This is the final tool that was released during the 6th Open Classroom Conference in Stockholm. In many ways this is also the most accessible and purposely so as it forms the final stages of actively assessing and identifying major factors in the introduction of educationally orientated ICTs in formal settings. The tool was developed with and first documented on 'espheres identitaires' by Margarita Pereze-Garcia.
The wheel itself is I think fairly self explanatory. It works as a spider graph and in this particular version the factors are broken down into in four categories or dimensions:
- Institutional profile
- Learner profile
- Teacher profile
- Teaching and learning profile
Download ICT_Introduction_Wheel.pdf (155.6K)
Each of the major categories contains a set of factors that impact on the successful integration of ICTs. These factors are individually assessed by marking each of the axes using a rating of high medium or low in terms of postiveness or readiness of each variable in relation to the technology or intervention in question. Once built the spider diagram visually uncovers weak areas and possible barriers to ICT implementation. As a further note it is important to be reflective in this kind of exercise and appreciate the subjective position given by our personal experience and perspective - each of us clearly act and work within our own particular context and therefore maintain what I would describe as a partial perspective. This becomes evident as we find there are some dimensions where our evaluations will be limited – places where it is difficult to make judgments and where we may need to gather further information. The completed wheel can be utilised to build a list of barriers to the successful introduction of ICTs and help build a coherent strategy for overcoming them. Within this list of ‘action areas’ we will also discover points where personal influence is limited and to mitigate these barriers we may need to engage the support of other actors.
This is version 1 of the tool and a newer version will be released shortly where each of the four categories can be assessed within an independent wheel. We also hope to build up a number of comparative case studies where we can start documenting recurring issues, barriers and solutions across differing technological deployments.
Literature reviewed during the creation of the tool:
- The ICT impact report by EUN
- E-learning Nordic 2006 - Uncovering the Impact of ICT on Education in the Nordic Countries
- The impact of ICT in schools - a landscape review by Professor Rae Condie & Bob Munro with the collaboration of Liz Seagraves & Summer Kenesson
- A Framework for Leading School Change in using ICT: Measuring Change by Sue Trinidad, Paul Newhouse & Barney Clarkson
- ICT: Using indicators to assess impact of ICT in education