ICTPD Through Three Lenses: An Evaluation of the ICTPD School Clusters Programme 2001-2003

Background:
A range of action research or self-study projects was undertaken as part of the evaluation of the 2001- 2003 ICTPD (Information and Communication Technologies Professional Development) school clusters programme. During these studies, teachers or cluster facilitators investigated their own ‘best practice’ in relation to some aspect of ICT use in the teaching and learning process, or some aspect of facilitating teacher professional development in that area.

Description:
The twelve action research projects involved the teachers or facilitators gathering and cyclically analysing data on their own professional practices in relation to ICTs or ICTPD over extended periods of time. These periods of time ranged from a few terms to the whole three years of their involvement in the ICTPD clusters programme. With ongoing guidance and support from two research mentors, the teachers and facilitators took a problem-based approach to their action research project, in which they each identified some problematic aspects of their use of ICTs with classes or their role in facilitating ICTPD, and conducted an evidence-based evaluation of the various strategies and practices that they tried, over time, in order to solve those problems.

As a group, the full reports could be read in several ways. Some could be seen as case study evidence illustrative of several of the national trends identified in the main Evaluation Report. A second way of reading the reports could be to see them as detailed practical experiments; descriptions of ‘what worked and what didn’t’ for some individual teachers and facilitators in their classes. A third, and perhaps even more important, way of reading the reports, however, is as a window into the authors’ own developing understandings about teaching and learning, and the role ICTs may play in that enterprise.

Key findings: The twelve titles of the action research projects are as follows:

• What are Some of the Practical Strategies to Consider When Integrating ICTs into a New Entrant Classroom?

• How Can I Optimise Computer Use In My Classroom?

• The Way IT Was!

• Characteristics of Information Seeking Behaviour: A Comparative Study Around the Use of ICT and Print

• Non Linear Narratives: Where Might I Click to Start?  Email @ Classroom.school.nz: How Can I Use Email Effectively to Enhance the Information and

Communication Skills of My Students?

• Peer Tutoring For The Development Of ICT Skills : Can peer, rather than teacher, tutoring become the dominant methodology? What works best? How do I know?

How Can I Increase the Equity of My Students’ Use of One Computer in a Class of 30?

• Maintaining The Momentum

• MeetingTeachers’Needs...WhenIdon’tknowwhattheyare...andnordothey!

• Developing Confidence in Lead Teachers

• Towards Progression in Textual and Visual Literacy Report link:

The full report can be found on the Ministry of Education website
http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/ict/5819/5791