COMMENTARY


Breaking down the barriers


Dr Mark Weston discusses the barriers to ICT uptake in education


from experience I am aware of the “I don’t get it, it’s too hard”, “the lesson is not relevant”, and “the dog ate my homework” excuses used by students seeking to avoid classroom-related tasks. I hope that the excuses you used worked better than these did for me. I am also aware that in the decade since


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the ICT wave first washed the shores of classrooms and schools, usage patterns have not reflected the hoped-for uptake in amount, quality and effect. Moreover, the widespread benefits possible


through ICT – much of which will be on display at BETT 2011 – are yet to be realised in most classrooms. As budgetary constraints collide with an increasing student population, pressure on authorities to “reconceptualise” education will rise. It would be easy to dismiss this state of


affairs with excuse-making. Teachers, much like their students who are unable (or do not want) to complete an assignment, offer up excuses about lack of training, tech support, and appropriate equipment when asked about integrating ICT into their classroom practice. Unlike the excuses students provide, teachers provide ones inarguably correct.


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he process of education is rich with opportunities for making excuses about why things do not occur. Speaking


They really do not have the training, support, and equipment they need for producing the effects on teaching and learning that are attainable via ICT. If only the situation were so binary.


Unfortunately, in addition to the excuses readily available to teachers, three other inexcusable circumstances contribute to the ICT challenges they face. First, the field of education is not using its


research and knowledge to foster consensus among teachers about ICT use in classrooms, schools and authorities. Other disciplines such as medicine, manufacturing, and insurance benefit from consensus about practice. The educational field has plenty of methodologically sound and applicable research about teaching and learning – best practices if you will – with ICT, but lacks widespread agreement about how best to use it to guide and inform the work of teachers and how best for the informing to occur. Until consensus happens, the fragmentation of the field will serve as a largely implicit and unarticulated excuse for teachers not to integrate ICT into their teaching. Moreover, the industry will have no benchmark against which to design future products. Second, teachers are overloaded. Every one


of them every minute of every school day in every classroom must multitask, manage complex processes, accommodate student needs, deliver standards-based content, and assess student progress. Juggling so many things is a nearly impossible task that places an enormous cognitive load on teachers. There is little room left for anything more. Teachers must prioritise what they do and


when they do it; knowing that some things will never be done. So when ICT is added to the classroom mix, many are pushed nearer to a breaking point. Their default mode is focusing on students not ICT. Third, teachers are drowning in content.


The deep commitment to transferring knowledge from teacher to student that characterises modern education makes it easy for teachers to embrace digitisation and web- migration of content. However, because the commitment gives


so little attention to the processes associated with such transference, responsibility for mastering, managing, and manipulating digital content, has inadvertently been assigned to individual teachers. Further adding to the already heavy load, teachers use the excuses available to them – a circumstance that will worsen as the world wide web grows exponentially. At BETT 2011, potential responses to the


excuses for the slow uptake of ICT will be visible in the wares on display, workshops featured, keynotes presented, and educators in attendance. Residing within each will be the means for building consensus about ICT- enabled practice, load reducing processes, and making content orderly and useful. Let us make finding answers to these tough questions mission critical as we walk the floor, engage with vendors, and listen to experts. If we do, then perhaps no excuses will be necessary.


• Dr Mark Weston is the global education strategist for Dell (stand B20). He can be reached at mark_weston@dell.com


SecEd • 5to7 Educator


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