The results of this study show that pupils, teachers as well as parents
assess that ICT has a positive impact on improving the pupils’
learning. What then are the areas in which the use of ICT has a
significant impact and where does it have no impact?
• ICT impact is assessed by teachers to be strongest on subject-
related performance.
• Learning basic skills such as reading and writing is another
area where a positive impact of ICT is experienced
• ICT is seen by teachers to be a valuable tool to support differentiation.
The use of ICT to support differentiation also
has a positive impact; this study shows that the majority of
teachers have experienced that ICT has a positive impact
on both academically strong and academically weak pupils.
• Avoiding exclusion is still an issue with the use of ICT in
schools. The study indicates that girls, as well as pupils with
other native languages, are more dependent on learning
ICT at school.
• According to pupils they generally use the computer more
outside school than in school, but there are differences in
what types of ICT competences they learn each place.
Standard office programmes are learned in school, the rest
outside school.
These key results are presented in depth in Chapter 4 ‘Impact of
ICT on pupil performance’.
Impact of ICT on teaching and learning processes
Results from E-learning Nordic 2006 show that ICT generally has a
positive impact on the teaching and learning situation. However,
some people expected that ICT could in some ways revolutionise
the teaching and learning processes at school, and compared with
this view, the impact must be seen as more limited.
• On the average, half of the teachers had used ICT between
1 and 5 hours the week before they answered the questionnaire
• Generally, the pupils would like to use computers more in
school than they do now.
• The results indicate that the pupils and teachers who use
ICT the most are also the ones who experience the greatest
impact.
• Use of stationary computers and internet is firmly rooted in
the school, but new technologies are also getting a foothold.
Digital cameras, mobile phones and chat have entered
the schools. The results indicate that the use of these new
technologies support teachers in differentiating their teaching.
• ICT does not revolutionise teaching methods. The teachers
are mostly focused on using ICT to support the subject content.
• Pupils are far more often consumers than producers when
using ICT, and they work more often individually than together.
• Still, the impact of integrating ICT in teaching can be
measured in pupil engagement, differentiation, creativity
and a less waste of time.
• The impact of ICT is very dependent on how it is used.
• Many headmasters view ICT as a valuable tool for pedagogical
development but fewer actually experience this impact.
In a partnership between the Finnish National Board of Education,
the Swedish National Agency for School Improvement, the Norwegian
Ministry of Education and Research, the Danish Ministry of
Education, and Ramboll Management, the study E-learning Nordic
2006 has been designed and launched. Ramboll Management is
responsible for the operational implementation of the study and
Ramboll Management is solely responsible for the analysis of the
results and all conclusions presented in this report.
ICT has been introduced into schools during the last 10-20 years,
and while many studies have analysed how ICT is used in schools
and how often, hardly any studies have taken this analysis to the
next level: What is the impact of ICT? By this, an important distinction
is made between ‘output’ and ‘impact’. Output refers to
the direct product of the activities that are carried out, such as
number of new computers purchased, number of lessons using
ICT, etc. Impact refers to the changes brought about by these activities,
in terms of for example improved learning.
The aim of E-learning Nordic 2006 is to discover and document the
impact of ICT on education within three key areas:
• Pupil performance
• Teaching and learning processes
• Knowledge-sharing, communication and home-school cooperation.
Ramboll Management is aware that defining and analysing impact
is no simple matter. There are many interrelated factors that can
have an impact on pupils’ learning, isolating the impact of just one
factor, such as ICT, therefore requires a well-considered approach.
Various methods can be used to measure impact; however they all
have their advantages and disadvantages. Ramboll Management
has chosen a method where different key participants in schools
are asked about their personal experiences using ICT and their
perception of the impact of ICT on the pupils’ learning. This is a
method that makes room for assessing the impact of ICT against
the background of the complex daily situations in school. With this
methodology we do not claim to prove a direct link between the
use of ICT and learning impact. However, by asking those who experience
the impact of ICT, we show how they assess it. This is the
perceived impact of the headmasters, teachers, pupils and the pupils’
parents. It may not be the actual impact, but it is the view
they themselves hold and express about the consequences of using
ICT in schools.
E-learning Nordic
8
Data collection in the study was based on an internet-based survey
conducted among 224 Nordic schools. More than 8000 persons
participated in the survey. Respondents were teachers in the 5th
and 8th grades in primary school and the 11th grade in secondary
school, pupils in all these grades, their parents, as well as the
headmasters at the participating schools. Furthermore, 12 followup
visits to schools in all four Nordic countries were carried out.
The data collection took place primarily in 2005.
Results of the E-learning Nordic 2006 show that ICT has a positive
impact on the schools’ overall target – improving the pupils’ learning.
But the study also indicates that the potential of ICT is not
being fully realised at all schools. The use of ICT as a tool for
pedagogical development is not in focus and the impact of ICT on
knowledge-sharing, communication and home-school co-operation
is only moderate. Below are presented the main results from Elearning
Nordic 2006 within the three key areas.
In the following chapter, we provide Ramboll Management’s assessment
of the strategic challenges facing the Nordic school systems
in the years to come, if the full impact of ICT is indeed to be
realised.
The Nordic countries have in general had a strong focus on competence development for teachers regarding the use of ICT for teaching and learning purposes. However, the results from the study show that the impact of these investments is random. Results from this and other studies show that the poor results can be improved by a more strategic and systematic approach to ICT at more levels; Mandatory inclusion of ICT in all subjects, follow-up on the use of ICT at school level and more focus upon the integration of ICT for teaching and learning purposes in initial teacher training.
The results from this study show that the respondents assess that ICT has a positive impact on pupil performance and the study indicate that the more ICT is used, the greater the impact (see Chapter 4). The study also indicates that schools where management systematically follows up on the use of ICT are the schools where the greatest impact is experienced (see Chapter 5).
The study shows that even though two out of three teachers have participated in competence development regarding ICT within the last three years, only about one in three teachers in this study assess that they have the necessary competence to integrate ICT in
their teaching (see Chapter 8). Not only does their lack of competence influence their ability and willingness to use ICT for teaching and learning purposes, also teachers’ ability to see the relevance of doing so influences their use (see Chapter 5). Only about 40%
of teachers find it highly relevant to use ICT to support the academic content in their teaching. And even fewer to support their pedagogical and didactical methods. Why is this so, if so many have participated in training aimed at integrating ICT?
As most teachers have computers and internet access in their homes (see Chapter 7) and have participated in some forms of competence development, one should believe that they have developed basic skills for integrating ICT. Maybe the competence development
has not provided teachers with more than basic skills; maybe the connection between teachers’ basic ICT competences and pedagogical methods and advantages is still a missing link.
Ramboll Management believes that the time has come where focus should be put on how ICT can best support the pedagogical and content-related objectives set out at national, regional and school level. Ramboll Management recommends that policy makers and
school managers focus on:
• Formulating clear objectives for the use of ICT for teaching and learning purposes in all subjects
• Formulating specific plans for follow-up on the objectives
• Provision of examples that enhance pupil performance for all subjects and well documented results of specific pedagogical methods, specifically related to curriculum
• Mandatory integration of ICT in all subjects in initial teacher training with the same clear objectives and plans for followup.
At many schools, while the pupils think they have great ICT skills, the teachers hold an opposite point of view. Hence, there are different opinions of what constitutes ICT competences, or “digital competence”.
The different opinions can be considered as a gap between generations. This highlights the importance of a common concept of digital competence. If no common understanding
of digital competence is developed among management, teachers and pupils, there is both a risk for diminishing the use of ICT at school level and an increased social divide.
In order for both teachers and pupils to know what to aim for in terms of optimal use of ICT in education, a shared definition and measurement framework needs to be developed.
If you ask pupils and teachers what it means to be able to read and write, you will probably get quite uniform answers – formulated however with different words. But if you ask them what it means to be digitally competent, you will get totally different answers from teachers on the one hand and pupils on the other.
The study shows that there is a great gap between how ICT is used in schools and outside school, where pupils experience that they learn the most about ICT outside school (see Chapter 4). This gap can also be seen as a gap between generations. The pupils
have competences learned outside school that are not acknowledged and not qualified in school. This can be illustrated by a Norwegian 13-year old pupil who submitted an assignment on e-mail. The assignment was in perfect Norwegian, but the short message
in the e-mail to the teacher was in “SMS-language” with a lot of abbreviations. The pupils are becoming bilingual, but their digital language is not acknowledged inside the school.
The digital worlds of teachers and pupils are two separate worlds.
Very few teachers know what is going on in the digital world of a 13-year-old pupil: chatrooms, participating in game clans on the internet buying virtual swords with real money, blogging and constant use of the mobile phone. On the other hand, the teachers are
frustrated by the lack of source criticism among the pupils when it comes to the use of for instance the internet in the schools. The teachers believe that the pupils are the “copy-paste-generation”, who copy information on the internet and turn it in their teachers, as if it was their own work without any critical editing.
This constitutes a severe challenge, because digital competence in Nordic countries is viewed as a basic cultural competence on the same level as reading and writing. There are many different ICT competences, where some are relevant in school, while others are
not. Downloading illegal music from the internet is a competence that should not be learned in school, while an understanding of blogging as a genre probably should. Digital competences are much more than just using the technology, but to really understand what it means, there is a need for a dialogue between teachers and pupils. Ramboll Management recommends a ‘Digital-Competence-Dialogue-Day’ in all schools and a focus on integrating the pupils’ digital world into the ongoing ministerial work on defining digital competences. There is also a need for clear indicators for measuring digital competence in order to get an accurate picture of the actual digital competences among pupils. Ramboll Management assess that this is a great challenge that has to be met, if ICT is to have further impact in the Nordic schools.
Otherwise the gap between generations in the digital area will lead to that the potential positive impact of ICT will not be exploited. Furthermore there is a risk that this will lead to an accelerated social divide, where some pupils become digitally bilingual and use ICT in many different ways at school and at home – while others cannot. The results indicate that different groups of pupils – girls and pupils with other native languages – are more dependent on learning to use ICT in school and this need is not being met satisfactorily.
As inspiration, some of this is already under way in Norway. The Norwegian National Curriculum is under revision and in the new curriculum that takes effect from the school year 2006-2007, ICT is one of five basic skills that are to be embedded in all subject
matters at all levels.
