those with the right mix of knowledge, skills, interest and  commitment) can emerge within a school. Eg, the Library Technicians who are able to provide almost continuous on-the-spot support for staff or the ICT technicians with the people skills to support staff development in the context of trouble shooting.

Competing or complementing factors?

The demands on schools and classes are enormous: they can't do everything. The placement of attention to ICT within our responses to these demands is critical.  Key questions include

• Why do we do it (use ICT)?
• Whom does its use serve?
• How might the use of ICT integrate/compete with meeting other major demands?
• What is the appropriate application of ICT in class programs? 

Essential Learnings & ICT

It is worth monitoring the impact of the ELs on the use of ICT. Is attending to the ELs

• Increasing or decreasing the use of ICT in class programs?
• Changing the role of ICT in class programs

[Note: there is some evidence to suggest that the in-class use of ICT may be in decline in some situations - possible reasons and implications?]

Key issue (possible discussion starter)

Is ICT incorporated into class programs...

• So that student will learn to use computers,?  Or...
• So that students can use computers to learn (ICT supports learning activities)
• Or both the above?
• And how do we get the balance right?

Consensus

Consensus about the use of ICT and consistency across class programs seem to be a critical success factors. Possibly because it 

• increases the working knowledge available
• reduces confusion and uncertainty in the minds of teaching staff who are faced with the wide range of possible uses of ICT

Achieving consensus

Consensus appears to be more easily achieved in smaller schools perhaps because of 

• the smaller number of people to reach agreement?
• the more direct integration of different class programs?
• the shorter lines of communication?
• the greater likelihood that all staff are involved in school level considerations?
• more direct links between class programs and community perceptions

Teacher to teacher advice

One experienced teacher made the following suggestions for teachers just starting out with ICT:

• have your own computer (so that you can learn and explore)
• get basic (operational) knowledge quickly
• prepare yourself to continue learning (developments in ICT are continuous) 

Different approaches

The use of ICT in class programs has many possibilities. Some schools have adopted (consciously or unconsciously) core approaches, eg,

• A document approach (work is done in Word or Publisher or similar) and the document demonstrates the learning
• A software approach: a core piece of software (eg, presentation software) is adopted and other ICT (graphics, sound, video...) is incorporated into the core software
• An internet approach: information is acquired (usually from the internet), processed into a document which is usually referred to as 'publishing'
• A technology approach: providing students with a range of ICT based experiences

Each of the above have the potential to be trivial or meaningful depending on level of 

• collaboration, 
• thinking 
• and communicating involved.

Responses and comments to Ivan Webb 

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