Digital Literacy and ICT

Impact on learning and teaching

Analysis from Impact 2 report by Becta

In Scotland the HMIE produced a major report on ICT in 2000 with an update written in 2005 and a new report due in the new academic year (2009/10).

Extract 4.3 from page 14 of 2005 paper ‘ICT in Scottish Schools’ HMIE, 2005: click here for the Full Report (then enter Computing and ICT in the topic/subject search pane in the site).

Many pupils enriched their learning experience by using ICT in a range of ways across their learning and across the curriculum. In best practice, in both primary and secondary, the use of ICT allowed pupils to:

be more individually and actively involved in the learning process;
be more independent in their learning and make more choices about how and what they learned;
be able to interact with their learning resources;
move at an appropriate pace in their learning;
be challenged in their learning activities;
consolidate their learning on an individual basis; and

be more creative in the way that they responded to the learning process.

The impact of ICT in schools was also the title of a report in 2007 by Professor Rae Condie and Bob Munro, et al, of the University of Strathclyde.

Becta, a British government sponsored organisation, produces a significant number of research and position papers, including Impact 2 - ICT in learning and teaching and attainment.

In brief, some of the findings were

At key stage 1 - In every case except one the study found evidence of a positive relationship between ICT use and educational attainment.

At key stage 2 it is possible on the basis of these findings to estimate that high ICT use is equivalent to a substantial acceleration in progress through these levels of 16% of two years’ achievement in Key Stage 2 English, and 6.1% of two years’ achievement in Key Stage 2 mathematics.

At key stage 3 a statistically significant positive association between ICT and National Tests for science was found at Key Stage 3, but there were no other clear-cut associations.

At key stage 4 there was less use of ICT in lessons but the graph below shows clearly in all cases that ICT use leads to higher attainment.

The report includes a number of observations in its conclusion including:

There is evidence that, taken as a whole, ICT can exert a positive influence on learning, though the amount may vary from subject to subject as well as between key stages, no doubt reflecting factors such as the expertise of teaching staff, problems of accessing the best material for each subject at the required level, and the quality of ICT materials that are available.