Integrating technology in classrooms: from the microcomputer to ‘the cloud’ - Teaching with Technologies: The Essential Guide - page 4

the changes have been and continue to be challenging to education practitioners.
The challenge is on two fronts: the speed of development; and the increasing pos-
sibilities for the different forms of technology to support improvements in teaching
and learning approaches.
In 1981, in the UK, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Computer Lit-
eracy Project for the first time put micro-computers within the reach of teachers from
a wide range of curriculum areas (Millwood 2009). One million units were sold in five
years (McMordie, undated) and the government supported the Technical Vocational
Education Initiative (1984-1990), which ensured these BBC machines were available
in schools. Prior to this time mathematics departments in secondary schools often
had links to mainframe computers elsewhere, usually in universities.
What is clear from research is that 'computers found their way into schools
without a clear [pedagogic] rationale' (Hammond et al. 2009: 49). Consequently,
an examination of the phases of development needs to be understood alongside
the political agenda driving technology in education; these developments do not
stand in isolation: 'it is very difficult to talk about technology without consider-
ing parallel developments in policy and pedagogical thinking' (Hammond et al.
2009: 47).
Theory and research base
The chapter draws on research conducted with leading practitioners involved in tech-
nology and education over the past thirty years, which involved in-depth interviews
with those who have used technology in their teaching, conducted research and
worked with teachers (Hammond et al. 2009). This research, known as the 'Voices
Project' and funded by IT in Teacher Education (ITTE), aimed to capture the 'liv-
ing history' of technology developments in schools from those pioneers who were
involved from the very beginning. Alongside this, Millwood's (2009) history that
supplements the National Archive of Educational Computing provides a narrative to
explain the development of artefacts. Using the archive's materials, Millwood out-
lines the story of technology in learning from the 1970s in the UK (before the micro-
computer), through the 1980s (before the office) and 1990s (before the Internet) to
2000 (before the cloud).
Phases of technology development in schools
Since the first expensive and large mainframe computers in the 1960s, there has been
continual development in hardware and software and concomitant challenges aris-
ing from the changes in the speed, storage and connectivity of machines. Each devel-
opment required teachers to acquire technical knowledge (how do I operate this?)
and think about practice (how does this interact with my pedagogy?). These dual
demands highlight the complex relationship between technology (as machines) and
teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning. Hammond et al.'s (2009) research noted
that teachers held remarkably consistent beliefs about how to teach throughout their