Teachers’ Use Of ICT In Classroom Activities: Results From ICILS 2013.

Author(s):

Wolfram Schulz(presenting / submitting)John Ainley

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

09. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement

Format:

Paper

Session Information

09 SES 03 B, Findings from ICILS 2013: Relating Individual, Class and School Characteristics to ICT Use and CIL Achievement

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-23

17:15-18:45

Room:

NM-F103a

Chair:

Wilfried Bos

Contribution

Computers and other forms of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have become commonly used in teaching and learning in schools as well as being seen to be an important aspect the preparation of young people for adult life. Many education systems have adopted policies intended to support the pedagogical use of ICT by schools and teachers (Bakia, Murphy, Anderson, & Trinidad, 2011; Plomp, Anderson, Law, & Quale, 2009). The rationale for this is related to potential for enrichment new technologies offer for teaching and learning (Kozma, 2003) as well as the need for educating young people to develop the ICT skills necessary to successfully participate in modern society (Ferrari, 2012; Kozma, 2008). Within the European contexts, both the European Commission’s i2010 strategy (European Commission, 2008) and its successor, the Digital Agenda for Europe (European Commission, 2013) emphasise the widespread recognition of the importance of ICT for educational policy and practice.

Research has shown, however, that the use of ICT in educational practice tends to depend on teachers’ experience of, familiarity with, and competence in ICT as well as the subjects they teach (Ertmer, Ottenbreit-Leftwich, Sadik, Sendurur, & Sendurur, 2012; Law, Pelgrum & Plomp, 2008; Fraillon, Ainley, Schulz, Friedman, & Gebhardt, 2014). Furthermore, there continues to be considerable variation with regard to the ICT curricula, resources, and teaching approaches (Sturman & Sizmur, 2011).

This paper aims to (1) review the extent and types of ICT use for teaching lower secondary students across a number of European countries and (2) identify the factors associated with teachers’ use of these technologies in the classroom.

Method

This paper is based on the 2013 IEA International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS). A central focus of the study was students’ computer and information literacy (CIL) as well as their use of, familiarity with, and attitudes toward ICT using computer-based tests and questionnaires. However, the study also surveyed nationally representative samples of teachers across 21 education systems (Fraillon, Schulz, Friedman, Ainley, & Gebhardt, 2015). This paper focuses on the results from 21,118 teachers at 1,672 in 11 participating European countries (Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovak Republic, and Slovenia). Sampled teachers of lower secondary students in their eighth year of schooling completed an on-line questionnaire (with an option to complete an equivalent paper-based form) that included questions about their use of ICT in teaching as well as their attitudes to, and confidence in using ICT. Data from countries that did not meet the IEA sample participation requirements are annotated accordingly so that readers are able interpret the corresponding results with due caution. The analyses consist of two parts: The first part involves descriptive analyses regarding the use of ICT for teaching as well as insights into the types of use in the classroom. The second part involves multivariate models reviewing explanatory factors for ICT use in the classroom, such as teachers’ age, confidence in using ICT, experience with computers, subject area, and the availability of ICT resources at school. The dependent variable is dichotomous and is based on teachers’ responses to whether they use ICT for teaching in a randomly selected reference class (1=yes, 0=no). Logistic regression is used for the analysis. Standard errors for all these analyses will be estimated using jackknife replication methods in order to account for the complex sample designs.

Expected Outcomes

Initial analyses have shown that teachers’ use of ICT depends on the subject area. While in ICT-related subjects, science, and human/social science subjects there were relatively high percentages of teachers using ICT in the classroom, the corresponding proportions of teachers were lower in mathematics and some other subject areas. There were also notable differences in the extent of ICT use in classrooms across participating countries. When looking at associations with teacher and school factors, lower proportions of ICT use were found for teachers with less experience with computers, those who felt less confident, and with regard to their (negative or positive) views regarding the usefulness of ICT for teaching and learning. Furthermore, there were also (weaker) negative associations with teachers’ age (above the age of 50 years) and the lack of ICT resources at their schools for teaching. Associations with some of the explanatory factors were inconsistent across countries.

References

Bakia, M., Murphy, R., Anderson, K., & Trinidad, G. E. (2011). International experiences with technology in education: Final report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. European Commission. (2008). Digital Literacy European Commission working paper and recommendations from Digital Literacy High-Level Expert Group. Brusells, Belgium: Author. Retrieved from http://www.ifap.ru/library/book386.pdf European Commission (2013). Survey of schools: ICT in education benchmarking access, use and attitudes to technology in Europe’s schools. Brussels: Author. Ferrari, A. (2012). Digital competence in practice: An analysis of frameworks. Seville, Spain: Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, European Commission. Retrieved from http://www.ifap.ru/library/book522.pdf Fraillon, J., Schulz, W., &Ainley, J. (2013).International computer and information literacy study: Assessment framework. Amsterdam: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Fraillon, J., Schulz, W., Friedman, T., Ainley, J., & Gebhardt, E. (Eds.) (2015). International Computer and Literacy Information Study 2013 Technical Report. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Kozma, R. (2003). Technology, innovation, and education change: A global perspective: A report of the Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES) Module 2. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education, pp. 1-18. Kozma, R. (2008). Comparative analyses of policies for ICT in education. In J. Voogt & G. Knezek (Eds.), International handbook of information technology in education (pp. 1083–1096). Berlin, Germany: Springer Science. Law, N., Pelgrum, W., & Plomp, T. (2008). Pedagogy and ICT Use in Schools Around the World: Findings from the IEA SITES 2006 Study. Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Centre, University of Hong Kong. Plomp, T., Anderson, R. E., Law, N., & Quale, A. (Eds.). (2009). Cross national policies and practices on information and communication technology in education (2nd ed.). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing Sturman, L., & Sizmur, J. (2011). International comparison of computing in schools. Slough, UK: National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER).

Author Information

Wolfram Schulz (presenting / submitting)

Australian Council for Educational Research

International Surveys

Camberwell

John Ainley

Australian Council for Educational Research, Australia

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