The Impact of Digital Technology on Primary and Secondary Education

Introduction

The development of ICT has grown at an exponential rate which has forced students and teachers to take advantage of new technology to improve the learning experience. The integration of technology into education has sparked a discussion as to whether technology positivity or negatively effects student’s progress, attainment and motivation. Over the years, Teachers have felt that technology improves the way they teach and increases student’s confidence and engagement. Understanding the perceptions of students and teachers regarding the impact of ICT use is imperative to the success or failure of ICT integration in the classroom. The integration of technology in the classroom has definitely had an influence on student learning; grasping the impact of these technologies on students learning style is very important. The literature is mostly positive about some aspects of ICT use however, sometimes we hear negative claims, that technology distracts from real learning and that investment into technology is wasteful to school’s limited budget. 

Integrated Technologies in the Class Room.

As mentioned, there is a general belief that ICT can improve student’s attainment and learning, specifically computers which enhance learning by reducing the repetition of low-level tasks such as writing. Technology can be used to support learning in many ways other than an individual computer. It can involve the use of learning software as well as interactive presentations with the use of touch sensitive whiteboards which were found to be very effective for both student and teacher and have reported being more motivated. This were derived from the ability for students to interaction with their learning through touch and quicker lesson pace, due to how efficient presentation is. Mobile technology is growing in popularity as they are attractive to students and are being introduced to support student’s education with the focus on communication. This has shown to be useful in supporting learners that are ‘hard to reach’. Furthermore, the use of laptops by both teachers has been very useful and has been the subject of many studies such as the ‘Laptops for teachers’ study. Teachers commented that personal access to a laptop has had an extensive impact on their planning and preparation of resources to be used in lessons and was a vital tool for recording assessment data, reporting and pupil tracking. Teachers also reported that when the laptops were being used in lessons, students were also more motivated to learn and spent more time on-task. Teachers felt they were gaining maximum impact from their laptop when used in conjunction with peripherals such as interactive whiteboards.

What does the research suggest?

ImpaCT2 is one of the best-known studies of the impact of using ICT on student’s attainment. It was carried about between 1999 and 2002 involving 60 schools in England and is one of the most comprehensive investigations into the impact of ICT. The study was designed to analyse the impact of networked technologies on the school and out of the school environment in Key Stages 2, 3 and 4 and seeing whether high ICT students performed better in core subjects than low ICT students. In Key Stage 2, the study showed improved progress for girls, average and high attaining boys in science and in Key stage 4 the study showed improved progress in all subjects. The key findings in the study was there was a significant positive relationship between relative gain score and level of ICT in all core subjects. Although the study controlled a range of factors, it is quite challenging to see the impact as there are many other factors that affect learning and attainment. For example, it is quite possible that the high ICT students are more likely to come from a higher socio-economic background. Therefore, it is difficult to isolate a single factor, such as the use of ICT from other mediating factors and understanding its links with other factors is very important in seeing the impact. To improve the study, other factors need to be controlled such as socio-economic background and quality of teaching, also obtaining a larger sample size at Key Stage 2, 3 and 4 in each subject is crucial to carry out significant statistical analysis.

Despite the difficulty of finding statistical evidence of a relationship between ICT use and student attainment, qualitative research must be carried out to provide more evidence that links the use of ICT to student attitudes and motivation to learning. A good study to look at is The Young People and ICT 2002 study which was a survey of both students and parents use of ICT both at home at and in school. The attitudes of both parents and children towards computers were mostly positive. 54% of parents without a computer at home felt that their child would achieve better results at school if they had access to a computer at home. Among parents with access to a computer at home, 41% felt that this helped their child achieve better results at school. Among both groups, only 1% thought that access to a computer led to, or would lead to, their children achieving worse results at school. This shows that the majority of parents believe that ICT skills would be vital for their children’s future. Parents were also interviewed as a part of the study and most of the parents interviewed said that the help, they gave children was to support their use of the internet, furthermore parents generally felt less competent than their children in the use of computers. This lack of computer skills meant that some parents were not always able to provide support for their children’s work and would rather help in paper based homework rather than working using a computer, but in most cases it did not appear to have deterred them away from trying to assist with use of the computer.

The third curriculum Online survey stated that the number of primary and secondary teachers who considered ICT to be important has risen since the first survey in 2002. In primary schools, the majority of primary teachers considered ICT as important for maths, English and, to a lesser extent, science. In secondary schools, there was a big increase in the percentages of teachers who considered ICT to be an important aspect of teaching in maths, science and geography at Key Stage 3 and maths, music and modern languages at Key Stage 4.

Another study that shows the positive impact on pupil motivation is the Computers for Teachers survey. 67% of survey respondents said that their personal ownership of a computer had noticeably affected pupil’s motivation, 28% felt that it had a little effect and 4% felt that it had no effect. Many of the teachers interviewed believed that technology had a positive impact on pupils learning, behaviour and motivation in the classroom. Multiple teachers have noticed an increase in student motivation amongst those who have not been previously motivated at all to learn and some reported that ICT has helped students keep focused on tasks. Other teachers felt that with the use of a computer they had been able to prepare appropriate, individualised work more efficiently for students with learning difficulties, which the students benefited from. However, like the studies I previously mentioned, The Computers for Teachers study does not provide enough evidence of the impact of using ICT on student’s motivation and attainment, however it does show valuable evidence of teacher’s opinion and experience of using ICT in the classroom.

Lack of ICT skills training in UK Teacher Workforce

However, despite massive government training initiatives, policies and extensive funding over the last 15 years, not a lot has been done to overcome the lack of ICT skills and the training of the UK teaching workforce. The current Secretary of Sate for Education, Michael Grove, is committed to an agenda of promoting computer science and tackling the issue of lack of ‘digital literacy’. Paul Glister is a famous writer who was known for his book ‘Digital Literacy’; “Being digitally literate is an ongoing process. Becoming more confident and proficient over time, digital literacy becomes simply about efficient and effective use of technologies in everyday life so that being digitally literate is an intrinsic part of who we are in both our personal and professional lives”. Therefore, digital literacy is a very important skill to have as a teacher to ensure personalisation of learning and integrating ICT in the classroom. Despite of this importance, Teachers training today are still not required to pass the ICT skills test; whether this is because it may be assumed that those entering the profession have adequate ICT experience. Many people believe the younger generation are more tech-savvy, but research would suggest that there is no significant statistical difference in terms of ICT experience, across age groups. The UK teachers are considered to be young with 50% of primary and 36% of secondary teachers having up to ten years’ experience.

Conclusion

In conclusion, based on the evidence, most students and teachers have found the introduction of ICT into the classroom has created a positive impact on motivation and attainment. Evidence of the impact on learning shows that the use of ICT is most effective in enhancing the learning experience, teachers have been able to integrate technologies such as laptops and interactive whiteboard however there is still a massive problem with lack of ICT skill training which needs to be tackled and ‘Digital Literacy’. A lot of the evidence are drawn from small-scale research studies, more systematic research should be done and over a longer period to see the impact long-term, Small scale studies can be useful, as long as the research is conducted systematically. Furthermore, ICT use is likely to be linked to other factors such as quality of teaching, so it is difficult to isolate one factor ‘ICT’ and understanding its links to other factors is very important in creating meaningful evidence. While the evidence does seem to support the view that there has been a positive impact on learning and teaching with the use of ICT, it has not reached the point where it can be said to have transformed the educational system.

References

1. Comber, C., 2002. Impact2. London: Dept. for Education and Skills.
2. Condie, R. and Munro, R., 2007. The Impact Of ICT In Schools. Coventry: Becta.
3. Cunningham, M., 2004. Laptops For Teachers. London: DfES Publications.
4. Gilster, P., 1998. Digital Literacy. New York: Wiley Computer.
5. Hayward, B., 2003. Young People And ICT 2002. London: Dept. for Education and Skills.
6. Morris, D., 2014. ICT And Educational Policy In The UK: Are We On The Way Towards E-Maturity Or On The Road To Digital Disaster?. [ebook] London: David Morris. Available at: [Accessed 1 May 2020].
7. Pittard, V., Bannister, P. and Dunn, J., 2003. The Big Picture. Nottingham: DfES.
8. Smith, P., Rudd, P. and Coghlan, M., 2008. Harnessing Technology. Becta.
9. Valentine, G., 2005. Children And Young Peoples's Home Use Of ICT For Educational Purposes. Annesley: DfES Publications.
10. Younie, S. and Bradshaw, P., n.d. Debates In Computing And ICT Education.
11. Becta (2001) Computers for Teachers. An evaluation of phase 1: survey of recipients