The effects of ICT on school: teachers’ and students’ perspectives

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of information and communication technology (ICT) on school from teachers’ and students’ perspectives. The focus was on three main subject matters: on ICT use and competence, on teacher and school community, and on learning environment and teaching practices. The study is closely connected to the national educational policy which has aimed strongly at supporting the implementation of ICT in pedagogical practices at all institutional levels. The phenomena were investigated using a mixed methods approach. The qualitative data from three cases studies and the quantitative data from three statistical studies were combined. In this study, mixed methods were used to investigate the complex phenomena from various stakeholders’ points of view, and to support validation by combining different perspectives in order to give a fuller and more complete picture of the phenomena. The data were used in a complementary manner. The results indicate that the technical resources for using ICT both at school and at homes are very good. In general, students are capable and motivated users of new technology; these skills and attitudes are mainly based on home resources and leisuretime use. Students have the skills to use new kinds of applications and new forms of technology, and their ICT skills are wide, although not necessarily adequate; the working habits might be ineffective and even wrong. Some students have a special kind of ICT-related adaptive expertise which develops in a beneficial interaction between school guidance and challenges, and individual interest and activity. Teachers’ skills are more heterogeneous. The large majority of teachers have sufficient skills for everyday and routine working practices, but many of them still have difficulties in finding a meaningful pedagogical use for technology. The intensive case study indicated that for the majority of teachers the intensive ICT projects offer a possibility for learning new skills and competences intertwined in the work, often also supported by external experts and a collaborative teacher community; a possibility that “ordinary” teachers usually do not have. Further, teachers’ good ICT competence help them to adopt new pedagogical practices and integrate ICT in a meaningful way. The genders differ in their use of and skills in ICT: males show better skills especially in purely technical issues also in schools and classrooms, whereas female students and younger female teachers use ICT in their ordinary practices quite naturally. With time, the technology has become less technical and its communication and creation affordances have become stronger, easier to use, more popular and motivating, all of which has increased female interest in the technology. There is a generation gap in ICT use and competence between teachers and students. This is apparent especially in the ICT-related pedagogical practices in the majority of schools. The new digital affordances not only replace some previous practices; the new functionalities change many of our existing conceptions, values, attitudes and practices. The very different conceptions that generations have about technology leads, in the worst case, to a digital gap in education; the technology used in school is boring and ineffective compared to the ICT use outside school, and it does not provide the competence needed for using advanced technology in learning. The results indicate that in schools which have special ICT projects (“ICT pilot schools”) for improving pedagogy, these have led to true changes in teaching practices. Many teachers adopted student-centred and collaborative, inquiry-oriented teaching practices as well as practices that supported students' authentic activities, independent work, knowledge building, and students' responsibility. This is, indeed, strongly dependent on the ICT-related pedagogical competence of the teacher. However, the daily practices of some teachers still reflected a rather traditional teacher-centred approach. As a matter of fact, very few teachers ever represented solely, e.g. the knowledge building approach; teachers used various approaches or mixed them, based on the situation, teaching and learning goals, and on their pedagogical and technical competence. In general, changes towards pedagogical improvements even in wellorganised developmental projects are slow. As a result, there are two kinds of ICT stories: successful “ICT pilot schools” with pedagogical innovations related to ICT and with school community level agreement about the visions and aims, and “ordinary schools”, which have no particular interest in or external support for using ICT for improvement, and in which ICT is used in a more routine way, and as a tool for individual teachers, not for the school community.

Implications, large and small, from chemical education research for the teaching of chemistry

Research studies in chemical education pose a communication problem for chemists. Unlike the findings from other specializations in chemistry the findings in chemical education tend to be reported in education journals that are not readily accessible to most chemists or chemistry teachers. This lecture is an attempt to remedy this gap in communication. Research studies fall into three broad categories. (i) issues related to the content of chemistry itself, that is, What content to teach? And What meaning of each topic is to be conveyed? (ii) issues related to how chemical content is taught, such as, the role of lectures, practical work, particular pedagogies, etc. and (iii) issues related to its learning, that is, learning of concepts, conceptual change, motivation, etc. Findings in each of these categories of research over the last twenty years have drawn attention to opportunities for improving the quality of chemical education in each of the levels of formal education where chemistry is taught. Sometimes the research findings seem small since they, in fact, merely diagnose the actual problem in teaching and learning. At other times, the research findings are large because they provide a solution to these problems. What remains to be done is to disseminate the findings so that appropriate teaching occurs more widely, with its consequent gains in the quality of learning. Research findings, of these small and large types will be used to illustrate the potential of research to make the practice of chemical education more effective.

Coming from outside the Academy. Values of 2.0 culture in higher education

This article reflects on how some values, interests, and particularities of 2.0 culture enter on higher and postgraduate education institutions. Through theidentification of the features of 2.0, this document visualizes some of the resistances, obstacles, possibilities, and opportunities detected in these institutions, many of them focusing on the core of the higher education and postgraduate institutions (i.e. strategic vision, methodology, role of teachers and students, relation between formal and informal learning, contents and assessment). Responsibility in the training and updating of current and future professionals places these institutions under the discussion and decision-making process related to the role that 2.0 tools should play. We wonder if it implies a crossroad which affects the whole set of attitudes and values on the role of training institutions in the context of the construction of socialized knowledge.

Creating dynamic continuous improvement system for Larox Corporation

Today´s organizations must have the ability to react to rapid changes in the market. These rapid changes cause pressure to continuously find new efficient ways to organize work practices. Increased competition requires businesses to become more effective and to pay attention to quality of management and to make people to understand their work's impact on the final result. The fundamentals in continmuois improvement are systematic and agile tackling of indentified individual process constraints and the fact tha nothin finally improves without changes. Successful continuous improvement requires management commitment, education, implementation, measurement, recognition and regeneration. These ingredients form the foundation, both for breakthrough projects and small step ongoing improvement activities. One part of the organization's management system are the quality tools, which provide systematic methodologies for identifying problems, defining their root causes, finding solutions, gathering and sorting of data, supporting decision making and implementing the changes, and many other management tasks. Organizational change management includes processes and tools for managing the people in an organizational level change. These tools include a structured approach, which can be used for effective transition of organizations through change. When combined with the understanding of change management of individuals, these tools provide a framework for managing people in change,

John Dewey i l’educació democràtica = John Dewey and democratic education

In Dewey, philosophy and education are inseparable. It is often forgotten that Dewey’s conception of school and education has only been possible because he conceived thought in terms of lived experience, of constantly tested experience, of incessant research; in other words, of 'continuous search' of 'effective means of action'. In addition, according to Dewey, true education is an education in democracy, and that means investing in an education that deals with thought. The service to democratic progress is done precisely through an education in reasonability and taking into account the experience

Educação ambiental nas escolas da região de Ribeirão Preto (SP): concepções orientadoras da prática docente e reflexões sobre a formação inicial de professores de química

During short courses, 95 secondary school teachers from 49 state schools and 421 students from the Ribeirão Preto region (in Sao Paulo state, Brazil, with a population of 530,000) were asked to fill in different questionnaires. The points raised in the teacher's questionnaire were used as a guide to establish a continuous dialogue during the short courses. Most of the schools claimed to have some kind of environmental education (EE). Based on the questionnaires and dialogues we analyzed how the teachers' perceptions on EE reflect on the views secondary students hold about their own responsibility for preserving the environment. The role of universities in the preparation of chemistry teachers capable of effectively approaching EE is also discussed.

The construction of infant and primary school teachers’ identity during their initial professional development and first years of work (Identidoc). Summary, main results and contributions

Educators who are currently beginning their professional career at any level of the educationalsystem and who will likely have to work during the next thirty to forty years will be takingpart in the education of individuals who, with the permission of prophets and doomsayers,will live part of their lives in the 22nd century. That long but simple statement causes a bit ofvertigo as well as a good amount of reflection on the part of we educators who were trainedin the 20th century, are working in the 21st century, and are responsible for preparing peopleto build a tomorrow that is already today (Millán and Sancho, 1995). This is the starting pointof our research groups’ interest in exploring how men and women who have graduated fromteacher education programs with specializations in infant and primary education learn to beteachers, and how they establish and position themselves as teachers during their university studies and the first years of their professional life...

The construction of infant and primary school teachers’ identity during their initial professional development and first years of work (Identidoc). Summary, main results and contributions

Educators who are currently beginning their professional career at any level of the educationalsystem and who will likely have to work during the next thirty to forty years will be takingpart in the education of individuals who, with the permission of prophets and doomsayers,will live part of their lives in the 22nd century. That long but simple statement causes a bit ofvertigo as well as a good amount of reflection on the part of we educators who were trainedin the 20th century, are working in the 21st century, and are responsible for preparing peopleto build a tomorrow that is already today (Millán and Sancho, 1995). This is the starting pointof our research groups’ interest in exploring how men and women who have graduated fromteacher education programs with specializations in infant and primary education learn to beteachers, and how they establish and position themselves as teachers during their university studies and the first years of their professional life...

The construction of infant and primary school teachers’ identity during their initial professional development and first years of work (Identidoc). Summary, main results and contributions

Educators who are currently beginning their professional career at any level of the educationalsystem and who will likely have to work during the next thirty to forty years will be takingpart in the education of individuals who, with the permission of prophets and doomsayers,will live part of their lives in the 22nd century. That long but simple statement causes a bit ofvertigo as well as a good amount of reflection on the part of we educators who were trainedin the 20th century, are working in the 21st century, and are responsible for preparing peopleto build a tomorrow that is already today (Millán and Sancho, 1995). This is the starting pointof our research groups’ interest in exploring how men and women who have graduated fromteacher education programs with specializations in infant and primary education learn to beteachers, and how they establish and position themselves as teachers during their university studies and the first years of their professional life...

The construction of infant and primary school teachers’ identity during their initial professional development and first years of work (Identidoc). Summary, main results and contributions

Educators who are currently beginning their professional career at any level of the educationalsystem and who will likely have to work during the next thirty to forty years will be takingpart in the education of individuals who, with the permission of prophets and doomsayers,will live part of their lives in the 22nd century. That long but simple statement causes a bit ofvertigo as well as a good amount of reflection on the part of we educators who were trainedin the 20th century, are working in the 21st century, and are responsible for preparing peopleto build a tomorrow that is already today (Millán and Sancho, 1995). This is the starting pointof our research groups’ interest in exploring how men and women who have graduated fromteacher education programs with specializations in infant and primary education learn to beteachers, and how they establish and position themselves as teachers during their university studies and the first years of their professional life...

Repensando la formación inicial del profesorado para abordar el tratamiento a la diversidad cultural y lingüística en el aula = Rethinking initial teacher education for linguistic and cvltural diversity in the classroom

In recent decades, European educational systems are facing many challenges related to the treatment of cultural and linguistic diversity. The need to address this diversity requires new approaches to education; this in turn requires changes in the way we prepare teachers for the new reality they face in their classrooms. In this article we highlight some of the major problems that initial teacher training has to address in order to enable teachers to deal effectively, respectfully, and fairly with students whose linguistic and cultural background is different from their own. We also present several models for teacher education from Europe and North America based on clearly identified teacher competences for linguistic and cultural diversity

La incidencia de la toma de apuntes sobre el aprendizaje significativo. Un estudio de enseñanza superior.= The incidence of notetaking on meaningful learning. A study of higher education.

En este estudio presentamos una experiencia llevada a cabo con estudiantes de la asignatura “Psicología de la Educación” de diferentes centros universitarios. Tomando como marco de referencia las teorías constructivistas del aprendizaje, el objetivo de nuestro trabajo se centra en comprobar la incidencia de la utilización de diferentes estrategias de enseñanza por parte del profesor y de determinadas estrategias de aprendizaje en el proceso de registrar la información por parte de los estudiantes, en la significatividad del aprendizaje.Los resultados obtenidos muestran que en los grupos donde los profesores han utilizado estrategias de enseñanza diferentes a la clase magistral, se ha producido un cambio positivo en las respuestas de los estudiantes o se ha mantenido el mismo nivel, mientras que el grupo donde se ha utilizado una metodología magistral, el nivel de respuesta es inferior. Así mismo, hemos podido observar como los grupos de estudiantes que utilizan las estrategias de aprendizaje seleccionadas para tomar apuntes mejoran su nivel de respuestas, lo cual no se produce en el grupo control

Lifelong Learning for teachers via INTEF MOOCs gular

Supplying teachers with nothing else but ICT, or in the best case, with some knowledge of the tool, has proved to be insufficient for the effectiveness and improvement of the education system. Having as a starting point the personal process of learning, this PhD thesis intends to explore the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that are offered to teachers by the educaLAB, a platform created ad hoc by INTEF (InstitutoNacionalde TecnologíasEducativasy de Formacióndel Profesorado). My work intends to explore the impact these spaces have on our learning process.

El juego y su estructura interna en relación con el trabajo de la condición física en primaria = Games and their internal structure in relation to the work of physical condition in Primary Education

One of the methodological resources that teachers use in a generalised way in Physical Education classes is the game. Inthis article we define the concept of game and analyse the characteristics of their internal structure. On the other hand welook at the concepts of physical condition and conditional skills and describe the objectives of its work in Primary Education.Finally, we relate these concepts and propose two practical examples of modifying the internal structure of the game so asto produce variations in the implied conditional skills

INTERACTIONS: DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF A COMPUTATIONAL TOOL FOR TEACHING INTERMOLECULAR FORCES IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Intermolecular forces are a useful concept that can explain the attraction between particulate matter as well as numerous phenomena in our lives such as viscosity, solubility, drug interactions, and dyeing of fibers. However, studies show that students have difficulty understanding this important concept, which has led us to develop a free educational software in English and Portuguese. The software can be used interactively by teachers and students, thus facilitating better understanding. Professors and students, both graduate and undergraduate, were questioned about the software quality and its intuitiveness of use, facility of navigation, and pedagogical application using a Likert scale. The results led to the conclusion that the developed computer application can be characterized as an auxiliary tool to assist teachers in their lectures and students in their learning process of intermolecular forces.