Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
meeting the needs of the teachers and, more important, the learners'.
A child must not be reduced to a set of targets (Leask and Preston 2010:
24).
• Softwarewhichjustgivesnumericaldatatoschools/collegesdoesnothelp
assessment for learning approaches.
• careneedstobetakentolimitthevolumeofdatacollectedtothatwhichcan
be used.
Using e-tools for communications between people within
and outside the school/college
Institutions need a communications strategy to ensure effective and managed use of
tools for communication within and beyond the school.
Leask and Preston (2010) report a variety of ways in which technology-based
tools were used to facilitate communication both within the organization, and
between the organization and the wider community. Undeveloped opportunities
for technology tools to support knowledge sharing and building between education
colleagues and the wider communities their organizations serve were identified
in this research. For example, teachers identified potential for new collaborations
between school staff and subject experts and specialists through e-networking as
wellasschools/collegesandotherservicesoragencieswithresponsibilityforchil-
dren and young people. But barriers to communicating with technology-based
tools were also identified:
• Schools/collegesincompetitionwithothersmaynotwanttoshareresources
withotherschools/colleges,whichmaybecompetingforpupils/students.
Local authorities in England have tried setting up cluster-based networks
and have found this a problem because of competition between schools for
pupils.
• Theavailabilityandinter-operabilityoflearningplatformsandtoolsdepend
on local authorities and broadband consortia.
• Thereareethicalproblems:
• learning platforms: staff and parents have concerns about pupils'
photos appearing online even if their profile is in a password-protected
section. Protocols with respect to pupil information, ethical use, access,
storage need to be established.
• thereisanxietyaboutpublic/privatepersonas-e.g.teachershaving
social networking accounts, which can be accessed by parents and
pupils and the need for positive representation of the individuals, and
the organization.
• ParentswithoutInternetormobilephonesareexcludedfromtheseformsof
communication. There are issues with poverty, culture, religions and skills as
well as physical access.
• Professionalnetworkingonlineisnotpartofthecultureformanycurrent
teachers.
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