Chapter 10

1. Pearson claims that the implementation of ICT in schools over the last 20 years has been patchy, and may well remain so in the future. What are you views on this statement?

Yes, I agree that the implementation of ICT may remain patchy in the future.

Firstly, there is variability between schools. The stage of implementation of ICT is not the same in all schools. But the schools are facing the same goals and resources in the policies in the same period of time. Recognizing differences in the resources available in schools, the nature of students' experiences with ICT and the need for different options to deal with these (i.e. different degree of material and immaterial obstacles among schools) appears to be significant. Also, schools may have different interpretation of good practices of implementing ICT in teaching and learning.

Secondly, the views held by policy makers and teachers about the role of ICT in education are different. Policy makers always have a idealistic views that ICT can enhance teaching and learning ultimately. However, the trend is an evolution and it takes time for people to adapt and adopt. Teachers are under great pressure to help students to get good results in public examination. This may be a key factor when a school leader evaluates how good a teacher is. Besides, teachers are worried about the effect of ICT on the number of A's their students can get. Therefore they will still remain as knowledge transmitters.


2. How can educators ensure that ICT policies lead to successful implementation of ICT in schools to best meet the changing demands of societies and economies?

To best meet the changing demands of societies and economies, educators can look at the following 5 aspects:

Goals
(i) ICT is considered to be a key integral element of the school reform agenda for higher standards.
(ii) More examples of how schools might function with 'changes to traditional relationships' and 'new approaches to school organization and management' should be provided.
(iii) Modernization of school administration and management functions.
(iv) Enable people to become life-long learners, able to use information effectively, adapt to changing workplace and social environments and keep abreast of technological advances.

Infrastructure
(i) Not just regard infrastructure as technical in nature (for example, connectivity (bandwidth), networking (access to the internet), hardware (computers and peripherals) and technical support for teachers, but also regard it as something that impacts directly on teaching/learning activities.
(ii) Teachers and student should be in close proximity of computing resources to increase the chance of using ICT in teaching and learning.
(iii) Decisions about infrastructure need detailed attention, especially in terms of how technical decisions relate to curriculum and administrative goals.

Pedagogy
(i) New approaches to teaching and learning should be clearly defined and illustrated.
(ii) Schools should have common consensus about the goals which are to be sought, decisions about pedagogy and the use of new technologies for learning.

Leadership
(i) Leadership is recognized as important in planning and implementing ICT initiatives in schools.
(ii) Training programmes should be provided to school leaders to develop a strategic vision for ICT, recognize the potential and integrate ICT effectively into the strategies for school improvement.
(iii) Colleagues should be brought together to discuss options and build supporting relationships.

Professional development
(i) 'Communities of learners' should be set up in schools.
(ii) A strategy for professional development needs to reflect the current situation in schools.
(iii) Strategies that sustain innovation once functional levels of adoption have been reached need to be developed.


3. Pearson states that a weakness of the policies he reviewed was that they did not have examples of what 'schools of the future' might look like. What is your vision of schools of the future? Do you see these schools in Hong Kong?

The following give my vision of schools of the future:
· Students should be equipped with knowledge, skills and values to become life long learners.
· Students are able to develop IT skills and use them for learning and communication. They should know when to use what tools and when not to use.
· Students are able to use information effectively, adapt to changing workplace and social environments, and keep abreast of technological advances.
· Students will be engaged in project-based learning to demonstrate growth in the knowledge building process. How much they will learn becomes less important.
· Students will be assessed through ongoing assessment methods, such as e-portfolio, instead of paper-and-pen examination.
· Students may enroll in online courses held by schools outside the four walls of classrooms.
· School heads are able to set up visions and goals to lead the change in integrating ICT in their schools through planning, curricula, learning and teaching processes, communication and collaboration.
· More teachers are able to employ ICT to create new pedagogy for learner-centred activities.
· School administration and management functions should be modernized with technology.
· ‘Communities of learners’ are set up within and across schools to share ideas and experiences of using ICT in teaching and learning.
· Communication between schools and parents will be enhanced through the use of ICT.
· There should be no digital divide.
· Non-textbook learning environment is envisaged.

Publishers may help
Up to now, publishers strive to prepare quality printed educational resources for teachers and students. In the near future (in fact, it is what we are doing now), they need to improve their competitive edge by strengthening their IT applications and online learning platform. More effort should be put to prepare quality digital resource materials. In Hong Kong, most software are for drill and practice or demonstration only. To enhance ICT learning, quality software with scaffolding should be explored to help students build up their knowledge through the learning process.