Integrating ICTs into the Curriculum

1 Integrating icts into the Curriculum :Analytical Catalogue of Key PublicationsIntegrating icts into the Curriculum : Analytical Catalogue of Key PublicationsBangkok: UNESCO Bangkok, pp. (ICT for Education Catalogue Series, Volume One)1. ICT. 2. Information technology. 3. Communication technology. 4. Integratedcurriculum. 5. Computer assisted instruction. (Series) 92-9223-030-1 UNESCO 2005 Published by theUNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education920 Sukhumvit Rd., PrakanongBangkok 10110, ThailandPrinted in ThailandEditors: Caroline Haddad and Luisa RennieWriting/editing: Corin GoldingDesign and layout: Lowil fred EspadaSupervising Editor: C dric WachholzThe designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the publicationdo not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, its authorities, or and RecommendationsiiiSections14 TABLE OF CONTENTSA cronyms1103265 General Principles and Strategies forIntegrating Technology in Educationand the Curriculumpage 1 Integrating Technology into theClassroom and Developing LessonPlans that Integrate ICTspage 23 Technology Integration into SpecificSubjectspage 47 Requirements for and Barriers toEffective Technology Integrationpage 65 Evaluating Effectiveness ofTechnology Integrationpage 79 Successful Case Studies ofTechnology Integration in Schoolspage 93 Integrating icts into the Curriculum .

2 Catalogue of Selected TitlesAlthough many excellent materialsnow exist that detail the full range ofpotential uses of InformationCommunication Technologies( icts ) in education, already over-worked policy makers and othersoften lack the time it takes to surfthe Internet, or access libraries andother sources of information on theirown in search of ideas and materialsupport (usually in a secondlanguage). In the Asia-Pacific region,leaders, educational managers andteachers have the added challenge oftrying to enrich education withtechnologies that are often a recentintroduction to the country, or in manycases, are not yet present. This is oneof the main reasons why we set up theRegional Clearing House on icts inEducation for Asia and the PacificProject at UNESCO Bangkok. TheClearing House acts as anintermediary between this wealth ofinformation and the busy users -namely, anyone involved in planning,organizing, or implementing an ICTvision, policy or project.

3 Thisincludes high-level policy makers,educational managers and staffdevelopment teams; to Curriculum andeducational content developers;teachers and non-formal educators;and educational researchers,evaluators and development Clearing House collects, analyses,filters, repackages and disseminatesinformation on icts in education in Asiaand the Pacific in a variety of formats, be itour Web-based portal, CD-ROMs orpublications. In this way, the Clearing Housepromotes digital inclusion by providing fast,free and equitable access to knowledge andinformation to support policy formulation,management and monitoring, teaching andlearning, community outreach, networking,and programme part of this process, this publication is thefirst in a new Catalogue Series on topicalissues dealing with various aspects of ICTuse in education. The purpose is to share thebest of the wealth of materials available inour library collections, the Internet and othersources, and to alert readers to the contentsand where they can be accessed.

4 The seriesnot only provides abstracts sythenesizing thecontent of each resource, but also excerptssubstantive and useful parts of the book orelectronic document. Each entry provides adistillation of the content in order to givereaders the essence of the informationwithout having to read the entire book, andincludes bibliographic details, abstracts,excerpts, and key-words for first issue deals with Integrating ICTsinto schools. Many teachers have been usingICTs as productivity tools, but have neverreally authentically integrated thesetechnologies into subject teaching. There is aneed to learn from concepts, principles,strategies and experiences on what does, andwhat does not, make the integration of ICTswithin education successful. For this reason,this catalogue contains detailed principlesand strategies to help educators and othersuse icts in ways that can transform theirteaching practice, based on experts experiences of what does, as well as whatdoes not, make for successful integration oftechnology in education.

5 The strategies andguidelines also extend to schooladministrators, local educational leaders andgovernment stakeholders with case studiesdescribing educational policy reforms thathave explicit ICT components as well as togovernment bodies developing ICT-basedresources specifically for their nationalcurriculum. This issue shares the best printand Web publications we found, as well asCD-ROMs, dealing with: GeneralPrinciples and Strategies for IntegratingTechnology in Education and theCurriculum; Integrating Technology into theClassroom and Developing Lesson Plansthat Integrate icts ; Technology Integrationinto Specific Subjects; Requirements for andBarriers to Effective Technology Integration;Evaluating Effectiveness of TechnologyIntegration; and Successful Case Studies ofTechnology Integration in Villanuevaand C dric WachholziPREFACEP reface, Introductionand AcronymsINTRODUCTIONiiThe Analytical Catalogue of KeyPublicationsThis catalogue contains a range ofresources, in the form of books, CD-ROMs, online publications, websites andarticles from e-journals, that aim toprovide teachers, senior school managers, Curriculum developers and administratorswith guidelines and strategies forintegrating icts effectively into theteaching and learning catalogue is divided into a number ofsections, each with a particular focus area,and the materials have been purposefullygathered from a range of sources toprovide as broad a perspective on thevarious issues as possible.

6 For example,websites and publications fromgovernment agencies and departments ofeducation are featured, such as the BritishEducational Communications andTechnology Agency and the of Education, as areorganizations such as the InternationalSociety for Technology in Education,respected online educational journals andcase studies from regional and nationalprimary and secondary of the resources included in thiscatalogue may be found online. For theprint publications and CD-ROMs, wehave included the publisher's details. Allresources may also be found inthe Information and KnowledgeManagement (IKM) library based atUNESCO Bangkok. Please contact IKM forfurther information: icts into the Curriculum :Catalogue of Selected Titlesnational curricula described by ministriesof education and local governments. Thereare case studies from Australia and theUK, for example, illustrating howeducational software and ICT-focusedlesson plans can be integrated intostandards-based lessons, becoming partand parcel of curricular reforms.

7 Onearticle describes how, in the UK, thenational Curriculum underwent a series ofreforms as educators went fromrecognising the value of technologyeducation, but lacked any means ofassessing student competency , to ICTsbecoming a discrete subject in its ownright, to its current status as a tool that isembedded across the Curriculum used byteachers of all subjects. In this regard, theBritish Educational Communications andTechnology Agency (BECTA) has beeninvolved in developing and disseminatingguidelines and materials for theintegration of icts into subject terms of the practical use of computers,one of the key issues is whether they arelocated in the classroom or in ICT suitesand laboratories. There are various articlesand studies highlighting the relative meritsof each location, depending on the contextof the class being taught. Generally, it isshown that while a computer lab may tendto offer greater technical support, and canensure that all students have access to acomputer when otherwise this may not bepossible, teachers find it harder tointegrate the use of computers fully intotheir teaching practice.

8 With computersstrategically organized in the classroom,the teacher often is able to set upindependent learning projects, whichallow them to play a more facilitating rolewith the students taking greaterresponsibility for their articles describe the various kindsof activities available online: buzz groups,syndicates, WebQuests, collaborativeprojects, online debates, and treasurehunts, among others, which can easily beintegrated into classroom activities andinto the development of lesson plans. Ingeneral, there is consensus that the kindsof activity that best motivate and engagestudents incorporate collaborativelearning, are student-centred, offerchances for independent learning, and aremulti-disciplinary in their scope. Manyalso emphasize the fact that thecurriculum must define the kinds oftechnology used and ways it is applied tostudent learning, and not the other general principles and strategiesfound in this section often point to the factthat in many cases, teachers may havebeen trained in basic computer skills,often for administration purposes orperhaps simple presentations, but they TRENDS & RECOMMENDATIONSThe following gives a summary ofthe trends and recommendationsidentified by the various entries inthe principles andstrategiesThe planning stage is recognized asparticularly important for effectiveintroduction of icts into thecurriculum.

9 In addition to needing toknow from the outset where theteachers and the students stand interms of ability and ICT skills,consider what your and your school slearning goals are, and how thesewill be met. For example, whenpurchasing or developing materials,ask yourself questions such as thefollowing: Does the product meetnational and/or institutionalobjectives? Does the productcontribute to the aims and objectivesof the course? Is the content current,unbiased, and politically and sociallysensitive? Is the use of text andmedia appropriate for the needs andobjectives of the course? Can theproduct be used with locallyavailable resources?We see that in many cases, ICT-based lessons and materials arebeing developed in line with theiiiTrends andRecommendationsneed greater training in being able toconnect the potential of icts to thesubject they are teaching. For realintegration of icts into the teaching andlearning process, teachers must be helpedto understand how educational technologycan inform and enhance pedagogy and,thus, contribute to greater studentperformance.

10 In this regard, many expertsemphasize continuous training as essentialto teacher development, and a slowapproach, expecting teachers to takeanywhere between three and five years tofully adapt to the new technologies andrelated pedagogies. Other educatorsconsider it important that teachers betrained on their own premises, and onactual hardware and software that they canaccess at school. Leadership, in the schooland at the local government level, is alsohighlighted as integral to staffdevelopment, and this in turn calls foropen dialogue between all stakeholders inthe schools system, including privateenterprises. Similarly, collaborationbetween local governments and privatesoftware developers is seen as veryeffective in ensuring educational softwareremains locally relevant and tied tospecific curricular objectives, both ofwhich are important for encouragingteachers to make use of available technology into thecurriculum and in the classroomICTs are transforming the Curriculum in anumber of ways, and the kinds of learningactivities that promote higher-orderthinking skills, which make use of all sortsof software and online project-basedresources are, in turn, demanding thatteachers re-think traditional of this is having a deep impact on ourunderstanding of the Curriculum , in termsof what a Curriculum is, who develops itand how, and in what ways icts can helpstudents develop more critical responsesto the information they access.