e-Strategy Implementation Review (e-SIR) - Becta's Educational change and ICT report.
Becta commissioned the Open University's Peter Twining, Roger Broadie, Deidre Cook, Karen Ford, David Morris, Alison Twiner, and Jean Underwood, to lead a review of Priorities 2 and 3 of the DfES e-Strategy.
These Priorities are;
- Priority 2. Integrated online personal support for children and learners,
- Priority 3. A collaborative approach to personalised learning activities.
The resulting "e-Strategy Implementation Review" (eSIR), was published December 2006 as a 106 page, 2 MB PDF.
Seb Schmoller very effectly summarised and writes in his 'Fortnightly Mailing':
Educational change and ICT - a new report from Becta says "concentrate on people not technology"
The report firstly spans 14 inter-related topics, with, for each, an interesting mix of literature review, quotes from interviews, data, and insights. The topics are: Complexity and human factors / Evidence of impact / Learning platforms / Management information systems / Learning platform/MIS integration / Collaboration / Advice and support for learners / Support for assistive technologies / Mobile devices / Extending the curriculum / New pedagogy / New assessment (including e-portfolios) / Digital resources / Opening up access.
There is plenty of discussion of controversial questions, for example: the lack of empirical evidence that (in an institutional context) ICT benefits learners; whether or not there should be a single national learning platform.
Secondly the report examines seven "key implementation issues": Complexity / Focus on people / Buy-in / Leadership / Support / Shared understandings / Procurement, with the over-riding conclusion that "human factors" dominate each of the issues, none of which, the report notes drily, are newly discovered or original: "despite our having been aware of them for several decades, our interviewees still saw them as representing the most significant problems that we need to overcome....". As in the topic-based section of the report, there are useful supporting sections. Those on "Economies of scale and scope", and "Waste", particularly caught Seb's eye, with the Government's E-learning credits scheme getting some sceptical attention.
Gary's Rambles blog also highlights key elements of interest, and writes "The Executive Summary highlights in particular, ‘enhancing pedagogy’ as an important aim. ... the report indicates, the effects on the use of technology does depend on how it is used, and in many cases this is poorly and simply replacing what we could do in the past, rather than enhancing the learning experience."
Please visit the above site for Seb and Gary's full perspecitives.