Bearing in mind that BECTA’s research into the use of ICT equipment in schools – finding that 4 out of 5 schools were not using it properly – I thought I would do a little research of my own.
I gave a simple questionnaire to delegates attending my Whiteboard training days. It wasn’t very scientific; I asked teachers to respond to some simple questions. All the questions were all aimed at trying to find out how much training teachers had had before attending my course.
I’ll try to make sense of the findings here, and use it to base a further questionnaire in the summer. There were 66 respondents, but of course they did not answer all the questions [ie the %’s don’t always add up to 100].
Teaching experience:
1-4 years – 33%
5-10 years – 29%
11-20 years – 18%
Over 20 years – 20%
Access to whiteboards:
12% did not yet have access to an IWB though most of these were expecting to get one soon.
20% had partial use of an IWB in their lessons – explained by moving around different rooms.
65% had most / all of their lessons with an IWB
Types of boards:
64% had Smartboards
23% had Promethean boards – mostly with Activ studio
2% had Hitachi / Cambridge boards
Who chose the boards?
82% were given the board that the school chose.
6% were given some choice
35% made their own choice
Suitable height?
71% said that the board was fitted at a suitable height
15% said it was fitted too high
50% said it was suitable for students
9% said it was not at a suitable height for students
Installation OK?
62% said it was fitted well and worked fine
3% said it had never worked properly since it was fitted.
15% said it was unreliable – sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t
The Pen [not really applicable to SmartBoard users]:
21% said their pen was reliable and worked fine.
17% said their pen was unreliable – sometimes working and sometimes not.
3% said their pen was useless.
The projector:
12% said that the bulb was not bright enough
Training:
18% received some basic training from the installers
42% said they received no formal training and often taught themselves
36% received in school general training from another teacher
6% said they received some subject specific training from another teacher
6% said they received out of school training in school time
Trainer style
23% had hands on training
30% had training watching a trainer – no hands on.
23% were shown how to use PowerPoint and Word on their board
9% were shown how to use Audio in a presentation
9% were shown how to use Video in a presentation
How much training was based on board software – Notebook, Flipchart, Easiteach?
18% said that most of their training was based on this software
18% said that some of their training was based on this software
23% said that very little of their training was based on this software
17% said that none of their training was based on this software
How much emphasis was there on Interactive activities?
8% said that most of their training was based on these kinds of activities
21% said that some of their training was based on these kinds of activities
33% said that very little of their training was based on these kinds of activities
12% said that none of their training was based on these kinds of activities
Was there any mention of interactive activities such as sorting / sequencing/ matching etc?
6% said yes – lots
24% said some
12% said little
29% said none
Were you shown how to Link [smart] or Action [promethean] to other files
2% audio
3% video
8% internet
Computer confidence:
65% agreed that they were confident users of a computer system
24% described themselves as an average user, needing more experience
5% expressed a lack of confidence and want more support
Computer at home?
32% said that their school had provided them with a laptop
17% said that their school had not provided them with a laptop
20% said that the school had provided them with the IWB software for use at home
32% said that the school had not provided them with the IWB software for use at home
Using popular websites at school:
Google search – 11% could but 11% would like to
Google Earth – 12% could, 11% couldn’t, 23% would like to
Using You tube movies – 6% could, 23% couldn’t, 27% would like to, 8% were not bothered
Using You tube movies brought in from home on a memory stick – 5% could, 14% couldn’t, 32% would like to
Technical support:
26% said that support was pretty quick – often within the lesson.
33% said that it was usually during that AM or PM
38% said that they often had to wait until the following day
A couple annotated their response with ‘slow’ or ‘wait a week’.
These words were used to describe the support from technical staff:
Helpful – 58%
Efficient – 21%
Knowledgeable – 41%
Responsive – 29%
Understanding – 24%
Cooperative – 33%
15% said that they were none of these words!
Comments about the findings: based on statistics and my observations on the day
Access:
I was surprised that so many delegates on our courses have no whiteboard yet. Most of them have a projector so they can shine stuff on the wall, and many of them have been promised a board, or it is on order. Some come shopping, to see if they need a board.
Type of board:
A ‘Promethean’ woman recently asked me why there was a bias towards Smart on our day, and I said that this represented the popularity of the boards. 2/3 to ¾ of teachers have Smartboards, and a 1/5th to a ¼ have Promethean.
Most teachers said that the boards were chosen for them.
I have always pointed out the fact that boards should be installed at the correct height for teachers and students. Repetitive Stress Injuries follow from having boards to high – stretching- and bad backs from having them too low. I was disappointed that so many – 15% – said that their boards were too high, and that 9% were not at a suitable height for their students. If you want these boards used by teachers and their students they have to be installed at a suitable height.
Only 62% said their board was installed correctly and working fine. A significant number – 15%- said that their board was unreliable – sometimes working and sometimes not.
12% said that the projectors were often not bright enough.
Training:
18% said they had some basic training from the installers, though anecdotally they admitted that most of this was very basic, simplistic and hurried, rarely useful. A worryingly high number of teachers said that despite some training they were still not aware of the software that came with the board – Notebook or Flipchart.
42% said they had taught themselves – but I am not sure what they taught themselves.
The figures are not very clear, but about fewer than 10% had some training in their Borough.
6% said they had helped to train other teachers in school.
Only a quarter had hands-on training, and 30% said their experience was watching a trainer.
A quarter was shown how to use Internet /PowerPoint and Word on their board, and this partly explains why teachers say they mostly use their boards for this purpose. Less than 10% were shown how to insert Audio and Video clips.
Less than a quarter – 17%-23% were shown how to use Flipchart / Notebook. Surely the point of the Interactive WB is to use this software.
Nearly 30% said that most/some of their training was about Interactive activities.
45% said that little/none of their training involved Interactive activities.
Less than 8% were shown how to link / Action to video/audio/internet/other pages.
Confidence:
2/3 of delegates appear to be confident users of computers. These presumably include those who taught themselves the software and taught others. These are the ones who when taught properly will be able to make further IWB resources.
Laptops:
To put this in context, some schools do not use laptops, and twice as many responded that they had a laptop rather than not having one.
Worryingly few admit to having been given the Interactive software to use at home. Anecdotally, this is an issue that annoyed staff who admitted to have been fobbed off by schools that there was a licensing problem – there isn’t.
Google and You Tube:
There are good security reasons why schools limit access to these programmes but there are equally good educational reasons why teachers should be able to use them in classrooms.
5%-10% of teachers said they could use them in school.
A ¼ to a 1/3 of teachers would like to use them in the classroom. This area is one of the most popular topics on my day-courses; there is certainly a demand.
Technical support:
A ¼ responded that the service was pretty quick – often within the lesson.
A 1/3 said that problems were often dealt with that morning/afternoon.
A worryingly high number – 38% said that they often waited until the following day. Some respondents annotated their papers with “slow” or in one case “could wait a week until the technician came to our school”. Technical support is a real issue to be addressed.
Quality of support:
¼ to ½ of respondents ticked the favourable words to describe the quality of support offered by Technicians.
15% said that their technicians deserved none of the favourable words.
SUMMING UP:
Becta says that 4 out 5 schools are not using their ICT equipment properly – why?
- Boards need to be fitted properly and need to be more reliable.
- Projectors need to be powerful enough to be bright in daylight
- There is very little training in IWB’s and very little emphasis on Interactive activities.
- Some training involves watching someone else, and not hands-on.
- Teachers need to have the latest software in school and have copies provided for them at home, where they prepare.
- Teachers want to respond to resources like Google Earth and You Tube which have great educational benefits.
- The quality of technical support is not as good as Teachers require it to be.
Further research
I shall adapt this questionnaire for use next term.
Teachers admit to using their boards just for pictures and PowerPoints – I will try to find some statistical evidence for this.
I want to find more detail on how teachers are introduced / trained in the use of the class boards.
I want to find out more about how teachers are preparing work at home for use in school – what kind of resources, how long they spend, how easy it is to take it to school to use it.
I also want to try some post-training research – what difference does it make?
Document and research © Laurence Moss Ltd 2008
Contact me at laurencemoss@hotmail.com for further information.
