READIT Research Report Appendices

READIT Research Report
Appendices
Version 0.1
Deliverable N. 12
July 2011
1
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Appendix A : Useful Resources ............................................................................................................. 27
Appendix B : READIT Partner Literature Reviews ................................................................................. 29
Appendix C : The Initial Teacher Survey.............................................................................................. 105
Appendix D : The Action Research Documentation and Survey ......................................................... 120
Appendix E : Teacher Survey Responses and Analysis ........................................................................ 128
Appendix F : Action Research Responses and Analysis ...................................................................... 160
Appendix G : References ..................................................................................................................... 177
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5
Appendix A : Useful Resources
This appendix provides a selection of resources found during the initial research phase of the READIT
Project which may be of interest to those interested in employing Digital Storytelling and/or Book
Trailers to engage students in reading and writing.
A.1
Digital Storytelling Related Resources
Center for Digital Storytelling
“The Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS) is an international non!profit training, project development,
and research organization dedicated to assisting people in using digital media to tell meaningful
stories from their lives. Our focus is on partnering with community, educational, and business
institutions to develop large!scale initiatives using methods and principles adapted from our
original Digital Storytelling Workshop. We also offer workshops for organizations and individuals and
serve as a clearinghouse of information and resources about storytelling and new media.”
http://www.storycenter.org/
Digitales Website
“DigiTales ' website provides ideas, resources and inspiration for families, individuals, schools,
organizations, corporations, churches and everyone else ready to discover the power and magic of
merging the art of storytelling with the enchantment of using digital tools. Let all DigiTales
StoryKeepers be heard far and wide!”
http://www.digitales.us/about/index.php
Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling
“The goal of the Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling website is to serve as a resource for teachers
and students who are interested in how multimedia can be integrated into a variety of educational
activities. The site was originally begun in 2004 by faculty members and graduate students in the
Instructional Technology Program at the University of Houston College of Education. It continues to
be revised with new content added as more students and faculty members become involved in the
digital storytelling process.”
http://www.coe.uh.edu/digitalstorytelling
SIDis – Italian Society of Digital Storytelling
The goal of the SIDis is to promote the development and dissemination of digital storytelling in Italy,
through narration and multimedia languages. It aims to promote projects to educate and train in a
new way, paying attention to the stories that each person (adult or child) may want to share.
SIDis offers an on!line course in ‘Digital Storytelling for Training’ through the University of Padua.
http://www.digitalstorytellingitalia.org/
Storytelling Observatory, University of Pavia, Italy
The Observatory promotes the study of storytelling and the use of narrative science for personal and
organizational growth, for experimentation and interdisciplinary research. The focus is on those
areas where the impact and evolution of the narrative process is stronger: the business community,
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management and organization, media and technology, economy and consumption, geopolitics,
narrative medicine. As well as undertaking teaching and research, the Observatory promotes and
manages cultural events, conferences, lectures, debates, seminars, film and documentary
screenings. It also designs and produces training and refresher courses.
http://www.storytellinglab.org/OS
A.2
Book Trailers Related Resources
Digital Booktalk
“Digital Booktalk a UCF Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence (SURE) Grand Prize
Winner is the result of collaborative efforts between Dr. Robert Kenny from the Department of
Curriculum and Instruction at Florida Gulf Coast University and Dr. Glenda Gunter from
the Educational Technology & e!Learning Program at the University of Central Florida. The
curriculum was originally developed in conjunction with Orange County Schools in Orlando, Fl. The
conceptual design is based on research into what motivates reluctant and striving readers to
select, read, and complete books.”
http://digitalbooktalk.com/
Nancy Keane’s Children’s Literature Webpage
“This is the place to be when you are looking for ready!to!use booktalks, lists of recommended
reading, book reviews by children or other information about children's literature.”
http://www.nancykeane.com/
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Appendix B : READIT Partner Literature Reviews
Table of Contents
Denmark .......................................................................................................................................30
Italy ..................................................................................................................................................... 48
Romania ..................................................................................................................................... 77
Turkey ........................................................................................................................................ 89
Scotland ..................................................................................................................................... 97
29
READIT Literature Survey – Denmark
By University College Lillebaelt ! UCL
Contents
1.
Educational system context and background, including availability of technologies in school ... 31
The Danish school system ................................................................................................................. 31
The Folkeskole................................................................................................................................... 31
Private Schools in Denmark .............................................................................................................. 31
Upper Secondary Education ............................................................................................................. 33
The ministerial order and ICT............................................................................................................ 34
2. Curriculum Guidance (primary and lower secondary school – Folkeskole)...................................... 34
Number of pupils in secondary education ........................................................................................ 36
3. Facts about the use of ICT in Upper Secondary Schools in Denmark ............................................... 36
The use of ICT in exams in Danish upper secondary schools ............................................................ 37
ICT use in Upper Secondary Education ! a study .............................................................................. 37
4. Examples of good practice in the use of ICT/Digital Storytelling and social media in Danish teaching
practice (primary and lower secondary school) ................................................................................... 39
Examples ........................................................................................................................................... 40
5. ICT in the Danish Teacher Education ................................................................................................ 40
6. Political initiatives and the use of ICT in Danish Schools .................................................................. 41
Demand for practice!related and use!oriented qualification development .................................... 41
Access to ICT, but not always to well!functioning ICT ...................................................................... 42
Further reading ................................................................................................................................. 42
7. Barriers and enablers ........................................................................................................................ 42
8. International publications, influencers, initiatives ........................................................................... 43
9. Reflections and Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 46
10. References ...................................................................................................................................... 46
30
1.
Educational system context and background, including availability of
technologies in school
This first part of the text is primarily based on information from the Danish Ministry of Education
(www.uvm.dk), which has some information in English (eng.uvm.dk).
The Danish school system
The Folkeskole
The "Folkeskole" is the Danish municipal primary and lower secondary school. The Folkeskole
consists of one year of pre!school class, nine years of primary and lower secondary education and a
one!year 10th form. Education is compulsory in Denmark for everyone between the ages of 6!7 and
16. Whether the education is received in a publicly provided school, in a private school or at home is
a matter of individual choice, as long as accepted standards are met. It is education itself that is
compulsory, not school.
The Folkeskole was founded in 1814, and, at that time, all children were given the right to seven
years of education. The school subjects taught then were religion, reading, writing and arithmetic.
Since that time there have been made only six major changes to the Education Act, the last in 2006.
The Common Folkeskole – The Local Folkeskole
“The Folkeskole” constitutes the free, public school system as well as the individual municipal
schools, that is to say the places where the teaching takes place. On the national level, the Danish
Folkeskole is regulated by the Folkeskole Act, which provides the overall framework for the schools’
activities. By means of this Act and the Executive Orders it contains, all municipal primary and lower
secondary schools share a common aim, standard requirements concerning the subjects that are to
be taught at the specific form levels, standard regulations concerning the so!called Common
Objectives for the teaching in the individual subjects, as well as standard regulations concerning the
leadership and organisation of the school system. However, it is the responsibility of the individual
municipal boards to determine how the municipality’s schools are to be organised in practice, within
the framework established by law. The municipal boards themselves determine the municipal level
of service for the Folkeskole within this overriding framework and can set their own additional
objectives for the schools. Thus, the Danish Folkeskole is subject to a range of common regulations,
and a child who changes schools will, on the whole, find a school routine in the new school familiar
to the one he or she has previously attended. On the other hand, there is the freedom to allow for
each school to incorporate their own local characteristics.
Private Schools in Denmark
Denmark has a tradition of private schools with a substantial government subsidy.
This tradition mainly originates in the ideas and initiatives of the clergyman, poet and politician,
N.F.S. Grundtvig (1783!1872), and the teacher, Christen Kold (1816!1870). On the basis of their ideas
31
about "a school for life based on the living word", the first "folk high school" for adults was founded
in 1844 and the first "free school" (private independent school) for children in 1852. They were in
particular meant to serve the rural population.
The ideas of Grundtvig and Kold had such an impact on the political thinking of their time that they
were written into the democratic Constitution adopted by Denmark in 1915. It stipulates general
compulsory education ! not compulsory school attendance. In Denmark, all children must receive 9
years’ education, but ! provided a certain minimum standard is obtained ! it is a matter of choice for
the parents whether the education is received in the publicly provided municipal primary and lower
secondary school, in a private school, or at home.
Number of schools and pupils
About 14% of all children at basic school level (including the voluntary pre!school class and 10th
form) attend private schools.
Types of schools
Private schools in Denmark
may be roughly divided into
the following categories:
!
!
!
small independent
schools in rural
districts (friskoler),
large independent
schools in urban
districts
(privatskoler),
religious or
congregational
schools,
32
!
!
!
!
progressive free schoolss,
schools with
h a particular
educational aim, such ass the
ner schools
Rudolf Stein
German min
nority schoolls,
immigrant schools.
s
The botttom line is th
hat private
schools will be recoggnized and
receive government
g
t financing
regardleess of the ideeological,
religiouss, political orr ethnic
motivation behind their
establish
hment.
7.3 Upper Secon
ndary Educaation
pically
This level of education typ
e
of full!time
begins at the end
nmark,
compulssory education. In Den
this leveel divides into
o:
1. General edu
ucation qualifying for acccess to higher education and
2. Vocational or
o technical education
e
qu
ualifying prim
marily for acccess to the laabour marke
et.
or the 16!19!year!olds and comprise
es 1) the gen
neral upper ssecondary education
It normaally caters fo
provision of the Gyymnasium, the
t higher preparatory
p
examination
n or HF!programme, the higher
nation or HHX!program
H
mme and th
he higher technical
t
exxamination or HTX!
commerrcial examin
program
mme, and 2) the vocational educatio
on and trainiing programmes, the baasic social an
nd health
training programmees etc.
The Engglish information from the Danish Ministry of Education includes a teext: Informa
ation and
Commun
nication Tech
hnologies (IC
CT) in Upper Secondary Education.
E
[online] Available at:
http://w
www.eng.uvm
m.dk/Fact%2
20Sheets/Up
pper%20seco
ondary%20ed
ducation/Information%2
20and%2
0Communication%2
20Technologiies%20ICT%2
20in%20Upp
per%20Secon
ndary%20Education.aspxx
[Accesseed 16 May 20
011].
The con
ndition on IC
CT in the Dan
nish primaryy and lower secondary school Folkesskolen is com
mparable
with con
nditions in th
he upper secondary scho
ool.
The ”Benchmarking Access and Use
U of ICT in European Schools”, 200
06 tells us:
100 per centt of schools have
h
a webssite
87 per cent of schools haave an e!mail address for most of thee teachers
63 per cent of schools haave an e!mail address for most of thee students
67 per cent of schools haave computeers in the claassroom
77 per cent of schools haave computeers in the library
l
acccessible to sttudents
80 per cent of schools haave computeers in other locations
91 per cent of schools haave ICT integgrated into the teaching of most subjjects
33
98 per cent of teachers use ICT in class
92 per cent of teachers have the students use ICT in class
Today, five years later, I assume that all the schools have e!mail addresses for all the teachers and all
students. The number of schools having computers in the classrooms is, I think, decreasing due to
the increasing numbers of the students own laptops, smartphones and other internet devices.
The ministerial order and ICT
Use of ICT is mandatory in all curricula. There are no specifications about the extent in each subject,
but guidelines are drawn up for every subject including examples of how the teacher can use ICT.
Schools are allowed to use 25 per cent of lessons for different ways of distance learning as a form of
blended learning. The students do not have to be present in the classroom; they may be in the
library, at home or other places. However, most schools still use classroom teaching most of the
time.
During a school year, each student has to make a certain amount of written homework. The
definition has changed and the written homework may now be multimedia products, i.e. PowerPoint
presentations and similar.
All types of ICT are allowed at all examinations, both written and oral. The students are not allowed
to use ICT for communication or for the Internet, but that is the only limitation.
2. Curriculum Guidance (primary and lower secondary school – Folkeskole)
Since the first personal computers were introduced in the early eighties, successive governments in
Denmark have agreed on the implementation of ICT in education.
At first ICT was a subject that students could choose, and the use of ICT was in most cases separated
from other subjects. Every school had a few computers, all of which were placed in special computer
rooms. But little by little ICT was integrated in first maths, science and mother tongue education
(Danish) for instance in what was named “creative writing”. In 1993 a new Act for Folkeskolen
(primary and lower secondary school) was implemented, and it was succeeded by a new National
Curriculum, but still there were no requirements to implement ICT in the subjects. There was a list of
compulsory curricular subjects, which were supposed to be taught in a certain amount of hours, but
there were also some courses, which the school could offer. Among them were Technology and
Media, but to use computers was not compulsory. But words such as “computer”, “information
technology” and the like were not even mentioned in the new Act or the curriculum.
From the mid!nineties a number of schools acquired Internet connections, and a national LMS!
platform SkoleKom based on the Canadian FirstClass was implemented. To upgrade the teachers’
technical and pedagogical skills they were offered a course called “Pedagogical ICT license”, but the
course was ! and still is not compulsory. During the last 10!12 years the government has allocated
substantial sums to increase the use of ICT in schools. In 2001 the government decided: “ICT must
have a special place in education. Initially all students in seventh grades have a computer at their
disposal […]”. A wide range of development programs were implemented, for instance It, Medier og
Folkeskolen (ITMF) (ICT, Media and Primary School) and It i Folkeskolen (ITIF) (ICT in primary school).
34
Now most schools have wireless network, desktops, notebooks, and many classrooms are equipped
with projectors and/or interactive whiteboards. The teachers are offered courses on how to use ICT
in teaching. But it takes time to change the educational culture. In spite of the availability of hard!
and software, some teachers are still reluctant to integrate ICT in their teaching. Anyway it is getting
better. The form and content of teaching in the Folkeskolen is driven by the Act on public school, a
circular named Elevernes alsidige udvikling 2009 (Pupils’ comprehensive development) and for each
subject and special areas – among them ICT and media ! a curriculum named Fælles Mål 2009
(Shared Coals, the Danish National Curriculum – and 2009 is the year of implementation).
The circular, Elevernes alsidige udvikling (Pupils general development), has a chapter about the
importance of integrating ICT in school. Among other things:
“Increased use of ICT in education will enhance pupils’ academic achievement and teaching quality.
Therefore ICT must be a prevailing educational tool, and pupils are supposed to use the computer as
a personal tool in school education …”
In 2009 a report from The Danish Institute of Evaluation recommended:
"schools […] focus attention on the academic benefits of using ICT in teaching and to develop an ICT
based didactics.
That schools do not restrict pupils’ access to the Internet […] (instead they make sure) that all pupils
have the necessary skills in source criticism and good conduct on the Internet. […]
The ICT classrooms are phased out in schools and the schools instead rates on flexible mobile ICT
equipment […].”
(http://www.eva.dk/projekter/2008/it!i!folkeskolen/projektprodukter/it!i!skolen!erfaringer!og!
perspektiver)
The curriculum Fælles Mål 2009. It! og mediekompetencer i folkeskolen (Common Objectives2009.
ICT
and
media
skills
in
primary
school)
is
a
text
of
13
pages
(http://www.uvm.dk/service/Publikationer/Publikationer/Folkeskolen/2010/Faelles%20Maal%2020
09%20!%20It!%20og%20mediekompetencer%20i%20folkeskolen.aspx). The text stresses that the
school is committed to strengthen the pupils’ skills in “critical information retrieval, data processing
and computer user's ability to interpret the diverse representations of the digital media […]” and
also to strengthen the pupils’ abilities to be skilled actors and producers in a digital world (web 2.0).
Four ICT!related themes are supposed to be integrated in subjects and interdisciplinary teaching:
1. Information search and collection
2. Production and dissemination
3. Analysis
4. Communication, sharing and collaboration.
The curriculum for the Mother Tongue Education, Fælles Mål 2009. Dansk (Common Objectives
2009. Danish) the four themes also mention the use of ICT in the chapter "ICT and media in learning
35
Danish"
www.uvm.dkk/service/Pu
ublikationer/Publikatione
er/Folkeskoleen/2009/Faeelles%20Maaal%2020
(http://w
09%20!%
%20Dansk.asspx)
Numberr of pupils in
n secondary education
e
In Denm
mark pupils may
m seek a number of ways
w
after completing
c
t obligatorry ten years of basic
the
educatio
on. In the table below yo
ou may see the
t distribution of pupilss attending tthe differentt types of
secondaary education
n over time.
In 2008 there were a good 82,0
000 studentss in the gene
eral upper seecondary education proggrammes
comprised of the upper
u
secondary school leaving exaamination (sstx) and thee higher pre
eparatory
hf). The majo
ority by far (87 %) of these took stx, while
w
13 % studied for hff.
exams (h
(Source:: Facts and Figures 2009))
The use of ICT is paart of the curriculum useed for everyy subject in Upper
U
Secon
ndary high scchools in
o teachers in Upper Seecondary education offe
er ample
Denmarrk. The officcial guidelinees issued to
examplees of how to
o integrate IC
CT in the claassroom as well
w as for homework
h
and part of in
ndividual
and grou
up based pro
ojects.
3. Factss about the use of ICT in Upper Se
econdary Scchools in De
enmark
IT infrasstructure and
d the availab
bility of adequate tools ! hardware ass well as softtware are oftten cited
as prereequisites for the implem
mentation of ICT in educcation. The figures
f
cited below may indicate
that upp
per secondarry schools in Denmark arre quite well off here:
100 percentt of the schoo
ols have Learning Managgement Systeems
100 percentt of the schoo
ols have a website
87 percent of
o the teacheers use the In
nternet when preparing for lessons
70 percent of
o the teacheers use ICT fo
or communiccation with students
s
eveery week
98 percent of
o the teacheers use ICT in
n class
36
(Source: "Benchmarking Access and Use of ICT in European Schools," 2006 report of Danish upper
secondary schools)
To this must be added that many education authorities have offered free pcs for all upper secondary
school teachers ! mostly equipped with standard Office Tools and most teachers have been offered
ICT training courses covering a whole range of topics from text editing to multimedia production.
The following statistics from a 2005 report from the Danish Evaluation Institute seem to further
support this:
82 per cent of the teachers have participated in in!service training in ICT
87 per cent of the teachers find that access to computers is good for them and the students
85 per cent of the teachers find the software good
63 per cent of the teachers have a computer at home paid for by the school
87 per cent of the teachers use the internet when preparing for lessons
84 per cent of the teachers let the students use the internet during lessons
69 per cent of the teachers use ICT for communication between teacher and students at
least every week
80 per cent of the students use ICT for their written homework
(Source "ICT in upper secondary education” by The Danish Evaluation Institute, 2005)
The use of ICT in exams in Danish upper secondary schools
Since 1994 there has been a steady growth of ICT use in Danish upper secondary exams:
Since 1994 students have been allowed to use ICT (without access to the Internet and
“clean”—in other words primarily as a word processing tool) in all Danish, social sciences,
biology, and a few foreign language written examinations.
Since 1997 students in commercial and technical upper secondary schools have been
allowed to use ICT in all written examinations with all aids permitted in paper form also
permitted in electronic form.
Since 2000 students in general upper secondary schools have been able to use computers
with most types of software installed. Students can either use a school or personal
computer. In 2000 98 percent of students used a computer during the Danish written exam,
the other 2 percent chose paper and pencil.
By 2001 students at the commercial and technical upper secondary schools were sitting
Danish language, Math and Business Economics exams based on CD!ROM with access to
multimedia resources such as video interviews, press releases, account information, etc.
(see example below) with the aim to test students’ understanding of the subjects and their
ability to use theory instead of merely learning by heart.
(Source: Danish National Assessment System, Cisco Case Study)
ICT use in Upper Secondary Education ! a study
In "Gymnasiepædagogik Nr. 76. 2010. ISBN: 87!7938!083!2" ("Pedagogics in Upper Secondary
Education" a series of publications from The Institute of Philosophy, Education and the Study of
Religions at the University of Southern Denmark) Erik Kruse Sørensen og Michael Paulsen present
their analysis of how ICT is used by pupils and teachers in class hours independent of whether it
supports the proscribed educational activities or are directed towards other goals. Their analysis
look at the use from two perspectives. First the consequences in the social relations in the class
37
room including power relations between teacher and pupils. Secondly the consequences of the use
of ICT for the pupils' learning. The analysis is based on one of the most comprehensive field studies
carried out in Denmark regarding the use of ICT in upper secondary schools. The empirical data are
based on class room observation followed up by interviews and questionares. One important finding
in this study seems to be that the introduction of ICT in upper secondary education cannot be said to
have just one consequence ! good or bad. The introduction of ICT has had a number of
consequences some positive some negative. The authors find that a number of long held truths
regarding the use of ICT in education must be corrected.
"IT is only a positive thing" ! however naive the statement, many educators may still
subscribe to a feeling of embarrassment for not having yet implemented ICT in their
teaching
"IT is only a negative thing" ! belonging to the more general sentiment that all things are
coming apart.
"IT is just the same old stuff in a new way". The introduction of ICT does not really change a
lot. It is just a new way of doing what we have always done. Lack of attention caused by sms,
Messenger or Facebook is no different from lack of attention caused by day dreaming.
"Youngsters are particularly IT!savvy". An optimistic view of development. Young people are
better than their teachers when it comes to using ICT e.g. Internet search.
The authors underscore that their data have been drawn from a limited number of classes, but they
are clearly convinced that what they have observed may be seen in many Danish upper secondary
schools.
They also note that the introduction of ICT into the upper secondary school system seems to have
taken place in many very different ways. The most likely reason being that only rather vague and not
very specific rules have been issued by the central authorities. Teachers use ICT in very different
ways and their expectations of what the pupils are able to do vary very much.
In this very brief reference to the study the conclusion may be a translated version of the authors'
presentation of the five "cases" that they discuss:
Case 2:
Case 1:
The
House
Glass The Nest
Creates
comfort
Case 3:
Case 4:
Case 5:
The Machine
The
Towers
Two The Shallow
Waters
Ritualized use
Differentiated
use
ICT use
Physical
supervision
Socialization
in class
Visibility
Exclusive
A collective Three groups Hierarchy with
hierarchy with network with with common with different degrees
of
different it!use social it!use
subject
it!use
non!use
oriented
it!
use
38
No !use
Teaching and
visibility
vs
entertainment
and invisibility
Power
struggle
Exposure and Change and
evasion
deceive
Pupils learn
Teacher
pupil roles
!power
Power of the Collective and IT
subject based versus
social
power versus
network
versus
the individual and non!IT power
power
of non subject versus
based power
teaching
glamour based
power
! Superviser !
evader
Guest !
Networker
Subject based
power
vs the power
of boredom
Participate in Learn
in Concentrate
collective
different ways
ritual
Move into the Passive !
background
Group roles
!
Passive !
Passive
Move into the
foreground
Combined
effect
IT! use creates IT!
use IT! use creates IT! use creates
collective
conflict
and creates
division
mass
hierarchy
excluding
comfort zone
The lack of IT!
use
creates
boredom
The five cases has in common that the teachers seem to have a mainly instrumental and controling
approach to ICT whereas the pupils see the use of ICT in class as a small if integral part of their more
general use of ICT ! say, Facebook, online gaming and online media. The authors in this way point
out that in very simplistic terms technologically teachers and pupils have to very different
interpretations of how ICT is used.
4. Examples of good practice in the use of ICT/Digital Storytelling and social media in
Danish teaching practice (primary and lower secondary school)
Inspirations and a lot of experience and good example on the use of ICT in teaching are available at
EMU – Danmarks Undervisningsportal (Denmark’s Education Portal) (http://www.emu.dk). The
section “Using ICT” is structured in five themes:
Mobile learning
Games in teaching
Interactive Whiteboards
Web 2.0
39
Web Search
Examples
Moblogging (6.!9. Grade): The pupils working as journalists in the local area where they will produce
journalistic content for a blog with their mobile phones. The goal is that pupils gain an understanding
of today's media environment and that they experience, which skills – among others ! are required
of a modern journalist.
Global Conflicts Palestine (http://www.globalconflicts.eu/). (from the 9th grade)The game focuses
on Israel!Palestine conflict. As a player pupil take a role as a journalist. During six missions the
journalist is supposed to cover a range of incidents that can be described as characteristic of the
conflict.
Game Walkthrough (5th!6th grade). The goal is that the pupils strengthen their written
communication skills in Danish. First the pupils play a game named “Samorost”. Then they produce a
“walkthrough” i.e. – how to manage the game and at last they make a description of the mission and
finish writing a review of the game.
As a part of the lessons some teachers also produce web quests – or let the pupils create them
(http://tmoeller.dk/wordpress/hvad!er!en!webquest.html).
Focusing on Digital Storytelling the freeware software Microsoft PhotoStory3 is very popular to
integrate text, pictures, speech and music in at story. And the program is in some cases used from
the 2nd grade. A few uses other programs to Digital Storytelling such as PhotoPeach
(http://photopeach.com). In older age groups, where the pupils can record movies for instance
Microsoft MovieMaker – or in some cases the equivalent (and better) Apple!based iMovie is used.
Some schools use iPod Touch, which combines an HD video recorder with the editor (iMovie from
Apple or Splice from Path 36).
5. ICT in the Danish Teacher Education
In 2007 a new Act (Law on education to professional teachers in school) for the Danish Teacher
Education was implemented. § 16 in the Act explicitly requires that ICT should be integrated into
teaching:
“Information and Communication Technologies:
The educational institution must ensure that information and communication technologies where
appropriate are integrated into teaching in all subjects. Information and communication technology
in education are supposed to help develop the individual subject topics, concepts and methods.
The educational institution organization of training will contribute to, that students acquire
theoretical and practical requirements for using ICT in teaching and assessment in Folkeskolen.”
40
6. Political initiatives and the use of ICT in Danish Schools
During the years 2001!04 the Ministry of Education invested 340 m. DKK (46 m. €) in the initiative
“ICT, Media and Schools” (ITMF). Among others the amount was used for research and to develop
the teachers’ ICT!competencies.
From 2004!07 the Ministry of Education implemented the program "IT in primary school (ITIF)". 75
percent of the funds were allocated for the purchase of computer equipment to pupils in third
grade. 117 m. DKK (16 m. €) were allocated a wide range of other initiatives for instance
development of new types of teaching materials for all primary schools and special education. There
was also allocated funds for the development of a new ICT universe for pupils in Folkeskolen nursery
and primary classes on the portal for teaching the EMU (www.emu.dk)
A study carried out by the Danish Evaluation Institute (EVA) and the Danish Ministry of Education in
2009 aimed at uncovering how schools and municipalities have experienced the implementation and
use of ICT in the Folkeskole, and their views regarding this work. Also the purpose of the project has
been to take stock of the use of ICT.
The report, named The Use of ICT in Danish Schools, had the following main conclusions:
The need for improved integration of ICT in individual subjects
“The study shows that pupils, teachers and head teachers all experience that they benefit from the
use of ICT for teaching purposes. They especially emphasize the internet, which provides faster and
easier access to information. It also serves as an incentive for pupils that, employing ICT, they are
able to make well!designed products; and pupils like to use presentation software when presenting
their work in class.
The study shows that many teachers focus on the general pedagogic options and benefits provided
by the use of ICT ! e.g. that it motivates the pupils ! and primarily use ICT to supplement their
”standard teaching”. Only a few teachers describe how they use ICT for subject!specific didactic
purposes and in support of specific learning goals.
The expert group finds it problematic that teachers primarily focus on the general pedagogic usage
and benefits of ICT, as the beneficial uses of ICT vary greatly depending on the nature of the subject.
The expert group recommends that schools, based on Fælles Mål II (Common Objectives II), focus on
the subject!content related benefits of employing ICT in teaching, and on the development of ICT!
based, subject!specific didactics.”
Demand for practice!related and use!oriented qualification development
“The study shows a persisting need to focus on teacher qualification development and support.
There is an immediate demand among teachers for ICT courses, in spite of awareness that some
previous courses have failed to upgrade or improve their teaching practices. The study identifies a
need for new qualification development models that focus on integrating ICT into individual subjects
and are more user!oriented, as well as being based on the teachers’ specific needs. The study also
uncovers a need for qualification development to be more firmly rooted in the school structure, and
that this task should not be left exclusively to individual resource persons or ICT enthusiasts. One
solution suggested by teachers and head teachers is to base qualification development, inspiration
41
and ICT implementation support in existing school structures, which already promote the
development of subject specific didactic practices, such as subject teams.”
Access to ICT, but not always to well!functioning ICT
“At several of the participating schools, head teachers and teachers feel that they are now doing
well in terms of access to ICT equipment. Yet problems persist with getting the ICT equipment to
function properly, and many teachers therefore experience a lack of access to well!functioning ICT.
This has a negative effect on their use of ICT, and ultimately causes some teachers to refrain from
using ICT altogether.
The study also shows that the responsibility for systems operation and technical support often rests
with the municipality, and that many municipalities and schools have aimed to limit the
responsibilities of the schools’ own ICT supporters to the pedagogical applications of ICT. This
distribution of responsibility, however, constitutes a challenge that in some cases has resulted in
slow error correction, and has encumbered pedagogical use of ICT in school.
In some schools, pupils already have the option of bringing along their own computers and accessing
the school network. In the future schools as well as municipalities expect novel challenges in terms
of ICT infrastructure, when more pupils start bringing their own laptop computers to school.
Municipalities and schools face the task of preparing themselves for this situation.”
Further reading
The
full
report
can
be
found
in
Danish
here:
[online]
Available
at:
<http://www.eva.dk/projekter/2008/it!i!folkeskolen/projektprodukter/it!i!skolen!erfaringer!og!
perspektiver/download> [Accessed 16 May 2011].
The
English
summary
can
be
found
here:
[online]
Available
at:
<http://www.eva.dk/projekter/2008/it!i!
folkeskolen/projektprodukter/The%20Use%20of%20ICT%20in%20Danish%20Schools%20%20English
%20summary%20EVA%202009.pdf> [Accessed 16 May 2011].
7. Barriers and enablers
Studies (Danish Evaluation Institute, http://www.eva.dk/) show that there are still (2011) large
variations in the extent to which teachers integrate ICT in teaching. But ICT has in general come into
teaching in primary schools, and teachers experience a positive yield by using the Internet and other
general ICT tools because it motivates students. Most teachers see the benefits in standard
programs like word processing. But a minority of teachers reflects on how ICT can help pupils to
achieve academic goals. Often the primary purpose of using computers isto vary the traditional
teaching, for instance searching on the Internet to find information about topics in History or Social
Science. The teachers have to acquire ICT!didactic insight on how and why to use ICT in each
individual subject.
Another thing: The teachers often use ICT in their dissemination (for instance in form of PowerPoint!
presentations), but it is also important that the pupils use ICT in their works and problem!solving –
and this seems to be less prevalent (It i skolen – erfaringer og perspektiver:
42
http://www.eva.dk/projekter/2008/it!i!folkeskolen/projektprodukter/it!i!skolen!erfaringer!og!
perspektiver/download)
8. International publications, influencers, initiatives
(in relation to digital storytelling)
Czarnecki, Kelly, 2009. How Digital Storytelling Builds 21st Century Skills. Library Technology Reports;
Oct2009, Vol. 45 Issue 7, p15!19, 5p
Abstract:
This chapter of "Digital Storytelling in Practice" examines how digital storytelling can be used to
build important skills. Like traditional storytelling, Digital Story telling helps to build conceptual skills
like understanding a narrative and using inductive reasoning to solve problems, but the creation of
digital stories also requires the creator to build technology skills through the use of software and
other tools. These skills are useful to both children, who need them for an increasingly technology!
oriented future job market, and adults, who need them to keep up with a changing world
Czarnecki, Kelly, 2009. Storytelling in Context. Library Technology Reports; Oct2009, Vol. 45 Issue 7,
p5!8, 4p
Abstract:
This chapter of "Digital Storytelling in Practice" puts the current state of storytelling, as well as its
relationship to libraries, in context. By briefly examining both the distant and recent past of
storytelling, we can see how it arrived in its current state. We examine how the basic principles of
storytelling have remained the same and also look at how the rise of the Internet and digital
technology has the potential to transform the process of storytelling and expand its audience
Davila, Denise (2010). Not So Innocent. Book Trailers as Promotional Text and Anticipatory Stories.
The Allan Review. Fall 2010
7 Things you should know about Digital Storytelling (www.educause.edu/eli)
Jenkins, Henry. New Media Literacies, Student Generated Content, and the YouTube Aesthetic
[online]
Available
at:
<http://www.fi.ncsu.edu/assets/research_papers/new!literacies!
collaborative/new!media!literacies!student!generated!content!and!the!youtube!aesthetic.pdf>
[Accessed 16 May 2011].
Abstracts
The proliferation of content generation and sharing through Web 2.0 tools has created what Henry
Jenkins refers to as new media literacies. We explore the application of new media literacies through
digital media creation with eighth graders. This pilot project promotes online video capabilities in
conjunction with the time!honoured practice of adolescents reading classic and young adult
literature. Through the project’s curriculum design and pedagogical apparatus, student generated
digital stories illustrate that complex thinking and learning and the YouTube aesthetic do not need to
43
be mutually exclusive. We provide the theoretical foundations for our work as well as preliminary
analysis of student!generated products. We will introduce a revised scaffolding process that
incorporates a series of rubrics (based on Henry Jenkins framework on new media literacies and
Biggs and Collis SOLO taxonomy) to facilitate evidence of complex thinking in the students’ next
round of video products.
Kenny, Robert; Gunter, Glenda, 2004. Digital Booktalk: Pairing Books with Potential Readers.
Association for Educational Communications and Technology, 27th, Chicago, IL, October 19!23,
2004. 9 pp.
Abstract:
Educators have focused their literacy education efforts on teaching children to code and decode
words. In spite of all the efforts to teach literacy, the various report cards indicate that, perhaps, a
new way of doing teaching literacy should be investigated. Today's media!centric youths could
benefit from using mediated programs to help motivate them and talk to them in their own
language. Several instances of successes using mediated tools for teaching and learning have been
shown to improve word recognition, reading comprehension, and spelling skills and to boost reading
scores and self!esteem. Digital Booktalk (http://digitalbooktalk.com/) is a web portal that uses
mediation to extend the techniques that have already proven successful in increasing children's
interest in reading and understanding books. In its four sections, students are given the opportunity
to match their interests with book titles, see trailers that help them visually organize the contexts
from the books, and participate in learning activities that provide initial insights to vocabulary,
characters, and themes. In addition, students are given the opportunity to create book trailers on
their own with the possibility of having them published on the portal. It is believed that these types
of activities will encourage students to correctly select books to read for completion and facilitate
their making future selections. Research on the effectiveness of this portal are planned to collect
and analyze empirical data. Future enhancements can be made to the project based on the results of
this research.
Malin, Ginger, 2010. Is It Still Considered Reading? Using Digital Video Storytelling to Engage
Adolescent Readers. Taylor & Francis Ltd. The Clearing House, 83: 121–125, 2010
Abstract:
In order to comprehend and ultimately enjoy reading a text, a reader must first be engaged in it.
However, many high school students have difficulty engaging with texts for a variety of reasons. This
study was interested in innovative solutions to this problem and examined the educational and
aesthetic value ofa particular digital video reading aid designed to help engage high school students
in reading literature. Results suggested that this reading solution did indeed engage these students
in the text while also helped them comprehend, critically analyze, and enjoy the reading experience
as a whole. Additionally, these students positively responded to a bonus literature discussion
section, thereby suggesting their desire to co!construct meanings with other readers.
Robin, Bernard R., 2008. Digital Storytelling: A Powerful Technology Tool for the 21st Century
Classroom. Theory Into Practice; Summer2008, Vol. 47 Issue 3, p220!228, 9p, 2 Diagrams, 1 Chart
Abstract:
44
Digital storytelling has emerged over the last few years as a powerful teaching and learning tool that
engages both teachers and their students. However, until recently, little attention has been paid to a
theoretical framework that could be employed to increase the effectiveness of technology as a tool
in a classroom environment. A discussion of the history of digital storytelling and how it is being used
educationally is presented in this article. The theoretical framework, technological pedagogical
content knowledge (TPCK), is described, along with a discussion of how this model might be used
with digital storytelling.
Ryberg, Thomas; Georgsen, Marianne, 2010. Enabling Digital Literacy: Development of Meso!Level
Pedagogical Approches. Universitetsforlaget, Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, Vol 5, 2010, nr 2, 88!
100
Abstract:
There are some tensions between high!level policy definitions of “digital literacy” and actual
teaching practice. We need to find workable definitions of digital literacy; obtain a better
understanding of what digital literacy might look like in practice; and identify pedagogical
approaches, which support teachers in designing digital literacy learning.
Sheneman, Laura, 2010. Digital Storytelling: How to Get the Best Results. School Library Monthly,
v27 n1 p40!42 Sep!Oct 2010. 3 pp.
Abstract:
Digital storytelling embraces the art of traditional storytelling and reconfigures it using modern
digital mediums. More specifically, "Digital storytelling is the practice of combining narrative with
digital content, including images, sound, and video, to create a short movie, typically with a strong
emotional component." There are a multitude of mediums that can be used as video editing
applications when creating digital stories. The list includes Windows "PhotoStory3," Windows
"Movie Maker," and "Animoto." An informal survey was conducted in 2009 of more than a hundred
librarians from the Texas Librarian Connection (TLC listserv) and LM_Net (a listserv for school
librarians worldwide) (Sheneman 2009). Despite the fact that these programs have been around for
several years, respondents indicate knowledge of the applications, but a much smaller percentage
have utilized the applications either in the library or for personal purposes. To examine whether the
perceived difficulty of use was connected to the librarians' perceived weaknesses of the applications,
the librarians were asked to comment on the applications.
While weaknesses were noted by the librarians, several of these issues could be addressed by noting
what the application was actually designed to do and the best use of the elements. The survey
invited librarians to share comments about their uses of the three applications. The most frequent
uses were to create book trailers (digital advertisements for a book) and library orientations. In
order to get the results desired with digital storytelling applications, users must decide which
direction to take in creating digital stories
Sylvester, Ruth; Greenidge, Wendy!lou, 2009. Digital Storytelling: Extending the Potential for
Struggling Writers. The Reading Teacher, v63 n4 p284!295 Dec 2009. 12 pp.
Abstract:
45
Digital storytelling is a viable tool to help struggling writers resist the social position of struggling
writer that is often exacerbated by state!mandated writing assessments. While some writers may
struggle with traditional literacy, tapping into new literacies may boost their motivation and scaffold
their understanding of traditional literacies. Three types of struggling writers are introduced
followed by descriptions of ways digital storytelling can support them as writers. Three tables
include the following resources: (1) examples of digital stories, (2) tutorials and web resources for
music, sound effects, graphics, and copyright information, and (3) suggested hardware and software
for creating digital stories.
9. Reflections and Conclusions
The use of ICT in the Danish educational system has a history that goes back a very long time. From
the first attempts at introducing an understanding of the concepts of computing in maths classes in
the early seventies via the still more co!ordinated inclusions of ICT in relation to the writing process.
The movement has been from a focus on the way computers work, and the use of computers in
specialized areas and special classes to the pervasive use of ICT that is experienced by most teachers
and pupils in Danish class rooms today. Administrative systems keep track of attendance, pupils and
staff are expected to check online time schedules to see if classes have been shuffled or class rooms
re!assigned. Many schools integrate learning management platforms such as Skolekom ! based on
the Canadian First Class system or the Norwegian LMS, Fronter, in their daily work. Teachers place
assignments for classes, put documents to be read, send out questionnaires for pre ! or post
evaluation of activities and expect pupils to place written assignments for evaluation and or
correction in their electronic mail or in the school's LMS.
The initial focus on establishing dependable ICT environments in schools ! pcs in class rooms or in
dedicated areas and access to Internet based fora and mail systems seems to shift towards a focus
on fast internet connections via high speed WIFI networks allowing pupils to bring their own laptops
to school. There has been a great interest in the use of interactive boards in both primary and upper
secondary schools ! and in many upper secondary schools all class rooms are now equipped with at
least a projector combined with some sort of access to the Internet. The general understanding
today seems to be that ICT including free access to the Internet should be part of all types of
education.
An emerging interest in mobile devices such as mobile phones and smartphones will play an
important part in the future development of ICT in schools. Studies show that the use of ICT in
education cannot easily be judged either good or bad. The variance in the use and the great
differences that still exist in the conceptual understanding of what ICT!use really means as well as in
the so!called digital competencies of both teachers and pupils present the main challenge in this
field today.
10. References
The Danish Evaluation Institute – EVA:
http://english.eva.dk/
Danish Ministry of Education:
46
http://eng.uvm.dk/
Articles
The Danisk Evaluation Institute, 2009. The Use of ICT in Danish Schools. A study of experience and
perspectives
English
summary.
[online]
Available
at:
<http://www.eva.dk/projekter/2008/it!i!
folkeskolen/projektprodukter/The%20Use%20of%20ICT%20in%20Danish%20Schools%20%20English
%20summary%20EVA%202009.pdf> [Accessed 16 May 2011].
The Danish Ministry of Education, 2008. Facts and Figures 2007. [online] Available at:
<http://pub.uvm.dk/2008/facts/> [Accessed 16 May 2011].
The Danish Ministry of Education, 2010. Facts and Figures 2009. [online] Available at:
<http://www.eng.uvm.dk/~/media/Files/Stat/Tvaergaaende/PDF10/100629_Tal_der_taler_engelsk.
ashx> [Accessed 16 May 2011].
The Danish Ministry of Education, 2010. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Upper
Secondary Education. [online] Available at:
<http://www.eng.uvm.dk/Fact%20Sheets/Upper%20secondary%20education/Information%20and%
20Communication%20Technologies%20ICT%20in%20Upper%20Secondary%20Education.aspx>
[Accessed
16
May
2011].
The Danish Ministry of Education, 2010. Overview of the Danish Education System. [online] Available
at:
<http://www.eng.uvm.dk/Uddannelse/Education%20system.aspx>
47
[Accessed
16
May
2011].
READ IT Literature Survey – Italy
by
Francesca Vannucchi, Sebastiano Triulzi
(Università degli Studi “Guglielmo Marconi”! USGM)
in collaboration with
Annarita Briganti (Marsilio Editori)
Contents
READIT Literature Survey ! Italy ....................................................................................................................... 49
1.
The educational system context and background including availability of technologies in school ....... 49
2.
Some causes of slow development of technology in the school educational system ............................ 54
3.
New tools used in schools in the learning context ................................................................................. 55
3.1. Interactive whiteboards (IWB) .................................................................................................................. 55
3.2 Podcast, mobile, Second Life and 3D: two revealing examples................................................................. 56
3.3 Interviews to teachers on the uses of ICT in schools ................................................................................. 58
4.
Principal studies on the use of Digital Storytelling and social media in classroom practice .................. 59
5.
Three best practices in Italy concerning the use of the Digital Storytelling ........................................... 60
5.1. The experiences of the SIDiS and the University of Padua ....................................................................... 61
5.1.1. The Italian Society of Digital Storytelling ........................................................................................... 61
5.1.2. The “Digital Storytelling for training” course for Improvement and updating at the University
of Padua ....................................................................................................................................................... 64
5.2. The Storytelling Observatory of the University of Pavia ........................................................................... 65
5.3. The European “eTwinning” project and the experience of ANSAS .......................................................... 66
5.4. Some recommended reading.................................................................................................................... 67
6.
Multimedia products to promote reading and writing ........................................................................... 68
6.1 The situation in Italy................................................................................................................................... 69
7.
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 71
8.
Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 74
48
READIT Literature Survey - Italy
1. The educational system context and background
including availability of technologies in school
In Italy the Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) is the responsible for financing the
secondary Schools. The Italian school system has currently two cycles of education followed by
university education. The first cycle is for the 6!14 age!range and the second cycle is for the 14!19
age!range. The first ten years of education (6!16 years) are compulsory. The first cycle is subdivided
into:
the primary school (in Italian “Scuola primaria”) with students 6!11 years;
the lower secondary school (in Italian “Scuola secondaria di primo grado”) with students 11!
14 years.
The second cycle has an initial two!year period for 14!16 year!olds, which completes the ten years of
compulsory education. Normally the second cycle in the education system is the upper secondary
school (in Italian “Scuola secondaria di secondo grado”) lasting 5 years, after which the secondary
education diploma is awarded that allows the student to enter university.
In Italy, the MIUR is the responsible for establishing the national curriculum. A certain number of
skills and knowledge are guaranteed to all students and the final profile of the student. In this
legislative framework the Regions (local authorities), in the exercise of its exclusive powers for
planning of training provision, may define the network of educational services in the territory and
planning the distribution of types of institutions and address locally to meet the users’needs and the
world of production, eliminating eventually duplication and uncertainty due to the overlap of some
training. They can exercise: the planning of the integration of education and training, the
programming to the school network on the basis of provincial plans, the definition of the school
calendar. Based on the law on school autonomy (Presidential Decree of 8 March 1999, n. 275),
schools are obliged to prepare the Curriculum Plan (in Italian “Piano dell’offerta Formativa – P.O.F.”),
which, among other things, includes afternoon extracurricular activities such us artistic!creative type
intended as optional activities for students of the particular school.
On September 2010 the reform of the second cycle of education system (deliberation of the Council
of Ministers adopted at the meeting of February 4, 2010) was enforced. The national law has
identified the following organization of the schools:
6 high schools (art, classic, language, musical and dance, science, humanities);
technical institutes divided into 2 sectors (economy!tourism and technology) with 11
degrees;
49
professional institutes divided into 2 sectors (services sector and industry and handicrafts
sector) with 11 degrees.
The high schools last 5 years. The first two years is finalized the initial study and development of
knowledge and skills. The second period is aimed at deepening and development of knowledge and
skills and competencies that characterize the maturation of the individual joints of the high school
system. In the fifth year pursuing full implementation of the educational profile, cultural and
professional student outlined in the national legislation, the full achievement of specific learning
objectives and will strengthen the path of study orientation and subsequent inclusion in the working
world. The high schools provide, beginning in the second period, specific procedures for the
advancement of knowledge, skills and competencies required for access to its courses of study and
for insertion into the world of work.
Normally the second cycle in the education system lasts 5 years, but the professional institutes can
award qualifications (third year) and professional degrees (to four) under subsidiary, on the basis of
specific agreements concluded by the Ministry of Education, University and Research with the
Regions. These schools may continue to hold three!year courses for the attainment of professional
qualifications on the basis of planning regions. The Ministry provides that the solution (maintaining
the three!year diploma was issued by professional institutions under the subsidiary) goes to meet
the strong demand of households and the workplace to provide training cycle shorter than the five!
year, however, always open to continuation of studies.
In addition to courses offered by high schools, technical institutes and professional institutes, young
people may choose to enrol in one of the training courses offered by the system of vocational
training within the competence of the Regions. That system has an order of national importance that
provides three!year and four!year diploma qualifications already defined at national level in the
technical headquarters of the Conference State!Regions. These diploma are nationally recognized.
Are further opportunities for young people, called to exercise their right and duty to education and
training until the attainment of a diploma or a vocational qualification of at least three years within
18 years. Anyone interested in continuing their studies, will have the option of returning to the
school system for obtaining a diploma of secondary school, or attend a special preparatory course
organized in cooperation with the universities. The same opportunity is offered to students of upper
secondary schools that wish to change the system for the vocational training to achieve professional
qualifications and diplomas. The Ministry of Education with the Ministry of Labour and the regions
have shared duties and responsibilities of some professions for which you can proceed to the start of
training.
The technical education aims at training students graduates with latest technical skills for
intermediate level (national competence), while vocational education is understood in a more
"operational" in close liaison with the production sectors in the territory (regional competence). The
training path of the second cycle have a term of five years and are divided into two year periods and
in a fifth years, after which students take the state exam, return to continue their studies at any
university faculty. The fifth year is also designed to better link between the school and higher
education and preparation for integration into working life. The reform aims at greater flexibility and
customization of training school autonomy by granting equal to 20% in the initial two year period
and in the last year and 30% in the second biennium. Schools, making use of their autonomy, they
50
can expand and enrich the curriculum with activities and teaching faculty which, once chosen, it still
requires compulsory attendance. Through this share of flexibility, each school may decide to
diversify their sections, to reduce (up to one third over the 5 years) or increase the times of
disciplines, including activating additional teaching provided in a separate list (Annex H of decree of
the reform). On this basis, schools can enhance the teaching requirements or activate other
teachings, according to its Curriculum Plan (in Italian is Piano di Offerta Formativa – P.O.F.), given the
resources staffing allocations and in a list prepared by the Ministry. In all routes it is expected that in
5 years of non!language course discipline is studied foreign language in the manner CLIL. A
forthcoming decree ministerial fix the paths and titles for the specialty CLIL. The reform sets a
maximum limit of 30!32 hours for the weekly (35 only for art education).
In summary, the study program of secondary schools and its address, and the annual timetable of
activities and lessons compulsory for all students is defined at the national level (The Ministry of
Education) . In high schools the disciplines and laboratories are organized by schools through this
plan of training provision in accordance with its specificity in order to enhance and enrich the
features. In order to respond to the needs and vocations of territories in strengthening and
articulation of the educational high school art may be secured by specific agreement with the
regions, with particular reference to the workshop activities and interactions with the world of work.
The Ministry of Education University and Research (MIUR) created an institution “Istituto nazionale
per la valutazione del sistema educativo di istruzione e di formazione INVALSI” that is in charge for
monitoring periodically the secondary School system. Based on current regulations, which have
evolved significantly increasing regulatory focus on evaluation and quality of the education system,
the Institute:
-
-
-
-
carries out regular and systematic knowledge and skills of students and the overall quality of
the educational institutions of education and vocational education and training
investigates the causes of failure and school dropout with reference to the social context
and the types of training provision;
perform the measurements needed to evaluate the value added by schools;
prepares annually the text of the new written test, a national character, seeking to verify the
general and specific levels of learning achieved by students in the examination of State for
the third year of lower secondary school degree;
developing models to be put at the disposal of school autonomy in preparing the third test
at the conclusion of the paths in upper secondary education;
provides for the assessment of levels of student learning at the end of upper secondary
education courses, using the written evidence of the state exams in accordance with criteria
and procedures consistent with those applied internationally to ensure comparability;
provide support and technical assistance to school administration, regions, territorial
authorities and individual schools and training initiatives for the creation of autonomous
monitoring, evaluation and self!evaluation;
Training Organization of teaching staff and school leaders, linked to the processes of
evaluation and self!evaluation of schools;
conducts research, either on its own initiative or at the office of public and private;
assures the Italian participation in European research projects and international field
evaluation represented the country in the competent bodies;
51
formulates proposals for full implementation of the evaluation system of school
management, defines the procedures for their assessment, formulates proposals for training
of team members to assess and perform monitoring on the development and the outcome
of the evaluation system.
Far thus, the results concerning the use of ICT coming out form the monitoring activities doesn’t
affect the teacher’s wage.
-
The majority of the literature produced in our country on the use of new technologies for teaching !
supported by very thorough research and analysis ! shares the view that Italian schools are still
backward in comparison to both developed countries and the Lisbon Guidelines. If we consider, for
example, two key points of the strategies set out in the Lisbon Agreement, which aspired to build a
knowledge!based European Union, we realize that not every Italian institution has access to the
Internet and to multimedia resources, and that only percentage of the teachers are expert in the use
of new technologies in schools. There are many reasons for this, and in this summary there is no
space to deal with them all. We indicate at least one reason which we call structural and which
concerns the implemented policies and the type of response by the institutions, often designed to
buffer the emergency rather than referring to a common and coordinated plan of activities.
Although in recent years the number of schools provided with a computer network connecting
computers in classrooms or offices has increased, teaching or secretarial services delivered
electronically have certainly improved and new technologies such as wireless, broadband or the use
of open source software are increasingly adopted, as far as technological innovation in teaching is
concerned, there is still a long way to go.
At first, to summarize, the investments of the Ministry of Education were aimed at the purchase of
technological equipment and the provision of teaching laboratories. The Programme for the
Development of Educational Technology (PSTD 97!2000) involved an introduction of information
technology to all Italian schools, at the same time it aiming to bridge the gap that had arisen
between other European countries by enhancing technological equipment available to schools.
Unfortunately, the acquisition of tools – principally hardware ! was not supported by a parallel
investment in teacher knowledge. With great ingenuity it was believed that the mere adoption of
computers and other IT tools could make school more efficient and modern.
Only in a second phase, from the 2000s onwards, the institutions dealt with the problem of teacher
training by setting up a national project, called Fortich, that was configured on the Syllabus of the
European Computer Driver Licence (ECDL). An approach that makes no sense anymore because
almost all teachers, either in their daily work or for business reasons use a computer now. This
project involved almost 250,000 teachers, more than a quarter of the total, that was before the
many cuts that the School has suffered after the so!called Gelmini Reform launched in 2010 (named
after the Minister of Education, University and Research ).
After the first OCSE survey, Pisa 200610, had reported the learning of Italian language, mathematics
and science in secondary school as being highly inadequate, the Ministry started to invest in the
funding of training projects in upper primary school, called Metabel for maths, Poseidon for Italian,
ISS for science, using public money for technological innovation: a budget of 90 million of euros was
10
OCSE!PISA 2006. Programme for International Student Assesment,
<http://www.invalsi.it/invalsi/ri/pisa2006.php?page=pisa2006_it_05>
52
on
line,
Available
at:
provided for the period 2008!2011, two thirds of which aimed at providing classes with digital
blackboards. The sharp cut on economic resources for school which we talked about earlier did not
help the realization of this project. According to the findings of an independent source like
Altraeconomia, each board can cost up to € 2,000 (excluding computer and projector), to which
should be added the expense of refresher courses for teachers. Currently, bright interactive
whiteboards for teaching exist in only a few Italian schools. The primary school was excluded from
this type of intervention, and a reduction in investments implemented by the Ministry in recent
years has penalized it even further beyond the imagination.
However, the public investment policy in this area set up by the Ministry of Education, University
and Research (MIUR) has often focused on teachers. Investment on the divulgation and use of
information technology, and support of teacher training in this first phase were also aimed at
overcoming resistance to the use of new technology in the classroom. If the information and
communication technologies have radically and very quickly transformed the workplace, in an
organization such as the Italian school "that reveals ! as Massimo Faggioli writes in his book Le
tecnologie della didattica (2010, p. XII) ! very weak and hierarchical links and a strong sense of
individualism of the professors who work there", the change could not be slower. Several field
studies conducted over the last decade show that teachers complain about the negative effects of
the media, indicating them as a reason for the loss of concentration and interest in children,
deploring the use of 'copy and paste', complaining of the impoverishment of personal creativity
deriving from prolonged use of video games, warning against confusion and mingling of the real
world with virtual environments, and finally considering the retrieval of information that is not
proven or documented, through the Internet, as a path to knowledge which is too easy.
This unease is only part of the reality, but the tendency to reject new technologies has been one of
the first barriers that the development plans of the Ministry have had to face. It is well known that
change is possible when teachers recognize the validity and soundness of the legislation introduced.
In Italy, moreover, teachers gain access to the profession by first following a universitary disciplinary
path and then through the SISS; what is still missing is an emphasis on educational techniques, on
teaching methods. For this reason the basic model for the Italian teacher is often that of the
educational experience lived when studying at school. From here too, perhaps, arises a distrust of
the use of new technology in schools mentioned earlier.
Despite everything we have said, digital content and digital media such as the DVD, personal
computer, iPod or even digital cameras are frequently used in Italian schools. A recent survey on the
use of personal computers (conducted by Adiconsum 2010, on a limited sample ! 1,570 students,
523 parents and 299 teachers) indicates that over 70% of schools have a computer or multimedia
room, and 66 % have internet access. Almost all children involved in this research had a pc at home
(97%), used mostly for entertainment purposes such as games, videos, music, photos and social
networks. Teachers also claimed familiarity with computers: 94% of respondents claimed to own
one, while 50% described themselves as competent in the use of the Internet. There is one thing
that should not be underestimated regarding the cultural profile of our country: it has been
repeatedly shown that the use of computers in school can re!balance, even if in part, the differences
between students whose parents are graduates and those whose parents have lower educational
53
qualifications. The document drawn up by ISTAT Cittadini e nuove tecnologie 200811 notes that the
Italian school!age population (15!19 years) uses more Internet, mostly at home, especially if they live
in families of high cultural level which are open to innovation. Almost all reports, including the
European “EUkids online”12 which analyze the impact of transnational risks and opportunities that
adolescents face by surfing the Net, confirm that Italian children are the least connected in Europe.
The fact that our country has a bad European ranking regarding access to broadband Internet, also
leads to another negative record in Italian schools: the educational use of Internet in Italy is one of
the lowest in Europe, about half the European average. To this we must add another consideration:
Many EU countries have taken strong security measures for the use of Internet at school, where the
incidence of risk at home is on average more than double than that of school. In Italy it is different,
the risk is the same whether the child uses the Internet at school or at home.
2. Some causes of slow development of technology in the
school educational system
This last element indicates a critical factor in the Italian school, its subordination in relation to new
media, the fact that rather than applying itself to use new technology it seems to be trying to chase
it out. The push for innovation in recent years has meant that there has been one computer to every
ten students, placed in an allocated classroom or a teaching laboratory which only in a few cases was
provided with broadband or high!speed connection (according to the Ministry of Education at least
50 % of Italian schools); thereafter, to initiate this process, teachers were given training courses on
technology use in teaching and communication tools. However, the report Rapporto sulla scuola in
Italia 2010 (2010, Editori Laterza) prepared by the Agnelli Foundation points out that use of
technology by teachers is often not integrated with academic activities, carried out by traditional
methods ! let it be said, by the way, that the teaching of the frontal type, allowing teachers to
communicate with all students at the same time, remains the most common and preferred approach
at a national level. Almost all data, available so far, tell us that in most compulsory school classes
technology has not been significantly integrated into the didactic practice.
In general, Italian schools also use computers seldom and badly, and this is quite significant if we
think of the impact of computer and media technology on children’s lives. The problems do not stem
from hostility towards the use of technology for teaching purposes, as in the past, but from
bureaucratic problems. Limited use is due to the fact that schools have only one computer lab, that
classes can only attend in turn. Computer labs are often separated from classrooms, with all the
problems that this entails. Informatics is only a specific discipline when it is included in the school
curriculum as a career subject, in the rest of the school system it is taught by professors from other
disciplines. In addition to the logistical problems arising from having to share resources, many
11
ISTAT,
2008.
Cittadini
e
nuove
tecnologie,
on
line,
Available
at:
<http://www.istat.it/salastampa/comunicati/non_calendario/20090227_00/testointegrale20090227.pdf>
12
European “EUkids online”. Repository of Research on Children and the Internet in Europe, on line,
Available
at:
<http://www2.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EUKidsOnline/EU%20Kids%20I%20%282006!
9%29/repository.aspx>
54
teachers, though familiar with computers and the Internet, do not know how to apply these
technologies to teaching. Teacher training plays a fundamental role: the integration of educational
technology in school education can be provided only if teachers can use it wisely and with
competence. Essentially, we repeat, the adoption of new technology must be accompanied by new
and improved methods of teaching. The surveying activity of "Digiscuola" in 2007 concerning
analysis of the use of digital whiteboard (IWB) in schools indicated that teachers who use an
overhead projector, though aware of the educational opportunities that are opening up to them,
consider as negative factors the time it takes to prepare materials and lessons, lack of coordination
and collaboration with other teachers, location of the LIM outside the usual classroom preventing
full utilization, waiting times before installation, lack of internet access at school, arising of technical
difficulties, greater focus on the functioning of the device rather than on the contents, etc..
In this framework we must not forget the many examples of excellence that exist on our territory
which, though uncoordinated, we will try to relate in the later stages of our research. The most
recent plans proposed by the Ministry tend to unify professional teacher development with the
purchase of new teaching equipment: even in our country there is a growing awareness, for some
years now and to an ever increasing extent, that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
can influence and transform students' learning by fundamentally changing the way each discipline
can be taught and learned. We should add however that we are still waiting for specific studies to
certify the effectiveness of new technology in relation to the improved performance of Italian
students. Perhaps also for this reason the Ministry of Education recently launched the National Plan
for Digital Schools “in order to change ! as we read in the official document ! the learning
environments through integration of technology in education. No more classes in the lab but the lab
in the class: one strategy, many actions.” For now we only have the slogan.
3.
New tools used in schools in the learning context
3.1. Interactive whiteboards (IWB)
Concerning the issue of digitization and innovation in Italian schools, institutions have attached
considerable importance to interactive whiteboards (IWB). According to data supplied by MIUR
itself, in the past few years schools have bought more than 22,500 devices with funds provided by
the State, where the national average is 6 interactive whiteboards for every 100 classrooms. Up to
November 30 2010, the regions who had invested more were Campania, Lombardy, Sicily and Puglia.
As it has been rightly pointed out, IWB “is able to reverse the traditional technology!education!
communication paradigm”13 that made interaction between traditional teaching and learning
through ICT less automatic and fluid. On the one hand the use of digital whiteboards is a way to
benefit from the educational opportunities of the computer while keeping key elements of the
teaching presence mode. On the other hand, since IWB is not just a peripheral but an interactive
device, it leads to true digital convergence: you can make audio video files out of it, use it for notes
and diagrams, interactive and multimedia exercises! whether installed or printed out! write and
draw straight on the board as if it were no different from a regular blackboard.
13
Faggioli M., Tecnologie per la didattica, Apogeo, Milano, pp. 1, 2010.
55
Thus, an IWB makes it possible to “view and analyze information, documents, experiences and
stories previously flattened out in paper copies or verbally related”14. According to Rudi Bartolini,
expectations regarding the introduction of IWB in schools range from the ability to combine typical
new media interactivity, experienced by kids every day, to the wider potential of multiple
multimedia language: besides more effective disciplinary and educational organization, and more
profitable access to digital sources and content, IWBs will provide "higher levels of interaction in
class, since students and teachers will be able to manipulate digital content in order to achieve
specific educational tasks"15.
It is necessary to recall briefly how Italian institutions have come to invest in IWB. At the beginning
the planning was a prerogative of single local initiatives, first of all the ones in Lombardy in 2005,
where training courses for teachers in kindergarten and first years of primary and secondary school
were implemented. Equally important was the project set up by the independent province of Trento
aimed at providing local schools with interactive whiteboards aiming for each class to have one by
2012. Since Digiscuola turned out to be a successful experience, in 2007 the Ministry of Education
has launched a national initiative to distribute 30.000 interactive whiteboards over a period of three
years. Economic investment in the desires of the promoters corresponded to a virtuous mechanism
aimed at the effective and profitable use of new technology, "the training and support to teaching as
a foundation for the necessary skill development in IWB effective use, the adoption of a stable
integrated system to minimize the impact of technical issues on teaching, the installation of IWB in
the classroom where teachers use the blackboard on daily basis”16.
3.2 Podcast, mobile, Second Life and 3D: two revealing examples
Technology for didactic purposes is often introduced to Italian schools to experimental ends. Lack of
coherence is the main reason for there being several projects, promoted and financed by local
authorities or private corporations, scattered throughout the Italian peninsula with no overruling
schedule to promote their horizontal diffusion.
These ongoing experiments however indicate that even those technologies usually considered
harmful to teenagers ! Social Media or videogames, Second Life or 3D vision ! may be helpful to
teaching. In conjunction with incentives to use digital whiteboards and interactive surfaces,
hopefully to be accompanied by the development of effective teacher training, some ready and
willing teachers in Italian schools are seeking to develop educational content using digital
technologies originally created for purposes other than that of education.
However in the absence of cohesive and coherent planning of educational policies by the Ministry of
Education, the school will always be chasing behind the phenomena that emerge from the
technological society without being able to be at the forefront or take advantage of them for
educational purposes: consider the expansion of the e!book, the use of teaching on!demand by way
of podcast and mobile, exploitation of all the possibilities of communication offered by 3!D
environments or virtual worlds like Second Life, even the adoption of videogames based on the
principle of teaching through enjoyment. Lets not forget that the EU institutions have repeatedly
repeated that ICT is a key factor in development, and have emphasized that informatics literacy
14
Ivi, p. 2
Bartolini R., Insegnare fra tecnologia e innovazione, 6 novembre 2009, on line, Available at
<www.indire.it/content/index.php?action=read&id=1606>
16
Tecnologie per la didattica, p. 13.
15
56
constitutes a primary need. The cutbacks on the Italian school’s economic resources by the so!called
Gelmini Reform, in the name of the Minister of Research and Education, goes precisely in the
opposite direction to the dictates of Europe, and seems to have the main objective of moving a part
of the school population into private schools, which cost less to the state than public schools.
Taking into account a few experimental teaching experiences undoubtedly has a political value too,
that is if we take politics as being a means to improve the communities we live in: a good example of
the use of podcasts for the classroom learning has been developed by the Institute technical Bodoni!
Paravia of Turin since 2005, mainly through the efforts of one teacher, Alberto Plan, also author of a
book on techniques for teaching (Computer, scuola e formazione, 1996), and whose method, namely
the podcast, foresees the participation of students in the preparation of a lesson that they can then
listen to again on their computer by downloading it from the Internet in mp3 version or with the aid
of other technologies like the iPod. The idea was born when «a student in the final year became very
ill and could no longer participate in class. So the teacher and classmates invented what they called
radio Tony, after the boy’s name, and began recording the lessons so he could listen to them from
home, bringing him not only the subject matter but also the atmosphere and debates that went on
in the whole class»17.
Training in virtual environments also presents some exceptional experimental examples, as is the
case of several schools in Trentino ! l’Istituto d'Arte "Vittoria", il CFP "Artigianelli", il Centro Moda
"Canossa" ! who produced a Second Life art exhibition center, whose purpose was "to work on
thinking so as to enhance its skill and creative ability," 18 encouraging students in creative or "lateral"
thinking according to the theory of Edward De Bono, psychologist, physician and author of best!
seller on creativity (Lateral Thinking: a Textbook of Creativity, Six Thinking Hats, Simplicity, The
Mechanism of the Mind, etc. in Italy published by Rizzoli).
As explained by one of the teachers who participated in the project, "It is a thought that does not
follow a direction, but generates it, a thought that searches for richness of ideas and not their
correctness, a thought that does not guarantee a permanent solution for a problem but increases
the chances of finding it, a thought looking for an opportunity to bring about a change in ones own
ideas. For this reason the creative thinking lessons focused mainly, other than simple theoretical
concepts, on the generation of alternative ways of perceiving objects and concrete problems. We
also used a board game for the development of new meanings: the game Qing. In this game the
person who manages to form the most connecting phrases, to words coming from different
categories, wins. After this preparatory phase, the start!up week held in Ossana, a beautiful
mountain resort of Val di Sole, the students went on to produce ideas for the realization of the
virtual Centre for the Development of Creativity. After which they categorized and evaluated these
ideas, then they chose the best of them, on both a creative and practical basis, finally transforming
them into Second Life"19.
17
N.d., 2009, La Repubblica, 31gen., p. 5, Turin
18
Garniga A., Frizzera L., Stacchini F., 2009, Porgetto “Second Life – formazione creativa in ambiente virtuale”
presso
tre
scuole
trentine,
on
line,
Available
at:
<http://services.economia.unitn.it/didamatica2009/Atti/lavori/garniga1.pdf>
19
Vettori
F.,
A
scuola
di
creatività
nel
virtuale,
on
line,
Available
at:
<http://www.indire.it/content/index.php?action=read&id=1548>
57
In this case, Second Life was the setting for innovative teaching, which if on the one hand allowed
creative freedom "due to the absence of many of the limitations that arise in the real world ! to
name but a few, people in SL can fly, use tele!transportation and breathe under water – on the other
it required considerable planning ability on the part of the students, the resolution of difficulties of
the technical!construction type and the careful management of materials available."20 Also in the
same ambit, alongside educational proposals that come from strictly local areas, there are also even
larger and more structured projects present in Italy, such as that promoted by the National Agency
for the Development of Education (ANSAS), called Second Learning, which has as its primary
objective, "the identification of new teaching methods through the use of virtual worlds."21 Since
space is limited, unfortunately we can not list the many worthy experiments concerning the use of
ICT in Italian schools, but the underlying principle still remains that together with a push from below,
regional and sometimes with the help of private finances, there should also be an organic force from
above, with the launching of projects from a national and, as far as possible, uniform perspective.
3.3 Interviews to teachers on the uses of ICT in schools
Besides general summarizing, we conducted a further synthetic investigation on the actual
applications and uses of ICT in schools, basing ourselves on the direct experience of teachers who
joined the first phase of Read it so as to understand the real situation in Italian schools.
Since there are no statistics, the consultation has to be taken as a set of unique experiential data;
teachers were interviewed in order to compare subjects proposed by the questionnaire to routine
on a daily basis in Italian schools, as we shouldn’t hide our curiosity about that. Basically, teachers
were asked whether their schools had one or more computer labs for the use of new technology for
educational purposes and what were the main problems they had to face; in the case of there being
a lab, it was asked how many times students visited it; what was the most popular ICT available and
which one, in their opinion, contributed most to the teaching of writing and reading. It should not
be forgotten that we are talking about teachers who have already been involved in an ICT program
such as Read it so they are considerably more digitalized than the national average.
With no intention to overshadow the general features drawn from the survey in partner countries
arising from our questionnaire, it was found that schools where teachers were involved in Read it
had had an assignment provide them with teaching labs with computers, internet, interactive
whiteboards, TVs with Dvd players and other ICT. Students’ interest in new technologies and
teachers’ confidence in their actual or forthcoming benefits when used in the teaching of reading
and writing were highlighted by all respondents. Interviewed teachers identify an insufficient
integration between traditional and digital teaching as a distinguishing characteristic of the Italian
scenario. Another major problem they consider to be detrimental is the separation of the ICT lab!
which is usually located in another room! from the regular classroom. Teachers emphasize their
inability to visit the computer lab regularly because of shifts with other classes as well as the fact
that allocated classrooms are often not wired, which leads to obvious difficulties in the use of ICT for
teaching. Last but not least, teachers need more comprehensive and effective training, otherwise
ministerial policies are not likely to succeed. Most common ICT includes computer with broadband
internet, interactive whiteboards, TVs with DVD players, listening posts to learn foreign languages,
projectors and trolleys with laptops, projectors and speakers. The “Amedeo di Savoia Duca d'Aosta"
20
21
Porgetto “Second Life – formazione creativa in ambiente virtuale, p. 7.
SecondLearning – Didattica nei mondi virtuali, on line, Available at: <http://www.secondlearning.it>
58
ITIS Technical School in L’Aquila is a model of excellence since there are 47 well!equipped and
technologically advanced labs.
Regarding teachers’ frequency in visiting the labs, our investigation does not show consistency.
Cases range from labs which are so constantly occupied by teachers in art, language or technical
disciplines that Italian teachers’ access is often penalized, to a little more freedom to practice
teaching with computers and ICT. On average, respondents access the lab twice a month with each
of their classes, while they feel the need to take advantage of the educational opportunities of new
technology more often. Popular instruments are computers with Internet access, Word processing
as well as graphics, language and editing programs (these may vary according to the discipline) as
well as interactive whiteboards. Teachers who have an interactive whiteboard at their disposal in
class use it as a supplement on a regular basis. The use of TVs with integrated DVD players in order
to structure a lesson through watching movies and documentaries or develop foreign languages
through original language material is also widespread.
Thus, Read it teachers’ opinions on technology learning labs are quite interesting: all the equipment
results in being helpful for the teaching of writing and reading in schools. For teachers who have
access to few digital tools and an excess of students, some teach in six different classes, computers
with broadband internet and word processing and interactive whiteboards, hopefully in class, are
essential to both developing individual inclinations to read and write and stimulating creativity
through group study and work. Some teachers use “voice recognizers”: they read a piece, repeat it
several times, record it and play it back, then students do the same to practice with reading aloud.
Interactive whiteboards with integrated recorders enable reading aloud or text writing directly on
the “touch” display. Respondents also believe that viewing teaching materials and movies (in original
language for foreign language teachers) encourages students to read; while they recommend Word
or other freeware processing, non!sequential text composition through cut and paste, the
construction of concept maps with Power Point or even the creation of a book trailer to improve
writing skills. In the few classes of our survey included in the MIUR project: "2.0 cl@ssrooms ", ICT is
used regularly in all disciplines; to this end each student has a personal computer and ebook to
follow lessons and do their homework. This is the goal towards which all Italian and European
schools should strive for a proper integration of the traditional method – still a fundamental element
of education ! with
new technology.
4. Principal studies on the use of Digital Storytelling and
social media in classroom practice
Communication technologies are not neutral. They restructure thought, as Walter J. Ong argues in
his essay “Orality and Literacy” (1982)22. For this reason, it is necessary to propose an education in
22
Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word, London and New York,
Methuem, 1982 (trad. it. Oralità e scrittura. Le tecnologie della parola, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1993).
59
media connected to social context, through the tools and real intent, true to everyday life and
informal contexts. The need for proper identification and deciphering of the media gave rise in the
early Seventies to a careful pedagogical reflection on this issue, known as Media Education.
Concerning this, specific proposals have emerged for education and learning in schools within the
normal school curriculum.
This is an important subject, dealt with all over the world. In Italy, among others, there are the
contributions of Luciano Galliani (1988 and 2005)23, Roberto Giannatelli (2001)24, Pier Cesare
Rivoltella (2001)25, Mario Morcellini (2004)26 and Alberto Parola (2008)27.
The prospects of reading and writing are integrated with the prospects of other media, each
according to their own language. Today the communication of a book stems comes from its
contents. The integration of the media favors its spread. Franco Ferrarotti expresses the need for “a
critical interaction between the different media […] capable (perhaps) of stimulating each other or at
least compensating for their respective limits”28.
Some interesting Italian models, for the application of new technology in favor of the dissemination
of knowledge, are presented in this part of the report. These are some examples of the innovation
process involving schools and universities, concerning in particular the digitization of services and
the introduction of new tools and aids to teaching.
This study describes three experiments, carried out in schools and universities, concerning not only
the use of digital storytelling as a tool to be used in teaching but also in a work context and in other
different aspects of the life.
5. Three best practices in Italy concerning the use of the
Digital Storytelling
The aim of this part of the research is to highlight some of the most important experiences, related
to the subjects of digital storytelling and new technology applied to teaching in Italian schools and
universities. These new technological tools are important for increasing knowledge. They enable the
creation of contemporary stories with words, images and sounds even with few technical skills and
at very little expense.
23
Luciano Galliani, Educazione ai linguaggi audiovisivi, Torino, SEI, 1988; Luciano Galliani, La
scuola in rete, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2005.
24
Roberto Giannatelli, La Media education nella scuola: perché, come, che cosa insegnare dei
media, in «Orientamenti Pedagogici», n. 2, pp. 282-296.
25
Pier Cesare Rivoltella, Media Education. Modelli, esperienze, profilo disciplinare, Roma, Carocci,
2001.
26
Mario Morcellini, La TV fa bene ai bambini, Roma, Meltemi, 1999.
27
Alberto Parola, Territori mediaeducativi, Trento, Erickson, 2008.
28
Franco Ferrarotti, Leggere, leggersi, Roma, Donzelli, 1998, pp. 18-19.
60
5.1. The experiences of the SIDiS and the University of Padua
5.1.1. The Italian Society of Digital Storytelling
The Italian Society of Digital Storytelling29 originated as a a research group on educational
applications of multimedia technologies and training in the Department of Education at the
University of Padova. The project leaders are Corrado Petrucco and Marina De Rossi30.
The goal of the SIDis is to promote the development and dissemination of digital storytelling in Italy,
through narration and multimedia languages. It aims to promote projects to educate and train in a
new way, paying attention to the stories that each person (adult or child) may want to share.
The SIDiS studies digital storytelling from different points of view: i) Digital Storytelling and narrative
documentation; ii) Digital Storytelling for professional autobiographies; iii) Digital Storytelling for
self!discovery; iv) Digital Storytelling for disciplinary didactic; v) Digital Storytelling in businesses and
organizations; vi) Digital Storytelling and disability; vii) Digital Storytelling as animation to oppose
youth malaise; viii) Digital Storytelling, Cultural and Territorial resources31.
i) Digital Storytelling and narrative documentation.
Documentation responds to the need of complex organizations to make productive use of their
tecno!scientific capital by putting it onto the information circuit. In addition, it reconstructs the
culture and philosophy that are behind the work and production processes, through a reflexive re!
visitation. Documentation is one of the basic elements of life in professional contexts. It includes two
aspects: the production of information and its organization for the deployment of resources. The
construction of a good circuit documentary is an important tool for management and organizational
development, collecting and preserving the memory of actions and more significant experiences,
creating awareness of the identity and quality of work produced, facilitating the exchange and
circulation of information. Currently, the concept of documentation such as narrative includes those
new contents deriving from theoretical research and technological development and have given rise
to a new way of organizing and transferring knowledge through digital convergence and multi!
channeling. Documentation designed through the construction and use of digital storytelling aims at
a product where the experience must remain as true as possible to the richness and complexity of
the narrator’s perception. In this way the users have the possibility of grasping the subject matter
which characterizes either one phase or the whole course of professional work. Through this mode
of communication, the experience can be presented in a compelling, immediate, concise,
comprehensive and articulated way, giving a clear idea of the structure, purpose and processes.
29
SIDiS, http://www.digitalstorytellingitalia.org/.
Corrado Petrucco is Professor of Technologies Education in the Department of Education of the
University of Padova. He is currently working on the potential of storytelling through multimedia
languages for knowledge representation, cognitive aspects of searching for information online,
teaching applications of social software and Web 2.0 and themes of Semantic Web (ontology).
Marina De Rossi is Professor of Methodology and technique for group work and animation culture
and Methodology of game and animation. She deals with active methodologies for education and
training, with special emphasis on storytelling, storytelling and autobiographical techniques.
31
SIDiS, What we do,
<www.digitalstorytellingitalia.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=34&Itemid=2
7.>
30
61
ii) Digital Storytelling for professional autobiographies.
The autobiographical method contains elements of explanation and an understanding of reality
where processes of interpretation and construction of meaning are adopted to structure the story of
relationships and professional contexts. In this view the subject may be favored to become aware of
himself in relation to his own professional background through autobiographical methods. The
professional use of digital storytelling can be a training strategy for all contexts: from the large
corporation to the small artisan and commercial activity, from the school to the large enterprise. It
can help clarify the success or failure mechanisms of an individual or team. It can be a resource to
shed light on the communicative and relational processes underlying group and community work. It
can focus attention on the analysis of situations and promote the resolution of complex problems.
iii) Digital Storytelling for self!discovery.
Digital Storytelling can be a tool for creating stories and autobiographies (personal or community)
that have as a focus the centrality of the person and his identity. The aim is to favour education and
training processes. Autobiographical thought uses narrative as a reflective practice on the individual
by organizing a series of moments derived from their own experience. Consequently,
autobiographical narrative is not only the act of narrating actions. It is a narrative that considers
context and personal action within that context. This kind of story leads to feeling, belonging and
cognitive participation. It supports the understanding of complex events. Learning to communicate
about ones own experience means learning how to construct stories that help give meaning to
personal experience.
Regarding this, multimedia languages increase expressive potential. Currently, thanks to the spread
of technological tools, these stories are a valuable resource of innovation.
iv) Digital Storytelling for the disciplinary didactic.
Digital Storytelling can help a group give meaning to particular events. It can encourage the
community or individuals to become active. The “significant” learning is collaborative, active,
intentional and contextualized. The learning is active (so!called learning by doing) when you use real
case studies (role!play, problem!solving). Intentionality is understood as the motivating desire to
achieve goals. Action gives meaning to the whole educational process. Using stories that have the
characteristic of presenting problems is a known and experienced teaching strategy. Digital
Storytelling is a useful way to introduce the basic concepts of a lesson. It is an assessment learning
tool, where students are asked to narrate a situation, real or simulated and methods and solutions
to a specific problem can be actually applied.
v) Digital Storytelling in business and organizations.
Even in a work context, histories are an important tool whereby knowledge is transmitted, discussed
and contextualized. In recent years many researchers, working in the area of management, have
recognized the important role of the narrative approach in the life of every organization. Narrative is
able to define the identity of groups. Consequently it develops a sense of belonging. This kind of
Storytelling is known as organizational Storytelling.
62
In the workplace sometimes knowledge is made explicit through stories that are told in an informal
way. They give rise to important “problem posing” and “problem!solving” processes. Digital
Storytelling can be used as a tool for creating a digital repository (database) of stories. The goal is to
maintain a memory of their employees knowledge, which would otherwise be lost. The database can
be a place for quick consultation and to find solutions to problems that are told in a specific context.
vi) Digital Storytelling and disability.
The use of new technology in the field of disabilities and learning disorders is able to produce
progress, not only for educational and rehabilitation processes, but also in style and in quality of life.
In a learning environment, new technologies are able to favour dynamic effects through stimulating
activities which involve the individual, making them director!builder of their documents. This helps
to support the development of imagination, creativity and cognitive processes. Involvement derived
from more immediate and understandable visual and audio language, increases possibilities of
learning.
Producing something usable increases the disabled person’s self!esteem and furthermore favours
the development of educational projects aimed at improving the quality of their lives. Digital
storytelling is an educational method that favours work with disabled people stimulating them
towards self knowledge. Self understanding helps expand the memory processes through
reconstruction of the past and present interpretation. It is a reflective path that helps in the
development of thinking. Multimedia tools can become a sort of extension of the self, because the
person is able to communicate the emotions, experiences and feelings they would otherwise be
unable to communicate because of their disability. Through photos, music and narration, it possible
to perceive the emotional investment in the situation or problem described.
vii) Digital Storytelling as animation to oppose the youth malaise.
In this case, digital storytelling is set up as a method for teenagers. Animation is an activity that aims
to activate the authentication process of people in preparation for a change, not only individuals
but also the community. The use of digital storytelling embraces the need to respond to a distress
which may affect the individual and society with a view to producing a change or preventing risk.
Sometimes the network is used as a tool for the dissemination of negative episodes that are shared
to widen the resonance and, in some cases, encourage repeat. Responding to an incorrect use of
multimedia resources through the same resources used in the educational version, means
promoting and supporting individual and collective change. Digital storytelling is not only important
for its end product, but also for the process it entails. Through it, behavior and emotion become part
of personal experience and are a cause for reflection. Stimulation of the imagination helps influence
lifestyles through perception of reality and representation of existence. Digital storytelling enables
young people to express their emotional bond with people, situations and places. It can improve
self!awareness, increase knowledge of the place they live in and the “emotional attachment” it holds
for them. Digital storytelling can influence other members of the group through their own emotional
story and that of the community in which they live. Documentation through digital storytelling also
becomes an evaluation and feedback for the progress that a group or a person has made in relation
to their problems. The experience can be shared with the virtual community for spread and
replication in different contexts.
63
viii) Digital Storytelling, Cultural and territorial resources.
Art conveys emotions, thoughts, feelings that can reach their maximum expression through
experience. Art can be experienced with one’s mind and reworked personally. Learning in action
bridges the gap between taking action and knowing, conceptuality and manuality, the concrete and
the abstract. Knowledge should not only come from decontextualized learning. The individual needs
to go to the place of the knowing, to feel involved, to perceive himself in the work. He must have the
opportunity to initiate creativity, to produce something innovative for the common good, to feel
personally summoned.
5.1.2. The “Digital Storytelling for training” course for Improvement and updating at the
University of Padua
In the context of the activity of the SIDiS, in 2010 the improvement and updating course “Digital
Storytelling for training” was conceived at the University of Padua32 and is online. The director of
studies is Marina De Rossi of the Education Department. The aim of this course is to provide the
technical, methodological and theoretical expertise for best digital storytelling practice in the field of
work. Narration is a tool that promotes knowledge processes, interpretation and reflection on
subjective experience in a collective perspective.The technologies of Web 2.0 have brought a radical
change to the way storytelling is presented. People have started to produce narrative by themselves
and disseminate it on the internet (for example, the blog as narrative text or Youtube for videos).
Concerning this, the narrative mediated by digital tools (through digital storytelling) is an important
conceptual and operational tool, complementary to traditional modes of teaching and learning. This
course lasts 250 hours. The lessons are divided into lectures (30 hours) and individual teaching (45
hours). The laboratory provides 150 hours of online learning. For the development and evaluation of
project work 10 hours of lectures and 15 hours individual tutorial are provided. The course includes
three sessions (initial, intermediate and final) in presence, for a total of 40 hours. They take place at
the course’s central office with specific seminars on subjects covered by the training being taught by
university professors and experts.
Laboratory and study activity are developed through the use of the open source platform “Moodle”,
of the University of Padua’s Education Faculty, with the help of tutors online. The activities have
interdisciplinary connotations but participants also meet in specific interest groups that take into
account their personal skills, disciplinary context and work. The following Digital Storytelling
applications, as specified in the context of the SIDiS33, are dealt with within the course,: i) Digital
Storytelling and narrative documentation; ii) Digital Storytelling for professional autobiographies; iii)
Digital Storytelling for self!discovery; iv) Digital Storytelling for disciplinary didactics; v) Digital
32
The course of improvement and updating “Digital Storytelling for training”, University of Padua,
<www.educazione.unipd.it/perfezionamento/digitalstorytelling/index.php/homemainmenu1.html>
33
SIDiS, What we do,
<http://www.digitalstorytellingitalia.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=34&It
emid=27.>
64
Storytelling in business and organizations; vi) Digital Storytelling and disability; vii) Digital Storytelling
as animation to oppose the youth malaise; viii) Digital Storytelling, Cultural and Territorial resources.
5.2. The Storytelling Observatory of the University of Pavia
The Storytelling34 Observatory is a centre of scientific research whose main office is at the
University of Pavia. It seeks to promote: i) the study and dissemination of subjects relating to
“narrative” in society, organizations and the media; ii) the conscious use of the “science of narrative”
in social communication and in the use of different media; iii) Interdisciplinary knowledge of
“narrative strategies” in different contemporary professions (managerial, artistic, educational,
organizational, etc.); iv) Seeing training and self!training on storytelling as a fundamental “life skill”
in contemporary social life; v) The analysis, study and dissemination of storytelling science and
techniques in public and private bodies that deal with health care and social assistance. The
Storytelling Observatory welcomes professionals, businesses, institutions, scholars and students
engaged in research, development, technique application and strategies of narration in social and
business organizational processes. The president is Andrea Fontana, the vice president is Micaela
Castiglioni, the secretary is Sara Mazzocchi.
The aim is to promote the study of storytelling and the use of narrative science for personal and
organizational growth, for experimentation and interdisciplinary research. The focus is on those
areas where the impact and evolution of the narrative process is stronger: the business community,
management and organization, media and technology, economy and consumption, geopolitics,
narrative medicine. The Observatory organizes teaching and research activities in the disciplines of
narrative and storytelling. It promotes and manages cultural events, conferences, lectures, debates,
seminars, film and documentary screenings. It designs and produces training and refresher courses.
It promotes study and research groups and networks, both nationally and internationally. It
produces communication tools, including multimedia and cross media, aimed at storytelling
divulgation. It also creates and publishes materials on subjects relating to narrative and storytelling.
The didactic centre of the Observatory is the Storytelling Academy. It is composed of experts in
science fiction and storytelling. It offers a high!profile training that sees narrative as an appliances
that can create value, influence the public and engage the social corporate. Its main objective is to
educate to “Storytelling skills”. The activities of the Storytelling Academy cover the following
disciplines: i) Modern political narrative; ii) Storytelling & the Media; iii) Storytelling & Screenwriting;
iv) Business conversation: how to generate, govern and measure.
On the 25th October 2010 the Storytelling Observatory organized the 2nd National Storytelling
Meeting on Business,35. The art of storytelling is used in different spheres of social life: from politics
to marketing, from advertising to training. Individuals, small groups or large companies frequently
use particular techniques and strategies related to storytelling. In this context, many companies
have become modern storytellers – from Apple to Microsoft, from Barilla to Nike. They have used
the narrative formula for the construction and communication of their institutional identities.
Narrative has many uses that are central to identifying individuals and both small and large groups.
34
Observatory of Storytelling, <http://www.storytellinglab.org/OS/>
Observatory of Storytelling, 2nd Meeting National Storytelling on Business,
<http://www.storytellinglab.org/OS/eventi2/speciale-narrare-il-consumo-secondo-convegnonazionalesulla-narrazione-dimpresa.html.>
35
65
Stories make communication more engaging and attractive. This premise prepares the way for the
spread of institutional storytelling. The event, the press release, the slogan, product design, the
newsletter, the company logo, the advertising campaign are all documents that define values and
identity business. This content is expressed to users. The company speaks through stories, but also
through its history. In this context the web paves new ways and techniques that can be put in
practice. Classic stories have a beginning and an end. The navigation paths and narrative /literature
of the web go beyond linear logic.
5.3. The European “eTwinning” project and the experience of ANSAS
The eTwinning36 project is a tool to create educational partnerships through the application of
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). It is an electronic twinning between European
schools. This project was founded in 2004 in the context of the European eLearning Programme.
Collaboration between schools is focused on curricular themes either of specific interest to schools
or on more general topics (such as intercultural education, the theme of peace, etc.). Since 2007
eTwinning has been part of the Learning Programme (LLP) specific to Comenius. Schools of all levels
recognized by the Ministry of Education and approved private schools in all countries of the
European Community, Iceland and Norway can participate in eTwinning. The project involves
partner schools in their entirety and is aimed at students and teachers as well as heads and all school
staff. Electronic twinning is an opportunity for participating schools to exchange knowledge and
experience and compare teaching methods, for human, cultural and linguistic interaction. The goals
are many. First of all, to use information and communication technology to reduce distances.
Secondly, to motivate students with new and interesting innovative activities. It is important to
disseminate the knowledge of different educational systems in the European nations and share and
exchange views between European teachers in education. Finally, the educational practices of
schools are made known to the parents and local community; knowledge of foreign languages is
deepened and the European concept of citizenship strengthened.
The creation of mixed groups, exchange of communication (e!mail, chat, video conferencing), the
sharing of objectives and methodologies, collaboration in all phases of the project – not only for the
final exchange of class work – are all examples of active collaboration. These actions strengthen the
development of European citizenship and lead to a real mutual understanding. The focus of this
project is to establish the use of new technology on a daily basis among partners. During work, they
use blogs, email, digital whiteboards, shared platforms, wiki chat, web tools for synchronous and
asynchronous communication.
In each country participating in the project there are institutions that represent and promote the
activity of eTwinning. The National eTwinning Unities (UNeT) deal with training. They provide
support (telephone and online), organize meetings and National competitions, conduct information
campaigns and tend to public relations. In Italy the National Agency for the Development of School
Autonomy (the ANSAS, ex INDIRE)37 provides this function. It has tested the Digital Storytelling
method under the European project “eTwinning” in Italy. It has involved Italian, German and
Swedish schools. Young students have created videos talking about themselves and their families.
36
37
eTwinning, http://www.etwinning.net/it/pub/index.htm.
ANSAS, http://etwinning.indire.it/.
66
Some of these experiences are listed below.
i) Antonella Ortiz, an English teacher of the Technical Commercial Institute “Antonio
Gramsci” Padua, worked on the project with the second and the third years. In the third year with
her Swedish colleague, Niilo Alhovaara, she proposed that the students tell the story of their own
family. In the second year with her German colleague, Elisabetta Doria, she proposed the theme:
“Stories in different languages”38 to the students.
ii) In another school, the Scalcerle Technical Commercial Institute of Padua, Adriano
Scabardi, a teacher of mathematics and physics, but also the webmaster of the school, followed the
journey of Julia Montinaro a fourth year student. This was the digital narrative of a trip to one of the
seven United Arab Emirates39.
iii) In the secondary School of Vigonovo, the maths teacher, Lucia Peretta, guided the pupils
in the project “Here is Kabir?”40, a self!portrait of the experience “My story”41. This activity is
carried out under the Venetian school network project Webzinecast, whose representative is
Antonella Strong, teacher of mathematics and computer science at the Technical Commercial
Institute of Lazzari of Dolo42.
5.4. Some recommended reading
There is a rich bibliography of the different applications of digital storytelling. Some relevant books
are mentioned here as an example.
i) Leonie Sandercock and Giovanni Attili in Where Strangers Become Neighbors: Integrating
Immigrants in Vancouver, Canada (Springer, 2009) talks about a multicultural experience of the
integration of immigrants made with multimedia tools.
ii) Knut Lundby in Digital Storytelling, Mediatized Stories: Self!representations in New Media
(Peter Lang Pub Inc, 2008) focuses on the representation of self through the new media through the
new practice of narrative media: digital storytelling is seen as an instrument for a new media
sociology and socio!cultural studies related to education.
iii) Carolyn Handler Miller in Digital Storytelling: A Creator’s Guide to Interactive
Entertainment (Butterworth!Heinemann, 2008, 2nd edition, revised) realizes a guide for the
effective implementation of digital storytelling. This book examines how digital storytelling is based
on classic narrative techniques and utilizes interactive digital technologies.
38
Technical Commercial Institut of State “Antonio Gramsci” of Padua, Film,
<http://www.itcgramscipadova.it/index.php?titolo=FILMS&doc=N&inside=progetti_europei/c_films.
htm.>
39
Scarcerle webzinecast, Adu Dhabi. Do you want to dream in a cold winter day? Here is the dream
ready!, by Giulia Montinaro, <http://www.istituto-scalcerle.it/blog/?page_id=58>
40
Ve.Net school webzinecast, Kabir is told, http://lnx.itcslazzari.it/venet/?p=115>
41
Ve.Net school webzinecast, I tell myself, http://lnx.itcslazzari.it/venet/?page_id=66>
42
Ve.Net school webzinecast, <http://lnx.itcslazzari.it/venet/>
67
iv) Ulrike Spierling and Nicolas Szilas in Interactive Storytelling: First Joint International
Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, 2008, Erfurt, Germany, November 26!29, 2008
(Springer, 2008) analyze the prospects for the future, interactive applications, protagonists,
experiences and models of digital storytelling.
v) Thomas Hansson in Handbook of Research on Digital Information Technologies:
Innovations, Methods and Ethical Issues (Idea Group Inc ! IGI, 2008) provides information and
research on the use of technological tools.
vi) Joe Lambert in Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community (Life On The
Water, Incorporated, 2008, 2nd edition, illustrated) talks about how to create digital storytelling for
personal or business purposes. In addition, the book analyzes different social issues related to the
use of this new media tool.
vii) Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum in Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools (ISTE ! Internal
Soc Tech Educ, 2007) offer a complete overview of the new Web 2.0 technologies and their use in
the classroom and professional development.
viii) Jason Ohler in Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy,
Learning and Creativity (Corwin Press, 2007) talks about Digital Storytelling as a new way of learning
within the scholastic didactics: it is an opportunity to improve traditional narrative, digital and media
literacy.
ix) Badrul H Khan in Flexible Learning in an Information Society (Idea Group Publishing, 2006)
explains the best way to create a meaningful learning environment. This framework consists of eight
factors: institutional, management, technological, educational, ethical, ways of interaction, use of
resources and evaluation.
x) Kay Teehan in Digital Storytelling: In and Out of the Classroom (Lulu.com, 2006) describes
how Digital Storytelling is a tool that allows the younger generation to talk using new digital models
of narrative. It uses young peoples natural inclination towards new technology for educational
purposes.
6. Multimedia products to promote reading and writing
As said so far, the book trailer is a minimal(and cultural) sensory experience housed in a very limited
period of time, trying to put together or interact with language through visual and textual language
and digital knowledge. Specifically, the book trailer is a multimedia video which only lasts a few
minutes and is modeled on trailers. Its aim is to evoke through images, music and/or words, the
main themes and more suggestive atmosphere of a book. In the course of its development, the
booktrailer has influenced the younger audience using multimedia platforms and spaces that
surround our lives and to which we have now become slaves ! that is to say principally the Web, but
not only: think, for example the iPad, which can enhance the linguistic, visual and audio features of a
booktrailer.
68
Originally, the leading Anglo!American cultural companies thought of using the booktrailer as means
of promoting their literary products. Its primary intent being that of capturing the interest of the
reader/viewer in order to encourage him to learn more about a book through figures and images,
adding to the traditional media ! the cultural pages of newspapers or magazines specific radio or
television programs, marketing or otherwise, literary prizes ! the possibilities offered by the advent
of multimedia. One of the best known examples of a book trailer, due to the purely commercial
aspect being linked to ethical values, concerns the publishing house Harper Collins, who decided to
translate into a short video the central theme of the book, The Weather Makers, by Tim Flannery the
with the elegant subtitle: How We Are Changing the Planet and What it Means for Life on Earth. In
this text the author warns against the dangers of global warming, beginning with the disastrous
effects it has already had on of our planet’s environment. A sensitive issue, therefore, about to enter
the collective agenda, placed in a virtual location such as the Internet with an almost infinite degree
of reproducibility. Before discussing the development of the booktrailer genre in Italy, and to return
to the fundamental purpose of this project, which concerns the spread of reading and various means
of implementing it, I would like add two further considerations.
The first is that, apart from the customs and practices entrenched in the publishing world, perhaps
the booktrailer of the future will not just be a vehicle to hype the culture industry for commercial
use but may become a fully fledged form of artistic expression in itself. I believe that intellectuals
should have an active role in its realisation. The second point, in my opinion, is that in our research
we also face a problem that is not as secondary as it may at first seem. If there is a shift in the form
and language used to create the booktrailer, then we should also pay attention to the impact that
the sensory stimulus of a cultural booktrailer could produce on the emotional experience of the
reader. Much stronger and more functional in a society that seems to prefer the seductive,
consumerist and aesthetic image within and beyond the concept of pornography. Our research
should us to lead to provide a framework and not only to map the main features
6.1 The situation in Italy43
In Italy the first experiments in promotional videos, designed to present books released on the
Italian market date back to 2004. In this year the Piemonte Region and the Grinzane Cavour Prize, in
collaboration with Bongiorno Productions, announced the contest Ciak si legge. It was a contest,
aimed at the young, to produce a booktrailer in order to promote literature through the use of new
languages. The critics’ prize was awarded to booktrailer of the noir novel Coraline by Neil Gaiman,
produced by a group of students at the design faculty of the Milan Polytechnic of Industrial Design,
now known as the Bonsaininja Studio. While Castelli di rabbia by Alessandro Baricco gets the highest
number of preferences from the public. In 2005 the publisher Marsilio began a more systematic
testing of this new means of communicating books. Jacopo De Michelis, editor of Marsilio44,
ordered the Bonsai Ninja Studio group to produce a booktrailer of novel noir Kiss Me, Judas by Will
Christopher Baer. The following year, with the objective of promoting the launching of the Italian
narrative series “Marsilio X”, two other booktrailers followed: those of the novels Supervita by
Marco Bacci and Montezuma airbag your pardon by Nino G. Attis, made by the European Institute of
43
In this regard, cfr. Francesca Vannucchi, Libro e internet. Editori, librerie, lettori online,
Milano, Editrice Bibliografica, 2008, pp. 63-72.
44
Marsilio, on line, Available at: <http://www.marsilioeditori.it>
69
Design (Visual Arts section of Milan)45. The production continued in the following years. The first
experiments in this area outside Italy date back to the Nineties. An attempt at the book spot was
made in 1994 by Judith Keenan, founder of Canadian BookShorts, to promote the novel by Douglas
Cooper, Amnesia, published by Hyperion Books in the United States. The video lasting 3’30”, was
successfully transmitted in American bookshops on closed circuit television, enhancing the
reputation of the author and sales of the book, which was reprinted twice. This gave rise to a series
of initiatives animated by the same purposes granting new visibility to a product of traditional
values. In the year 2000, Barnes & Noble Library46 produced "BNTV", a section of their site where
short films and television networks dedicated to books were broadcast. In the same period
Borders.com47 launched its Web!TV, Border Vision offering interviews with authors, music and
entertainment for kids. Currently booktrailers are on the increase in countries like the United States,
Canada, Britain, Holland, Germany and Spain. This activity is encouraged not only by publishers, but
also by media companies and video and multimedia production houses who have become part of
this new market. At the root of this activity is an awareness of the importance of book visibility to
promote reading and increase sales by intriguing the potential reader.
In Italy, in the footsteps of Marsilio Editori, other publishers have focused their production on this
new system of book marketing, driven by the need to develop new ways of presenting an old media
and create renewed visibility. Many are new publishing realities, such as Alacrán Editions48
(launched 2004 and started producing 2005) who anticipated the release of Diabolik – Lunga notte
by Andrea Carlo Cappi and Lingue morte by David Garber with two videos, one of which was
produced in collaboration with the European Institute of Design in Milan. Now there are many
publishing houses in Italy that use this type of spot to promote their books. They are publishers of all
sizes but small and medium enterprises show a greater interest. Usually the booktrailer is used for
just some of the books published. It is thought that this is due to production costs, which vary
according to the type of video footage, and doubt concerning its effectiveness as a means to
increase book circulation. We don’t not yet have the statistics to show a sure increase in sales in
relation to the release of a booktrailer. But we know that the persuasive power of a well organized
advertising campaign is able to create an expectation for a book’s release, raising its visibility and
thereby the chances of it being sold. Behind the creation of booktrailer are publishers, companies,
production houses and advertising agencies. Some, like Bonsaininja Studio and C!Music, also create
music videos and television themes; Keitai produces and distributes contents for new media,
including internet (Web TV, IPTV, video on demand), Fermento Films specializes in events connected
to the world of books; Luma Lab creates art!trailers; G2grafik deals with animations and illustrations.
Many booktrailers are produced as a result of private initiatives by authors and even the readers
themselves.
The genre that is most suitable to be represented through a promotional video is the novel.
Exceptions are the booktrailer dictionary of cinema curated by Pino Farinotti (Il Farinotti ! Dizionario
2007, Edizioni San Paolo), the social content concerning noir by Sandrone Dazieri, entitled Bestie
(Edizioni Ambiente, Verde Nero series), a booktrailer of the e!book novel Tana per una bambina con
i capelli a ombrellone by Monica Viola. There are also preview videos of the romantic novel
45
46
47
48
European Institute of Design, on line, Available at_ <http://www.ied.it>
Barnes & Noble Library, Barnes & Noble Library.
Borders.com, on line, Available at: <http://www.borders.com/online/store/Home>
Alacrán Editions, on line, Available at: <http://www.alacranedizioni.it>
70
L’irlandese by Kathleen McGregor (Harlequin Mondadori) and the children’s book Una rapina da 4
soldi, by Fabian Negrin (Orecchio Acerbo Editore). Basically, the booktrailer is a new form of book
marketing, whose product is potentially available through various media channels with a screen.
Book commercials can be viewed on the internet or phone, or broadcast on close circuit television
channels (in the library, underground shelters on station platforms, for example), at the cinema or
on the walls of exhibition spaces and bookshops. But they are also a new form of creative
expression, a synthesis and cross between short, small texts of a highly communicative content, such
as commercials, movie trailers and video clips. Like the movie trailer, the booktrailer is a preview
that shows something which the public doesn’t yet have access to but that shouldn’t be missed. It is
a small significant portion, a part of the whole, whose beauty is that of enhancing the value of a
book, without diminishing its importance, remaining in second place. A product in support of
another product. A language at the service of another language.
7. Conclusion
Initially, in point 1, we have tried to understand the state of the art regarding the use of ICT in
schools. We have analyzed and evaluated the context and background of the Educational system
including availability of technology in schools. Then, in point 2, we looked at the initiatives taken by
Italian institutions and tried to understand if they really work. We have considered the situation of
the Italian school from the recent past up to now. We have analysed some of the causes of the slow
development of technology in the school educational system. As regards point 3, our aim was to
consider some ICTs, such as WIB in which the Italian government has invested a lot of money in
recent years. We have listed the new tools used in schools in the learning context. Considering
extensive participation in the Read!It project, we have interviewed teachers with the aim of giving a
voice to their experiences. In point 4, we did some research on Italian experiences, identifying Best
Practices. We have written a short resume on some of the principal studies concerning the use of
Digital Storytelling and social media in classroom practice. We realize that in Italian schools there
have been, and are, many personal initiatives by teachers that we haven’t been able to list for lack of
space. To understand the real situation in Italy regarding the use of Digital Storytelling, in point 5, we
chose and considered just three good practices in our country: the experiences of the SIDiS and of
the University of Padua, The Storytelling Observatory of the University of Pavia, The European
“eTwinning” project and the experience of ANSAS. To finish, in point 6 we did some research on
multimedia products to promote reading and writing and have traced the development of the
booktrailer in Italy.
The research carried out shows that the evolution of education in Italian schools, regarding the
development of new technology applied to the processes of teaching and learning, is still behind
when compared to more developed countries. Nevertheless, there is an important ministerial
project, called “Teaching of didactic communication”49, in answer to the Recommendation of the
Council of Europe and the European Parliament of the 18th December 2006 on key competences for
49
Teaching of didactic communication, on line, Available at:
<http://www.usrpiemonte.it/dcd/default.aspx>
71
lifelong learning50, as stated by “Regulations for the rise of compulsory education” in the First
Languages Axis. The project originated with a Decree on the 31st May 2007, where a project board
and steering committee were established, coordinated by Professor Francesco Butturini. Afterwards
the National Committee was established by Decree (consisting of regional contacts).
On the 3rd September, an agreement between the Faculties of Communication Sciences,
represented by Professor Mario Morcellini, and the Department of Education, represented by
Giuseppe Cosentino, was signed51. The project aims to interpret the situation in Italian schools
concerning the processes of didactic communication in order to i) monitor and evaluate what exists
at present ii) identify best practices, iii) design and implement training seminars.
To this end, eight National seminars were carried out from October 2007 to November 2010 and
twelve regional seminars, starting in the spring of 2009 up to this day. The project started with a
network of 95 schools of all levels selected by the Department of Education. Five regional seminars
were dedicated to these schools, which took place at the Liceo Maffei of Verona, aimed at forming a
group of future trainers. The five seminars have been collected in “Quaderno” No. 8 of the Ministry
of Education, Universities and Research and distributed to schools, Regional Education Offices and
the Territorial School Office. The seventh workshop was held at Bussolengo in November 2008. At
the end of this seminar the National Committee was elected. After that the regional seminars began.
This resulted in an enlargement of the network which now has more than a thousand schools of all
levels, spread over the whole territory and grouped in twenty regional networks, and one hundred
and seven provincial networks. After the publication of the Presidential Decree of the 10th
September 2010, No. 249, for the new regulation for teacher certification, the task of the National
Plan draft is now even more important. The network and especially its managers have the task of
being communication and digital media trainers for new generations of teachers. The main points
highlighted in the project are traditional language, the Mother Tongue and Foreign Languages.
Furthermore the project includes film, television, theater, dance, art, music and digital languages.
The term “Axis of Language” appears in the decree on raising the standard of compulsory education,
issued the 22th August 2007. The goals are many. First of all to provide the students with knowledge
of written and oral Italian. Another goal is to provide them with the knowledge of at least one
foreign language as well as the knowledge and conscious use of multiple nonverbal forms of
expression and an appropriate use of information technology and communication.
Many schools have not only been involved in the necessary study and experimentation period, but
also the project analysis within the Institutes
As regards the booktrailer, the question is from what angle, from which perspective should we look
at the booktrailer phenomenon. Together, however, we should ask ourselves if the world of reading
is not experiencing a revolution of significant change. Our codified and well!stratified cultural
system, needs to be re!shaped from the basis on which it grew. Otherwise we run the risk of
50
Recommendations of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament of the 18th December
2006 (2006/962/CE), G.U. of European Union, December 30, 2006, on line, Available at:
<http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:394:0010:0018:IT:PDF>
51
Memorandum of understanding between Ministry of Education, University and Research,
Department of Education – the Conference of Directors of the Faculty of Communication, the
Faculty of Communication of the University “La Sapienza” of Rome, on line, Available at:
<http://www.edscuola.it/archivio/norme/varie/pimiur_cpsc.pdf>
72
expelling from our constellation not only this new form but the very sphere within which we move.
Like researchers in a lab full of instruments calibrated to units of unknown measurement. What
direction is the book proceeding in? New technologies and their various integrated tools! e!book,
social networking, streaming, website, hypertext, etc. ! represent an opportunity or a limit to our
reading approach? What sort of competence should we master in order to continue the hard work
of transcription and reading of the real and the unreal (not wanting to exclude anybody or dismiss
any solution)? What happens in the process of reading a text when it slips off the paper and slides
onto a screen? And how can we continue to teach, read, decode or deconstruct a book? According
to some researchers, we are at the beginning of the fourth revolution concerning the contexts of
textuality, tracing a path from orality to writing, from roll! form to form!book, and the thereafter
revolution characterized by Gutenberg. From this point of view, and trying to give an explanation to
the questions raised earlier on the future of the book, is based an interesting volume by Gino
Roncaglia (La quarta rivoluzione, 2010 Laterza). Roncaglia, who is a professor of computer science
applied to the humanities at the University of Tuscia, assumes a standpoint already widely discussed
in Storia della lettura by Guglielmo Cavallo and Roger Chartier. It expands the concept of reading
interface, and argues that if indeed the relationship between text and the support it offers to
reading is inseparable, then – as Roncaglia says – to discuss the characteristics and evolution of the
reading interface also means to discuss what types of texts we will read in the future, and how to
read them. Among the many definitions of reading, one I read recently caught my imagination:
Franck Schirrmacher in La libertà ritrovata (2010, Codice edizioni) writes that reading is not only a
great platform but it is a construction project of the brain. The word retains its centrality, despite
everything, yet we must not forget that this focus must be defended vigorously every day in our
society. I would like to end by proposing a different way of addressing the issue, because the
possibility of a different system is sometimes feasible, or it might be said, necessary. I believe that
those who produce booktrailers, the minds behind them, should listen more to the text and the he
who wrote it.
73
8. Bibliography
Amato, G. (a cura di), 2001. Ricerca, formazione e nuove tecnologie. Milano: Franco Angeli
Balet, O., Subsol, G. and Torquet, P., 2001. Virtual Storytelling. Using Virtual Reality Technologies for
Storytelling. International Conference ICVS 2001. Avignon, France, September 27!28, 2001.
Proceding, Berlin Heidelberg: Spriger!Verlag.
Beatrice, L., 2004. Storytelling. Pescara: Associazione Culturale Arte Nova.
Bonani P., 2003. Formazione digitale. Milano: Franco Angeli.
Briganti, A., 2000. Online education: formare in rete, Milano: Franco Angeli
Calvani A., Rotta M., 2000. Fare formazione in Internet. Manuale di didattica online.Trento: Erickson.
Calvani A., 1999. I nuovi media nella scuola. Perché, come, quando avvalersene. Roma: Carocci
Editore.
Calvani A., 2001. Educazione, comunicazione e nuovi media. Sfide pedagogiche e cyberspazio. Torino:
UTET Università.
Cassady, M., 1994. The Art of Storytelling, Colorado Springs: Meriwether Publications (id., 1996.
Divertirsi a raccontare storie. Suggerimenti, tecniche ed idee creative per genitori, insegnanti, attori
ed appassionati, alla riscoperta di questa antica arte. Vicenza: Troll Libri).
Cortoni I., Gennaro C., 2002. Tecnologie comunicative e nuovi percorsi didattici. Nuovi scenari per la
scuola del domani. Napoli: Ellissi.
Davies, M. M., 2001. Dear BBC. Children, Television Storytelling and the Public Sphere. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Dunning, R., 1997. Cric crac! Teaching and Learning French through Storytelling. Clevedon (UK):
Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Ellis, G. and Brewster, J., 1991. The Storytelling Handbook. A Guide for Primary Teachers of English.
London: Penguin.
Faggioli, M., 2010. Tecnologie per la didattica in aula. Milano: Apogeo.
Fog, K., Budtz, C. and Yakaboylu, B., 2005. Storytelling. Branding in Practice. Berlin Heidelberg:
Springer!Verlag.
Fondazione Agnelli (a cura), 2010. Rapporto sulla scuola in Italia 2010. Bari: Editori Laterza.
Fontana, A., 2009. Manuale di storytelling. Raccontare con efficacia prodotti, marchi e identità
d'impresa. Milano: Etas.
74
Franza, G., 2010. L'evoluzione delle tecnologie comunicative: dalla narratologia all'interactive
storytelling. Roma: ENEA.
Göbel, S. et al., 2004. Technologies for Interactive Digital Storytelling and Entertainment. Second
International Conference, TIDSE 2004. Damstadt, Germany, June 24!26, 2004. Proceeding,
Berlin Heidelberg: Spriger!Verlag.
Guerra L., 2010. Tecnologie dell'educazione e innovazione didattica. Bergamo: Edizioni Junior.
Iurgel, I. A., Zagalo, N. and Petta, P., Interactive Storytelling. Second Joint International Conference on
Interactive Digital Storytelling, ICIDS 2009. Guimarães, Portugal, December 9!11, 2009.
Proceedings, Berlin: Springer.
Lambert, J., 2002. Digital Storytelling. Capturing lives, creating community. Berkeley (CA): Digital
Diner Press.
Lambert, J., 2005. Digital Storytelling. Capturing Lives, Creating Community. Berkeley: Life on the
Water Inc.
Leeming, D. A., 1997. Storytelling Enciclopedia. Historical, Cultural and Multiethnic Approaches to
Oral Traditions Around the World. Phoenix: Oryx Press.
Maragliano R., 1998. Nuovo manuale di didattica multimediale. Bari: Editori Laterza
Maragliano R., 1998. Tre ipertesti su multimedialità e formazione. Bari: Editori Laterza.
Messina L., 2004. Andar per segni. Percorsi di educazione ai media. Padova: CLEUP.
Miller, C. H., 2004. Digital Storytelling. A Creator's Guide to Interactive Entertainment. Amsterdam:
Elsevier Science.
Morcellini M. (a cura di), 2004. La scuola della modernità. Per un manifesto della media education.
Milano: Franco Angeli.
Muchetti, L., 2008. Storytelling. L'informazione secondo Luther Blissett, Milano: Arcipelago Edizioni.
Nash, C., 1990. Narrative in Culture. The Uses of Storytelling in the Sciences, Philosophy and
Literature. New York: Routledge.
Norrick, N. R., 2000. Conversational Narrative. Storytelling in everyday talk. Amsterdam &
Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Parkin, M., 2004. Tales for Change: Using Storytelling to Develop People and Organization. London:
Kogan Page (id., 2004. Racconti per il cambiamento. 50 storie per far crescere persone e
organizzazioni. Milano: Etas).
Pellowski, A., 1990. The world of Storytelling. New York: The H.W. Wilson.
Petrucco, C. and De Rossi, M., 2009. Narrare con il digital storytelling a scuola e nelle organizzazioni.
Roma: Carocci Editore.
75
Plan A., 1996. Computer, scuola e formazione. Torino: Centro scientifico editore
Rivoltella P.C, Marazzi C., 2001. Le professioni della media education. Roma: Carocci
Rivoltella P.C, 2001. Media Education. Modelli, esperienze, profilo disciplinare. Roma: Carocci.
Roiazzi C.; Burchiellaro E., 2005. Il computer va in classe. Brescia: Edizioni La scuola.
Roncaglia G., 2010. La quarta rivoluzione. Sei lezioni sul futuro del libro. Bari: Laterza Editori.
Rossi P. G. (a cura di), 2000. Dal testo alla rete, Didattica e multimedialità. Napoli: Tecnodid Editrice.
Salmon, C., 2008. Storytelling. La machine a fabriquer des histoires et a formater les esprits. Paris: La
decouverte/Poche (id., 2008. Storytelling. La fabbrica delle storie. Roma: Fazi).
Schirrmacher F., 2010. La libertà ritrovata. Torino: Codice edizioni
Simmons, A., 2002. The Story Factor. Inspiration, Influence, and Persuasion Through the Art of
Storytelling. New York: BasicBook.
Smeriglio D., 2009. La didattica tra innovazione e tradizione. Indagine conoscitiva sulle convizioni e
sugli atteggiamenti degli insegnanti nei riguardi delle tecnologie digitali. Milano: Morlacchi
Editore.
Spierling, U. and Szilas, N., 2008. Interactive Storytelling. First Joint International Conference on
Interactive Digital Storytelling, ICIDS 2008, Erfurt, Germany, November 2008, Berlin, Springer,
2008. Proceedings, Berlin: Springer.
Subsol, G., 2005. Virtual Storytelling, Using Virtual Reality Technologies for Storytelling, Third
International Conference, ICVS 2005. Strasbourg, France, November 30!December 2, 2005.
Proceedings, Berlin Heidelberg: Springer !Verlag.
Turner, S. R., 1994. The Creative Process. A Computer Model of Storytelling and Creativity. Hillsdale:
Lawrence Erlbaum.
Watts, E., 2006. Storytelling. New York: Oxford University Press, USA.
Wright, A., 1995. Storytelling with children. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Zipes, J., 1995. Creative storytelling. Building Community. Changing lives. New York: Routledge
Chapman & Hall (id., 1996. Inventare e raccontare storie. Scrittura e drammatizzazione.
Trento: Erickson).
76
ReadIT Literature survey – Romania
By Liceul Teoretic “Ovidius” Constanta
Contents
READIT WP3 Literature Survey Romania .............................................................................................. 78
1. Educational System: Context and Background ............................................................................. 78
Types and Sizes of Schools ............................................................................................................ 81
Drivers for Change in the Romanian Education System ............................................................... 82
2. Research questions ....................................................................................................................... 82
Teaching reading and writing – current context........................................................................... 82
ICT tools – current practice ........................................................................................................... 84
Technology Coverage in Schools ................................................................................................... 84
ICT tools and the teaching of reading and writing ........................................................................ 85
Non!school websites to support students’ study ......................................................................... 86
Teaching methods ......................................................................................................................... 86
3. Reflections and Conclusions ......................................................................................................... 88
77
READIT WP3 Literature Survey Romania
Rodica Cr"ciun and Carmen Bucoval"
1. Educational System: Context and Background
The educational system in Romania is still undergoing transformations as the country’s transition
from the communist rule to a democratic society has not been without problems or inconsistencies.
In very general terms the most visible change is in the manner in which students move from one
stage to another in their education, i.e the form of admission. The system of compulsory education
includes three clear stages:
primary school – four years, i.e grades I to IV (students aged between 7 and 11),
secondary school – four years i.e. grades V to VIII (students aged between 11 and 15) and
high!school – four years i.e. grades IX to XII (students aged between 15 and 19) (Xth grade is the
final year in compulsory education, but most students continue to the XIIth grade)
Students move from primary school to secondary school either by taking an entrance test (only a
few schools have this form of admission) or are simply enrolled in the Vth grade based on a request
form completed by the student’s parents. The former case is true for schools which have only
secondary and high!school classes and which require some form of selection for the initial year in
the secondary school cycle (Vth grade).
The admission process from secondary school to high!school was initially introduced in 1999. Until
then, students who wanted to attend a high!school had to take several exams (usually two:
Romanian and Mathematics), and were admitted to that high!school in decreasing order of their
average grades in these admission tests. Those who were not admitted, had to opt for another high!
school and take another exam. In 1999 the Romanian Ministry of Education introduced the
computerised form of admission. This meant that the student did not have to take an entrance
exam, but was admitted to a high!school based on the average grades obtained in secondary school.
The student filled in an application form listing his/her choices in decreasing order of preference.
Since 1999 this computerised form of admission saw several changes in the percentages and
formulas used in calculating the student’s “admission grade”. However, the constant was that the
student could enter a high!school only based on grades he had obtained during secondary school.
Compulsory education in Romania ends in Xth grade. The last two years of high!school are not part
of the compulsory system of education, yet there is no assessment form based on which students
can or cannot remain in the high!school where they have been admitted. There is no form to be
filled in when moving from the Xth grade to the XIth grade.
Upon completion of the XIIth grade students take the baccalaureate exam. This is not compulsory,
but there is only a small percentage of students who do not take this exam. The form of the
baccalaureate exam has changed several times in the last 10 years. The constant, in this final exam,
is the exam in Romanian language and literature.
The Romanian system of education also witnessed several curricular changes. These have been
either from the point of view of the attitudes and skills aimed at or from the point of view of content
to be delivered. On several occasions attempts have been made at correlating curricular changes
78
from all points of view: skills to be developed, attitudes to be cultivated and content to be taught.
However, all changes had in common the expressed instruction for the introduction and use of
modern teaching strategies, urging teachers to make use of new or alternative methods of teaching
and assessment.
At present the Romanian system of education has entered a new phase of change with the adoption
of the new Law of education. These new changes will first of all rearrange the school stages (primary
school – 5 grades, secondary school – 5 grades, high!school – 3 grades). Then there will be more
profound changes addressing the issue of consistency in students’ assessment and evaluation,
leading to a more realistic appreciation of a student’s evolution. These changes will take place in the
next four years, the whole process being at present in its initial phase.
From the point of view of subjects taught the Romanian system of education is still, even if slightly
so, subject and information oriented. Thus, in high!school students have 16 compulsory subjects in
32 hours per week. The 32 hours are dedicated both to teaching and evaluation activities. In
secondary school the number of subjects grows from 12 to 14 and the number of hours spent in
school by a student also grows from 26 to 30.
On the following page is a chart detailing the main stages in the compulsory system of education,
number of subjects and number of hours per student.
79
Baccalaureate exam
HIGH-SCHOOL
Grade
average age
average number average
of
compulsory hours
subjects
week
XII
18
15
32
XI
17
15
32
X
16
16
32
IX
15
16
32
/ common subjects
- Romanian
- 2 foreign languages
- Maths
- History
- Geography
- ICT
SECONDARY
Computerised admission to high!school
the criterion for students’ admission is an admission grade calculated based on: the average grade in
secondary school, the average grade obtained in 2 national tests in Romanian and Maths taken in the VIIIth
grade.
a specially designed software distributes students in high!schools based on their choices
Grade
average age
average number
average hours
common subjects
of
compulsory
/ week
subjects
VIII
14
15
30
VII
13
15
30
VI
12
14
28
V
11
13
26
- the same structure and number of
subjects.
Entrance exam; not a national exam; only in a few schools
PRIMARY
Can be:
- theoretical
- vocational
- technological
it is a national exam
common subject: Romanian
items to be tested are the same nationwide; exams take place same day all over the country
3 compulsory practical / oral evaluations before the written exam: Romanian, a foreign language and IT
skills
IV
10
12
24
III
9
10
22
II
8
8
20
I
7
8
20
80
! the same structure and number of
subjects.
The main reason we insisted on presenting the manner of student admission to each stage in the
Romanian system of compulsory education is that for both students and their teachers it is very
important the grade obtained during national tests. Thus, most of the learning / teaching takes place
with this objective in mind: performing well in the tasks given during national exams.
However, this is slowly beginning to change. Currently the Ministry of Education (which is the
national educational authority) and the Council for the Curriculum (a governmental agency reporting
to the Ministry of Education) intend to implement major changes in the manner in which curricula
are designed and, most importantly, applied in the classroom. These changes originate in the 2006
Recommendation of the European Parliament and Council on ‘key competences for lifelong
learning’52.
Furthemore, the newly passed Law of Education clearly identifies the initial training requirements
for prospective teachers, by stipulating a compulsory master’s degree in didactics and a practical
stage of one year in a school53. This clarification addresses the issue of a lesser training in teaching
methodologies and strategies which has been offered until now. It also proposes to promote in
future educators an open and proactive attitude towards teaching in all its aspects.
Types and Sizes of Schools
Most schools in Romania are still state funded. This means in fact that schools receive money from
the state budget and from the local council (the latter provides funds mostly for renovations and
maintenance costs). There is also a small number of private schools (all levels: from kindergarten to
universities). The ratio is somewhere around 90% state!funded to 10% private schools (pre!
university level). We must add that there is a feeling of distrust towards graduates of private schools,
which we must blame on a misinterpretation of what paying for one’s studies really means: the
prejudice is that if one pays for one’s studies, then the fee ensures one’s certain graduation. State!
school graduates consider that they are not in fact buying their graduation if they pay no fee for the
schooling. Unfortunately there have been a number of rapidly appearing and disappearing private
schools which did just that: ensure graduation for a fee. The other private schools have to struggle to
survive, fighting against this prejudice.
Schools are organised in two large groups at pre!university level:
primary + secondary levels: here sizes vary between 600 and 800 students per school in urban
areas and 200 and 400 students per school in rural areas. Most of these schools have at least one IT
lab with a minimum of 25 computers and internet access (both urban and rural area).
high!school level: here sizes vary between 500 and 800 students per school (urban and rural
area). In urban areas some high!schools have decided to offer schooling to secondary level classes as
well, so a new subcategory has appeared: secondary level + high!school. However, this does not lead
to a doubling in size, due to space restraints; the increase is by an average of 250 students. All high
schools have at least 2 IT labs with the minimum of 25 computers per lab.
52
53
Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council 2006, Brussels, OJ C
Legea Educa"iei Na"ionale (T4, CI, sec2, art.236(1)(b,c)) 2011, Bucure#ti, Monitorul Oficial
81
Drivers for Change in the Romanian Education System
The first changes should have taken place more than 10 years ago, when the first attempts were
made. Then, the idea was to eliminate the entrance exam to high!schools, allowing all secondary!
school leavers to attend a high!school. What went wrong was the fact that schools were allowed
little autonomy in deciding on their own evolution. To this day everything is still centrally controlled:
the number of classes per subject, the curriculum to be taught, the number of students in a
classroom, the funding of various extracurricular activites, the training of teachers, etc. The Ministry
is represented in each Romanian county by a School Inspectorate. The latter conveys the decisions
of the Ministry of Education and ensures that all newly passed rules / laws are enforced. It monitors
and controls how teaching and assessment takes place and decides on where teachers should work
(hiring is not a responsibility of the school manager). There is a governmental agency, subordinated
to the Ministry of Education, which attempts at controlling and implementing measure to ensure
quality in education: ARACIP (Agen"ia Român$ de Asigurare a Calit$"ii în Înv$"$mântul Preuniversitar
– Romanian Agency of Quality Assurance in Pre!university Education). Each school must have a
committee – made up of teachers, a student and a representative of the parents – which monitors
all activites in that school. ARACIP is still designing frameworks and model procedures meant to help
and assist school headmasters in assuring quality in education.
All in all, the Romanian system of education is still heavily centralised and the implementation of the
new Law of Education (Law nr.1/2011), intended to ensure a real decentralisation, is still in its early
stages. This implementation is the responsibility of the Ministry (with all its subordinated agencies)
and of the School Inspectorates. Some attempts are made at including the community in the
decision making process for each school (with local councillors and parents being named in the
Administration Councils of each school), but these are hardly successful, especially in urban areas,
because of the similarity that exists between schools (all secondary schools offer the same subjects
in the same number of hours/week, there is no clear hierarchy from the point of view of quality
education, high school graduates are mostly trained in theoretical subjects with little professional
application, local businesses do not feel interested in recruiting or investing in a particular school,
etc).
Ultimately it is the Ministry of Education which is trying to establish a common path and describe the
possible variations for all schools in Romania. The last four years witnessed a lot of calls for debates
from the Ministry. However, the general feeling is that the opinions put forth by teachers and
parents went unheard and unnoticed, as, following each debate, no real measures and positions
were made known. The new Law of Education incorporated some of the opinions.
2. Research questions
Teaching reading and writing – current context
The main documents which govern the teaching of reading and writing – as in the stages focussed on
by the ReadIt research – are the curricular documents approved by the Ministry of Education,
82
Research and Innovation in 2009 54. These detail the competences teachers need to develop in their
students, contents to be taught with specific competences in view, the values and attitudes which
must be developed in students, etc. Each curricular document follows the same structure:
a)
General Competences
b)
Values and attitudes
c)
Specific competences and content associated with these
d)
Recommendations for content to be taught
e)
Methodological suggestions
Before we identify the main traits of these documents, we must mention the fact that they have
been designed for the secondary school cycle (grades V to VIII; ages 11 to 14) and the lower high!
school (grades IX and X; ages 15 to 16). They have been designed to cover the superior cycles of
compulsory education in Romania. While they are still in force at present, we must bear in mind the
fact that according to the new Law of Education, soon these documents will be redefined.
The General Competences (a) aimed at in these curricular documents are the following:
• correct and adequate use of Romanian in receiving and delivering messages in various
communicative situations.
• use of methods of thematic, structural and stylistic analysis upon reading of different literary or
non!literary texts.
• written or oral argumentation of opinions in different communicative situations.
Specific Competences (c) detail further the types of messages students must become able to
produce (write) or interpret (read). While they are fairly similar for IXth and Xth grade, the difference
between them lies in the content used (recommended to be used) to develop them.
Recommendations (d) include a list of authors and titles from which teachers can select those which
they consider will fit the needs and abilities of their classes. These titles are not compulsory and
teachers can choose an author or a text which helps his / her class develop the specific competences
prescribed in the curriculum. There is a prescribed number of authors for each grade (between 8 and
10 titles in the IXthgrade and 12 titles in the Xth grade); of these, the number of canonical authors
(Romania’s most representative authors) to be studied is limited to 4 in the IXth grade and 6 in the xth
grade.
While the Curriculum does not restrict or limit teacher’s choice of reading material, it does not
include any reference to the inclusion of ICT and / or social media in the teaching strategies. The
Methodological Suggestions (e) encourage the teachers: i) to focus on students’ needs, ii) to ensure
a practical, functional type of learning, with direct applicability in real life cases and iii) to diversify
54
These documents are entitled “Programa #colara – Limba #i literatura român$” and each details the specific
competences for a certain grade / level. They are commonly refered to as the Curriculum for Romanian and
are both the regulatory and the reference documents for the teaching of reading and writing in Romanian.
83
their methods of assessment so as to encourage students. The teachers are given full freedom of
choice in regards to their teaching method of choice:
“Teachers are free to choose both the methods they consider useful so as
to reach the goals set and the themes and texts to be studied.”55
ICT tools – current practice
Ever since 2001 the Romanian Ministry of Education has been supporting the development of a
system which includes and makes good use of IT tools in the teaching of all subjects. The
programme, called ‘Sistem Educa"ional Informatizat ! SEI’ (Computer assisted Educational System),
addressed in its first phase the issue of availability of resources. Thus, huge investements were made
over a period of 5 years, with a view to endowing every school with at least one fully!equipped IT lab
with a minimum of 20 working stations. The effort was successful, and most schools have such labs.
The only drawback is that by now the equipment is quite obsolete and upgrading the current
systems requires an extra financial effort which is highly unlikely in the current economic crisis.
However, we must mention the fact that during the initial stage of the SEI programme the Ministry
of Education also initiated a series of training courses for teachers. These course were in the form of
face!to!face courses and the teams of trainers initiated at least 20% of the teachers in a school. The
exact numbers of how many etachers were trained between 2004 and 2006 are not known, mainly
because in the meantime the company responsible for the training is no longer under contract with
the Ministry of education.
The SEI programme came with a software to be installed on every workstation in the new computer
labs. This software, called ‘Asistent Educa"ional’ or ‘AeL’56 (Educational Assistant), is in fact an e!
learning platform designed to suit the needs of teachers of all subjects and, most importantly, the
needs of the students. The platform allows for teachers to upload content (in the form of short video
clips, presentations, text or images) and even to design, upload and give computer based tests.
Students could access the lesson to be taught in different points, make notes and even save
information on the computer to take it home after classes. Most AeL labs have an internet
connection. Both teachers and students (in a limited mode) can access the library which hosts a
number of resources. All AeL labs are to be used mainly by teachers of other subjects than IT.
Although no research has been done into the usage statistics of AeL, it is our opinion that quite a
large number of teachers feel restricted by the e!learning platform and choose to use the AeL lab
mostly because of its internet connection, accessing resources on the web.
Technology Coverage in Schools
In the vast majority of schools students have a classroom of their own, with teachers moving from
one class to another. Whenever the topic of the lesson dictates, then students would move to a
laboratory. Otherwise, laboratories (especially IT ones) are not used as permanent classroom for a
group / class of students. Classrooms, as a rule, have no computer and internet access. If a teacher
wants to use a videoprojector, an interactive whiteboard or any other IT technology in a normal
55
Programa scolara – Limba si literatura român$, clasa a IX!a (p.12), 2009, Bucure#ti, MECI. Our translation.
A presentation of AeL is available at http://advancedelearning.com/index.php/articles/c3 [Accessed 4 April
2011]
56
84
classroom, then this happens, but only after the school’s technician installs the necessary equipment
in the classroom. Therefore, when the purpose of a lesson dictates the need for internet access
and/or use of IT technology, teachers prefer to move the whole class to a laboratory.
IT laboratories are usually for IT / computer programming classes. The AEL laboratories we
mentioned in the previous paper are dedicated strictly to teaching subjects other than IT / computer
programming.
The school programme allows for each class of maximum 30 students to make use of the AEL
laboratory at least once every two weeks for one class of 50 minutes per subject (that is if the
teacher decides to use the AEL laboratory). Therefore a class of 30 students can, theoretically, spend
7 – 8 hours (different subjects) of its normal average 30 hours /week in an AEL lab. In reality, only a
few teachers use the AEL lab, mainly because they do not feel comfortable with integrating such
technology in their teaching.
Very few schools have an interactive whiteboard due to its price. Of the schools that do have an
interactive whiteboard, not many use it, because either the software for a particular textbook is too
expensive, or because teachers have not been instructed on how to use it. No statistical data (official
or otherwise) is available concerning the number of such technologies available in schools. Also,
interactive whiteboard software does not exist apart from that designed for the teaching of foreign
languages.
To sum up: in a school of 600 students (20 classes), there is one IT lab and / or an AEL lab. These can
be used at least once a week by each class for other subjects than IT and computer programming.
These labs have, in the vast majority of schools, internet access.
ICT tools and the teaching of reading and writing
From the beginning we must say that Digital Storytelling is hardly known in Romania. Teachers of
Romanian language and literature do not make use of the computer labs during teaching, unless
they want to show their students a videoclip or a fragment from a screened book included in the list
of titles they teach. On the other hand, students rely heavily on internet resources when compiling
their assignments, especially when they have to complete a longer piece of homework.
It could be said that a variety of ICT tools are used in the teaching of reading and writing, tools such
as: internet browsers, downloading software, social media, wikis, etc. However, most of these tools
are used by the students outside the classroom. Teachers usually assess the quality of the materials
compiled by students as among the goals of the Romanian Curriculum are developing critical reading
skills and the ability to construct messages (written or oral).
From the point of view of information available for teachers, the number of conferences or
publications addressing Romanian teachers of Romanian language and literature is limited. Most of
the topics covered in such meetings or publications focus on the content to be taught, on reasons
behind choosing one particular literary work over another, or on assessment possibilities. We have
been unable to identify a piece of writing focussing on modern teaching strategies. Digital
storytelling is quite unkown to Romanian teachers of Romanian language and literature. It is possible
for only a few teachers of foreign languages to have heard of digital storytelling.
85
There have been few attempts at developing training courses for teachers enabling them to adapt
and/or use ICT tools in the classroom. In an analysis made by CNFP57 (Centrul Na"ional de Formare
Profesional$ – National Centre for Staff Training in Pre!University Education) in 200758, of the 44
courses offered between 2002 and 2005 only 7 focussed on ICT tools in teaching (5 courses were
designed for initial training and 2 presented new methods of teaching using ICT tools). A similar
situation was outlined for the years 2005 and 2006.
For the last four years there are no analytical data from CNFP or the Ministry of Education on the
training courses for teachers. However, it is our assumption that a similar pattern was preserved,
with most of the training courses offered addressing teachers in rural areas, and focussing especially
on subject!related themes or class management issues. For more recent years (2010, 2011), we have
been able to identify only one training course a part of which deals specifically with modern teaching
techniques; it is offered by a foundation and to be eligible teachers must function in rural areas59.
To sum up, teacher training on using ICT tools is available in Romania, but it addresses mainly
teachers in rural areas60. These courses are mainly in the form of initiation courses, helping teachers
understand and use some of the most common computer applications, not necessarily in order to
make use of all of them in teaching. As a result some of the modern technologies available are not
even included in such courses and teachers have little or no knowledge of them. Those who do know
of modern technologies have acquired that knowledge either by themselves or through informal
training (from colleagues, browsing the internet or even from their own students).
Non!school websites to support students’ study
The websites that do exist are dedicated mainly to providing students with ready!made papers (and
answers) on various subjects. There is a small number of websites with exercises, tutorials or lessons
meant to instruct / help students (mostly in science areas). However, these are insufficiently
developed and students do not use them. Most students prefer browsing foreign websites on
languages (when learning foreign languages) or wikis when looking for information.
Also, the small number of Romanian websites dedicated to helping students are very poorly
promoted, so not many people know about them, let alone use them.
Teaching methods
Many Romanian teachers still prefer the traditional method of teaching a whole class, the modern
aspect of their teaching being given by how they organise and manage their students. A vast
majority of teachers uses group!work or pair!work consistently with only a few still using the lock!
step type of delivering information. This analysis is entirely our own, as there is no document clearly
describing teaching methods practised in Romania. Occasionally teachers would use a
videoprojector or would teach their class in an AeL laboratory (accessing the internet for
57
CNFP is the national authority which regulates and approves training course for teachers.
The study is available from http://www.cnfp.ro/Downloads/index.html [accessed 12 April 2011]
59
Dinu Patriciu Foundation. A description of the offer is available at http://www.scoaladevara.eu/ [accessed
12 April 2011]
60
This is in fact a trend established by the Ministry of Education: training courses and support should address
primarily teachers in rural areas in order to attract them to posts outside cities. Because of financial issues
many teachers prefer to leave the system than be employed in areas where they have to pay for for their own
transportation.
58
86
information), but only a handful use a whiteboard, mainly because the only materials designed for
whiteboard teaching are only for foreign languages classes. Also, only a few teachers use online
platforms to deliver part of their teaching (using sharing portals such as Google Docs mainly to
assess students’ work and to offer feedback).
The reasons behind this slow adaptation to modern technologies are but a few and could be
summed up to:
1) lack of sufficient training: although teachers are presented or become knowledgeable of
certain computer technologies which could be used in the classroom, because there is no
‘official’ regulation on these and even fewer examples, they choose not to experiment with
them. Teaching time is little compared to the amount of information to be taught so
teachers prefer to first cover the curriculum and then, if time allows, engage in more
modern teaching situations.
2) lack of time: as we mentioned above, the time allocated for each subject is barely sufficient
for the content to be delivered. Besides the insufficiency of teaching time, teachers must
deal with the assessment of students’ acquired skills in the same number of hours allocated
for teaching.
3) lack of personal time: it could be argued that teachers could use online (teaching) platforms,
outside the classrom, but this can only be done in teachers’ free time. It is not included nor
is it recognised as teaching time, and, therefore, it is not paid for. Those who do choose to
‘meet’ their students online, do so voluntarily.
4) lack of materials: there are only a few online materials designed to address the issue of
teaching reading or writing in Romanian. Lack of such resources can be blamed on publishing
houses (which print new textbooks, but offer quite limited online support), training
authorities (the curriculum for Romanian does encourage teachers to use new, modern
technologies, but offers no guidance or training into how to create materials for this)
5) lack of confidence: many teachers feel they are not knowledgeable enough to use ICT tools
in teaching (irrespective of the skills they aim to develop). It is a shared feeling that students
know more form this point of view, and trying to implement a lesson project which includes
ICT tools, may well be easily undermined by students’ expertise in computer applications.
It is our belief that school management teams are, generally, in favour of the development of and
use of new teaching strategies. It is for this reason that the Ministry has invested in equipping
schools with IT labs and it is for this reason that schools are usually in favour of acquiring any new
material, technology or piece of equipment (if financial resources allow for it). Every school runs
monthly meetings in each subject of study dedicated to sharing teaching experiences; it is usually
the head of department in a particular subject who is responsible for organising such a meeting –
called a ‘methodological meeting’. Unfortunately, not always teachers join in these meetings, mainly
because of lack of personal time. It is common practice that during these meetings one teacher
describes a lesson project designed by him/her, outlining the methods used to achieve the goals of
that lesson.
Thus, it could be said that both school leaders (principals, heds of departments) and the community
are in favour of discovering and experimenting new teaching methods. Last, but not least, it is our
belief that students can be counted among those interested in newer, more modern teaching
strategies which could make their learning more interesting and more motivating. Linear study is not
their favourite way of acquiring information. Answering the learning needs of the ‘digital generation’
is in fact a goal of Romanian teachers of all subjects.
87
3. Reflections and Conclusions
The Romanian system of education is still trying to create or at least to adapt to a new educational
environment. Because there have been so many inconsistencies in the educational policy, many
teachers feel frustrated in their attempts to modernise their teaching strategies because the
curricular changes force them to first of all change and adapt the content and then worry about the
method of delivery. Above all, because they have to adapt the goals of the curricula to the type of
exam / assessment their students go through at the end of each learning cycle, teachers prefer to
play it safe and use more traditional teaching methods so as to feel confident that their students will
be able to perform well in those exams.
It is our belief that the reasons behind this lack of use of new, innovative teaching strategies, such as
digital storytelling, is due to lack of insufficient training and time. Although teachers are willing to
discover and experiment, given that they also have the possibility to do so as most of the schools are
equipped with IT labs, it is lack of information that is responsible for the scarcity of examples and
knowledge of modern teaching techniques.
At the same time, we should take into consideration the fact that the Romanian curricula is about to
undergo yet another change. When will these changes be implemented is again not known, which
leads us to another conclusion: lack of effective communication between national education
authorities and teachers is one more barrier in the path of adapting and adopting new teaching
strategies. In the last ten years, it has been our experience that informal communication has proven
more effective than the more official one. We hope that we can deliver the results of this project
both formally and informally to all interested Romanian teachers, although being able to stir into
action more formal communication channels is one goal we would like to achieve.
88
ReadIT Literature survey – Turkey
By Rustu Akin Kiz Teknik Meslek Lisessi
Contents
1. Curriculum Guidance for the use and inclusion of ICT/Digital Storytelling and social media in
Turkey for the teaching of reading and writing ........................................................................................... 90
2. Examples of good practice in the use of ICT/Digital Storytelling and social media ................................. 91
3. Research available in your country into the use of ICT/Digital Storytelling and social media in
classroom practice ....................................................................................................................................... 91
4. Pedagogies and e!learning approaches for the use of ICT/Digital Storytelling and social media ........... 91
5. Turkey’s educational system, policies, procedures and initiatives affecting the use of ICT/Digital
Storytelling as a tool for engagement with reading, writing and literature ................................................ 92
6. Barriers and enablers that might affect the use of ICT as a tool for engagement with reading,
writing and literature ................................................................................................................................... 94
7. International publications, influencers, initiatives etc impacted on the use of ICT/Digital
Storytelling as a tool Barriers and enablers that might affect the use of ICT as a tool for
engagement with reading, writing and literature ....................................................................................... 95
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................................. 96
89
Literature Survey TURKEY
Filiz Ya murlu, Gaye Genç, and !irli Ender Büyükbay
This document is to provide READIT partners with Literature Survey of Turkey to outline the current
practices, educational systems and curricula, rules and procedures in terms of project theme.
Curriculum Guidance for the use and inclusion of ICT/Digital Storytelling and social
media in Turkey for the teaching of reading and writing
This part aims to explain what curriculum guidance is available for the use and inclusion of
ICT/Digital Storytelling and social media in Turkey for the teaching of reading and writing.
In Turkey, for the teaching of reading and writing there is no certain curriculum available for the use
and inclusion of ICT/Digital Storytelling and social media. The avaliable curriculum for reading and
writing includes conventional menthods for classroom teaching.
Digital storytelling method is not known in the education sector in Turkey. Although, there is a focus
of including ICT into classroom practices increasing ICT facilities in schools, i.e. setting up computer
labs, smart boards, projectors and computers in the classrooms, curriculum and methods for usage
of ICT/Digital sources in classroom practices have not been introduced. Teachers use the ICT facilities
in classroom teaching, through having self or teamwork’s preparations.
Meanwhile, in the school syllabus, there is a course called ‘Information and Communication
Technologies’, aiming at building ICT skills in students.
ICT based curriculum is mainly used as extra!curricular activities, as supplementary side products, to
enhance learning material and to enable self evaluation. One example to those supplementary
product being used in primary level of education is the “Okulistik” http://www.okulistik.com/ and
“Morpa Kampus” http://www.morpakampus.com/. Students using their own username and
password login the system and fullfill tasks given by their teachers. However, portals as such provide
overall material of learning, targeting young learners.
Formally, ICT has been included in the National Education system recently.Since 1984 various
projects have been conducted but it can be said that the inclusion in its real meaning has started
through e!Turkey studies in 2003. Since then concrete policies and objectives have been defined.
In education the studies related to ICT have been conducted by the Department of Education
Technologies on behalf of the Ministry of National Education.
According to the projects conducted, some important actions to be taken have been defined, such as
adopting an ICT coherent curriculum, setting up technology classes equipped with projectors laptop
computers and interactivedigital boards. Beside setting of hardware and curriculum allignment,
providing in service trainings for teachers is another important action on the way. vc
Some important progress have been made related to in service training and adopting the curriculum.
The latest is the “Fatih Project (www.fatihprojesi.meb.gov.tr); which targets to setup 620.000
digitally ICT compatiple classrooms all over Turkey, equipped with laptop computers, internet access
and projectors. In addtion to that, in order to enable effective use of IT in teaching and learning
process, teachers will b provided the inservice trainings. Meanwhile, the curriculum will be updated
to be ICT coherent and upgraded with e!contents. (Milli E%itim, Üç aylõk e%itim ve sosyal bilimler
dergisi, 2005/ 33 / sayõ 167)
90
Examples of good practice in the use of ICT/Digital Storytelling and social media
This part aims to privide detailed information about what are available in Turkey for the use of
ICT/Digital Storytelling and social media, what form they take and how accessible they are.
Digital storytelling is not known in Turkey and so we cannot mention about any good practices
regarding this method. The use of ICT is promoted in school education including English classes and
Turkish language and literature classes. The use of ICT as classroom practices is not common in
teaching of reading and writing. However, due to motivation of ICT use in school work, all sorts of
self studies, such as homework, projects or papers are supported and carried out with the use of ICT.
To speak about ICT access at schools in Turkey; almost every school has got computer lab which can
be used by students during school time, both at free and classroom times. However, use of
computer labs, generally take place within a designated school subject; that is generally a course
called ‘Information and Communication Technologies’. Or sometimes the computer labs are used for
extracurricular activities, however, due to lack of efficient and broad spectrum material, the usage of
IT labs become very superficial and inefficient.
Research available in your country into the use of ICT/Digital Storytelling and social
media in classroom practice
This part aims to explain to what extent research is available in Turkey into the use of ICT/Digital
Storytelling and social media in classroom practice, particularly the teaching of reading and writing.
Regarding the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) at schools, various
variables are examined such as years of experience, gender, the duration of computer and Internet
use. The study was conducted with 1540 primary school teachers using Knowledge, Use and Attitude
Scales of ICT. The results show that the most commonly used and well!known ICT types among
teachers are the Internet, e!mail and word processing, and teachers’ attitudes towards computers
and the Internet are generally positive. It was also found that their attitudes vary with their years of
experience and levels of knowledge”.(Erdo"an Tezci, Teachers’ effect on ict use in education: the
Turkey sample)
The position of teachers in the process of integration IT into education and learning procedure, is
quite passive and ineffective. According to the research, almost most of the teachers are able to use
computers, however they rather keep away from any activity related to the integration of the
technolgy into the learning teaching process. This is mostly because they resist the change and new
methods which will challenge their routine work life.
(The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – TOJET July 2005 ISSN: 1303!6521 volume 4
Issue 3 Article 15, 109, Yasemin DEM&RASLAN_Yasemin KOÇAK USLUEL)
Pedagogies and e-learning approaches for the use of ICT/Digital Storytelling and social
media
This part aims to provide information on what pedagogies and e!learning approaches for the use of
ICT/Digital Storytelling and social media are being developed and taught by organisations involved in
teacher training and professional development in your country.
91
In Turkey, use of ICT technologies in classroom practices or e!learning methods for teacher training
are considered highly innovative and inaccessible. There are no developed pedagogies for use of
ICT/Digital storytelling, nor e!learning approaches practiced for teacher training or professional
development. Organisation involved in teacher training and professional development practice
conventional methods, i.e. in a real environment, getting face!to!face with trainer and learners. The
reason might me of cultural aspects, in which both parties believe to bring out best work result
through encountering one!another.
Meanwhile, there are several organisations, that develop and use auxilary online tools, to enhance
and supplement the practice of trainers, counsellors or users (Career Path Tool, www.cpteu.com)
Meanwhile, a study presents survey findings about the status of information and communication
technologies (ICT) in schools of teacher education (SsTE) in regard to ICT resources and methods of
their usage, planning and in!service training, level of physical and human resource conditions, and
main barriers and enablers of ICT integration. The findings of the study indicates that majority of
deans found “lack of in!service training about ICT” as the most significant barrier, and “technology
plans for implementing ICT in SsTE and universities should be prepared; in!service training should be
provided and appropriate amount of budget should be allocated” ” as the most significant enablers
for integrating ICT into pre!service teacher education programs. The findings indicated that despite
the differences among SsTE, the resources are not sufficient in general. It also supported the notion
that not only the faculty members but also prospective teachers do not have adequate access to ICT
resources. There are only one or two computer laboratories in majority of SsTE. If it is considered
that all the related courses are offered in these laboratories, computers are not sufficient at all. In
addition, most of the laboratories are used only during working hours for lessons, which means
students face with the restriction of using laboratories after working hours. The findings showed that
the number of computers allocated for students’ use in laboratories is limited in majority of SsTE.
Additionally, the findings showed SsTE do not have enough software and materials.
It can be concluded from the findings of the study that in order to integrate ICT into teacher
education programs, a comprehensive technology planning should be done to determine future
goals and strategies. In line with the technology planning, in!service training on ICT integration
should be provided to the faculty members. To be able take these actions and to provide sufficient
resurces, appropriate budget should be allocated for SsTE. (Yüksel GÖKTA', Zahide YILDIRIM, Soner
YILDIRIM, Orta Do%u Teknik Üniversitesi, Education and Science 2008, Vol. 33, No 149, Status of Ict in
Schools of Teacher Education: Deans’ Views,)
Turkey’s educational system, policies, procedures and initiatives affecting the use of
ICT/Digital Storytelling as a tool for engagement with reading, writing and literature
This part aims to give broad information about Turkey’s educational system, what policies,
procedures and initiatives ! current, past or prospective ! might affect the use of ICT/Digital
Storytelling as a tool for engagement with reading, writing and literature.
The objectives of the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MoNE) is to make use of ICT at all levels
and aspects within the education framework; from software to hardware. Several information
management systems (IMS) are used; e!school, mebbis, etc. for enabling practical and accessible
administrational facilities. At schools, to enable the use of ICT in classroom practices, computer labs
and IT classrooms were established. The instructional material and curricula was upgraded, teacher
training on ICT use were carried out. All procedures and policies been carried out, serve as
infrastructure for use of ICT/Digital Storytelling in reading, writing and literature. Unfortunately, the
policies and objectives of MoNE has not yet covered the development of approaches and methods
for use of ICT in classroom practices. For this reason, owing to the infrastructure MoNE has been
92
establishing in Turkey, READ IT project will be a pivotal example for effective use of ICT/Digital
Storytelling as a tool for teaching reading, writing and literature. The quotes below, gives detailed
information on how the process of bringing ICT into education.
MEB has carried out innovative efforts to increase the standards of Turkish educational system to
that of OECD and EU countries. In this context, one of the developments in 2010 and basic goals
toward 2011 can be summarized as:
To widespread information technologies in the schools, ADSL or satellite connection has been
provided to all schools (41 000 schools) having sufficient infrastructure. According to this effort, 96.3
% of the students in primary and all students in secondary schools can access internet connected
computer.”
(Eurydice survey)
Computers were first introduced to Turkish schools in 1984 by the initiation of a Computer!Aided
Education (CAE) Project, which took shape between 1984 and 1986. The
initiator's (Ministry of National Education (MONE)) aims were to spread computer literacy and the
use of computers as one tool to compensate for the poor quality and persistent deficiencies of
suitable teachers (Yedekcioglu, 1996).
Since then, MONE has allocated considerable money for spreading the use of ICT in education with a
number of projects. These include upgrading the curricula and instructional materials, revising
student achievement tests, improving the teacher training system, and increasing the research
component in education (Schware & Jaramillo, 1998).
In order to support these efforts, in 1992, an official organisation created by the MONE, which is
General Directorate of Computer Education and Services (BILGEM). Activities
such as planning the use of computers in education at every level and type of school, training
operating personnel, improving Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) parallel to technological
advancements, and performing tasks related to information processing are among the main
responsibilities of BILGEM (Ozar & Askar, 1997). BILGEM also carried out a successful project
(Computer Experimental Schools) in schools between 1992 and 1995, where 53 schools were
selected and provided required hardware and software, and approximately 250 teachers have been
trained in the use of those computers and educational software. However, ICT is not being
implemented in the National Curriculum
yet. ICT still does not exist in the National Curriculum either as a core subject or as a part of the core
subjects or other foundation subjects.
In parallel with the schools, the government concerned the need for change and improvement in
teacher education institutions. As part of the National Education Development Project (NEDP), which
was sponsored by Turkish Government and the World Bank, education faculties provided IT
equipment and necessary hardware and software facilities in 1998. With the Higher Education
Council's (YOK) Restructuring Attempt in Education Faculties in 1998, the teacher training curricula
revised and a new department in education faculties created. In the new programs, courses about
Information and Communications Technology and its uses in teaching and learning will be provided
to improve the quality of teachers. In short, the curriculum of each ITE program was reformed, from
theory!laden courses to more practice!based courses (Alev, 2003).
Computer and Instructional Technology Teacher Training Department is aiming to provide in the first
place IT co!ordinators for schools, and then later ICT literate teachers for all state schools. Similarly
93
in other program, two courses are included. The contents of those courses are as follow(Altun /
TÜFED!TUSED / 4(2) 2007 52):
1. Computer: Basic Keyboard skills, word processing, graphic, spreadsheets, working with database
programs, basic programming applications, software reviewing and evaluation, working with
computer in the classroom.
2. Instructional Technologies and Material Development: Characteristics of various instructional
technologies, the place of instructional technologies and their use in teaching process, development
of teacher materials (e.g. spreadsheets, transparencies, slides, video, computer based materials) and
evaluation of various types of teaching materials through instructional technologies (YOK, 1998).
As can be seen, the first one provides basic personal skills for student teachers and
second one seems more concentrated on professional skills related to ICT. If we look at the
assessment criteria in ITE programs, generally we can see that Turkish ITE is on behaviourist
approach. Those courses would seem to a national guide for education faculties in terms of
integrating ICT in teacher education programs, which is not a standard curriculum for ICT education.
Although those courses provide a framework to teacher educators about what should be taught
regarding to ICT, but they do not specify how it should be taught to student teachers in order them
to utilize ICT for pedagogical
purposes in the classrooms.
Despite those changes, Turkish Teacher Education Institutions still suffer from the lack of
appropriate integration of ICT in the programs. Although courses related to computer were included
in ITE programs by the YOK, teacher educators' lack of experience and competence in ICT is the
biggest constraint at the moment. Altun (1996) notes that computers are often locked in rooms
waiting for professional users or trainees. Altun (2002) found that the majority of the teachers are at
the early stages of technology adoption and pedagogical integration of ICT is yet to be accomplished
in some schools
even though there was an improvement in the use of technology in general.” (Taner Altun,
Information And Communications Technology (ICT) In Initial Teacher Education: What Can Turkey
Learn From Range Of International Perspectives?)
Barriers and enablers that might affect the use of ICT as a tool for engagement with
reading, writing and literature
This part aims to draft the barriers and enablers that might affect the use of ICT as a tool for
engagement with reading, writing and literature within Turkish educational system.
From teachers’ perspective, this sort of ICT tool is a dispensable opportunity and facility to use in
classroom teaching. However, teachers who are unfriendly with technology or experienced and
advanced are afraid of the innvovative, technological tools. As a result, they resist using the tool.
From students’ perspective, they enjoy using ICT tools, it motivates their learning. Through
stimulating their curiousity, using ICT tools, they get more into learning and participating in learning
activities. Using such tools enable the sense flexibility and relaxation in students, where there are no
time and space boundaries.
Looking from a conventional type of person, who likes to know its boundaries, who prefer certain
limitations and likes to be guided by tutor/teacher, the use of ICT or Digital methodologies may be
appealing or demotivating.
94
International publications, influencers, initiatives etc impacted on the use of
ICT/Digital Storytelling as a tool - barriers and enablers that might affect the use of
ICT as a tool for engagement with reading, writing and literature
This part drafts what extent international publications, influencers, initiatives etc have impacted on
the use of ICT/Digital Storytelling as a tool for engagement with reading, writing and literature
within your country.
In Turkey, international publications, influences and initiatives have impacted on the use of ICT as a
tool of teaching method, in terms of creating demand and enabling development. However the
impact may be, the process is too slow to have immediate results. Therefore, from the aspect of
hardware used Turkey is getting quite advanced, but from the aspect of software; that is skills, use
and development of the digital methods, Turkey has a lot more to cover.
95
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aksit, Necmi, 2006 “Educational Reform in Turkey”
Alev, Nedim,2003 “Integrating Information and Communications Technology (ICT) into
prservice science teacher education: the challenges of change in a Turkish Faculty of
Eduction”
Altun, Taner 2007 “Information And Communications Technology (ICT) In Initial Teacher
Education: What Can Turkey Learn From Range Of International Perspectives?”
Atõlgan, Do!an, 2002, “Avrupa Birli!i Sürecinde Türkiye’de Bilgi Hizmetleri”
Aydõner, Ay"en, 2006, “Avrupa Birli!i’ne Giri" Sürecinde Avrupa Birli!i E!itim Politikalarõ ve
Türk E!itim Sistemine Yansõmasõ”
Directorate General of Enlargement – Candidate countries key documents (progress reports,
strategy documents etc.)
European Training Foundation#ETF, “Turkey – Country Information Note 2010”
Gediko!lu, Tokay, 2005, “Avrupa Birli!i Sürecinde Türk E!itim Sistemi, Sorunlar ve Çözüm
Önerileri”
Grossman, Gary M., Onkol, Pinar E., Sands, Margaret, 2006 “Curriculum reform in Turkish
teacher education: Attitudes of teacher educators towards change in an EU candidate
nation”
Ozar, M., & Askar, P. (1997). Present and future prospects of the use of information
technology in schools in Turkey, in Educational technology research & design,
Tezci, Erdo!an 2009 “Teachers’ Effect on ICT use in Education: the Turkey sample”
96
READIT Literature Survey – Scottish Context
Diane McDonald and David Miller # LEARNwith …
on behalf of Scottish Book Trust
Contents
Educational System Context and Background ...................................................................................... 98
Curriculum Guidance for the Use of ICT/Digital Storytelling and Social Media to Support Reading and
Writing ................................................................................................................................................ 100
Use of ICT/Digital Storytelling and Social Media in Scottish Schools.................................................. 100
Research within Scotland into the use of ICT/Digital Storytelling and social media in classroom
practice, particularly the teaching of reading and writing ................................................................. 101
ICT/Digital Storytelling in Teacher Professional Development ........................................................... 102
Initiatives Impacting on the Use of ICT/Digital Storytelling in Scottish Schools ................................. 102
Barriers and Enablers to the Use of ICT as a tool for Engagement with Reading, Writing and
Literature ............................................................................................................................................ 103
International Publications, Influencers, Initiatives ............................................................................. 103
Reflections and Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 103
97
This survey reviews the Scottish context, research and literature on current practices and
educational systems and curricula contexts relating to the use of ICT to support reading and writing
with an emphasis on Digital Storytelling. It is one of 5 surveys being undertaken by the READIT
partners which together will provide EU wide data current practices and educational systems and
curricula contexts relating to the use of ICT and Digital Storytelling to support reading and writing.
Educational System Context and Background
The education system within Scotland, based on a broad general education, is distinct from other
parts of the United Kingdom, having developed independently over the centuries. Overall
responsibility for education in Scotland falls under the remit of the devolved Scottish Parliament.
The Scottish Government decides policy, national guidelines and priorities. Each Local (Government)
Authority is responsible for the provision of education services within their area. The government#
funded Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS)61 is the national body responsible for reviewing the
curriculum, developing assessment to support learning and providing national guidance and advice
to the education system on the use of ICT to support learning and teaching. Quality is monitored by
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE)62 which undertakes inspections and reviews of the
education system. These two bodies – LTS and HMIE – are due to merge in May 2011 to form
Education Scotland.
The vast majority of schools are stated#funded. Schools are split into primary schools (ages 5#12)
and secondary schools (ages 12#18), although there are some differences in rural areas. Children
spend 7 years in primary school (P1#P7). The minimum school leaving age is 16, making the first 4
years of secondary schooling (S1#S4) compulsory. Most pupils stay on to S5, with many continuing
also to S663. Most state schools are non#denominational, although there is some provision of
denominational education, mainly but not exclusively Roman Catholic. State schooling is based on
the comprehensive system, with no academic entry requirements, although pupils within a school
may be set into ability groups for the teaching of certain subjects. Pupils attend their local school
unless a placement request is made to another school which has space. There are a small number of
private (non#state) schools which are generally selective. The majority of schooling takes place in
English, with, Gaelic64 being used in Gaelic speaking areas of the highlands and islands and a few
Gaelic medium schools in the central belt of Scotland.
As of 2011, the curriculum in Scotland is undergoing a period of significant change with a new
Curriculum for Excellence65 being introduced across the country’s schools. The rationale behind the
change is to ensure that the country develops in its young people the necessary knowledge, skills
and attributes required for learning, life and work. The Curriculum for Excellence addresses the
educational needs for 3#18 year olds. It focuses on development of four capacities – successful
learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. There are eight
curriculum areas: expressive arts; health and wellbeing; languages; mathematics; religious and moral
education; sciences; social studies and technologies. This is to be delivered both through subject
teaching and through interdisciplinary learning.
The language curriculum has 5 areas – Literacy and English, Literacy and Gàidhlig66, Modern
Languages, Gaelic (learners) and Classical Languages. For each area there is no mandatory
curriculum, rather a framework is presented through ‘Principles and Practice’ and ‘Experiences and
Outcomes’ advice. Classroom teaching is therefore left up to schools and individual teachers. The
61
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk
http://www.hmie.gov.uk/
63
72% of pupils stayed on for S5 and 45% for S6 in 2009#2010 (The Scottish Government 2011)
64
English and Gaelic are the official national languages in Scotland.
65
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/understandingthecurriculum/
66
Education undertaken in Gaelic
62
98
Literacy and English67 and Literacy and Gàidhlig68 frameworks promote the development of critical
and creative thinking as well as competence in listening and talking, reading, writing and the
personal, interpersonal and team#working skills. Broad descriptions of the types of learning
opportunities that will contribute to development of these skills are also provided. A key element is
that these literacy skills will be developed across all school activities and not just the English or
Gaelic classroom.
The method of assessment is also currently changing to a system which supports greater breadth
and depth of learning and a greater focus on skills development. Previously there were standard
tests for assessing P1#S2 pupils’ attainment, although these were not national benchmarking tests as
are undertaken in England and Wales. How or whether pupil assessment in P1#S2 will be
standardised across Local Authorities or nationally is not yet clear. Assessment in the later years –
S4, S5 and S6 is undertaken through national examinations set by the Scottish Qualifications
Authority (SQA)69 – the national awarding and accreditation body for Scotland. These national
examinations – Standard Grades, Intermediate 1&2, Highers and Advanced Highers are part of the
Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF)70,71. Pupils generally sit 7#8 Standard Grades in
S4 (including English and Mathematics), moving on to 4#5 Intermediate 1/2 or Highers in S5
depending on ability. Additional Highers or up to 3 Advanced Highers may be taken in S6. University
entrance in is in general based on Higher results.
ICT technology first began to be used in Scottish schools in the 1980s. Like many countries the
coverage was patchy and often initial investment was not renewed, leading to out of date
technologies available only in bespoke computer labs. ICT provision in schools has significantly
changed as part of a holistic approach to more effective learning and teaching in Scotland’s
education system. In tandem with the Curriculum for Excellence, the Scottish Government and Local
Authorities are currently undertaking a major initiative – Building Better Schools – to improve and
revitalise school buildings and estates (Donnelley 2009). This initiative is focussed on designing
flexible quality spaces which challenge teachers and school management to think about learning in
new ways, facilitating both teacher and student creativity. A key part of this initiative has been not
only an upgrade of technology but moving the technology out of bespoke computer labs and into
the classroom. As a result most schools in Scotland now have interactive whiteboards and internet#
enabled computers in every classroom.
The Scottish Government through LTS also provides Glow72, a national intranet for Scottish schools,
launched in 2007. As well as broadband connectivity, Glow provides web conferencing, chat, instant
messaging, email, discussion boards, document repository and an integrated Virtual Learning
Environment. It is however up to local authorities to sign up for use of Glow within their area and so
not all schools have access to all of the features. While Glow is widely used, technical and resource
difficulties can on occasion make it difficult to use.
In summary, the education system in Scotland is undergoing a period of rapid change in curriculum
and physical spaces. These changes are driven by the desire to improve the educational, and hence
work force base, within the country in order to improve the Scottish economy. Whether the current
global economic downturn and subsequent funding limitations will negatively affect the realisation
of the country’s educational aspirations remains to be seen.
67
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/learningteachingandassessment/curriculumareas/languages/litandenglish
/index.asp
68
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/learningteachingandassessment/curriculumareas/languages/litandgaidhlig
/index.asp
69
http://www.sqa.org.uk
70
http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/14384.html
71
The SCQF also covers Further and Higher Education qualifications in Scotland.
72
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/usingglowandict/glow/
99
Curriculum Guidance for the Use of ICT/Digital Storytelling and Social
Media to Support Reading and Writing
The Curriculum for Excellence frameworks for the learning and teaching of Literacy and English and
Literacy and Gàidhlig do not explicitly provide guidance relating to the inclusion of ICT in the
teaching of reading or writing. These new literacy curricula do however recognise that ‘texts’ not
only include those presented in traditional written or print form, but also oral and digital multi#
media forms. Further while the curriculum does not specify teaching methods – traditional or
ePedagogies – teachers are encouraged to consider and develop the skills required by young people
to use effectively multimodal texts, digital communication, social networking and the other forms of
electronic communication. More generally, the use of ICT is one of the key approaches to learning
advocated in the Curriculum for Excellence along with active learning, co-operative and
collaborative learning, peer assessment, creativity and interdisciplinary learning.
LTS provides a range of advice and resources (support materials) for the use of technology in the
classroom as part of the Curriculum for Excellence. Glow Cookbooks73 are provided which offer
simple step by step guides on using the Glow Intranet to enhance teaching and learning. They are
based on actual practice by teachers and describe how Glow was used and the impact on learning
that resulted. Advice is also provided about incorporating games#based learning into teaching
practice using a range of games#based technologies.
A Consolarium74 has been set up by LTS to support games-based learning. This centre provides a
place where teachers, head#teachers and education managers can experiment with a range of
computer games and game design technologies to explore the relevance and practical application of
them in their schools.
The Curriculum for Excellence resources do not as of yet appear to provide specific advice relating
to Social Media or Digital Storytelling.
Use of ICT/Digital Storytelling and Social Media in Scottish Schools
Technology is widely used in Scottish schools. The advent of smart whiteboards has greatly
increased use of technology in the classroom as has internet enable computers in classrooms of
refurbished schools, although the extent and context of use varies. As Condie et al observed in 2004
“Teachers tended to be ‘task#oriented’ in the activities they undertook, while pupils were more
creative and explored the technologies, experimenting and learning in informal and less systematic
ways.” (Condie et al. 2005, ,p1) The extent to which this has changed is as yet unclear, although the
advent of the Glow Intranet and ICT support materials is increasing its purposeful use within
teaching practice. This is a trend which is expected to deepen as the Curriculum for Excellence
progresses. There are also pockets of innovative use of non#Glow technologies emerging from
practicing teachers exploring the capabilities of emerging technologies. For example, the use of wikis
to connect students in different parts of the world; Skype in the classroom; the mobile learning
capabilities offered by iPads and other tablet technologies.
Digital Storytelling is not widely used in Scottish schools although there are interesting and novel
uses beginning to emerge – e.g. Crawfordjohn Primary School Storytelling Project. One Local
Authority has also set up a Glow Group on Digital Storytelling, indicating a move towards its
introduction in their schools. Digital Storytelling is used as a learning tool outwith the schools
sector. The health and social care services jointly developed a series of digital stories to help give a
voice to the people who use their services, their carers and care professionals75. These stories are
additionally used to stimulate discussion relating to: understanding the outcomes agenda; resource
implications; partnership working; effective communication; the value of the carer’s assessment;
73
http://cookbooks.glowscotland.org.uk/
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/usingglowandict/gamesbasedlearning/consolarium.asp
75
http://www.jitscotland.org.uk/action#areas/talking#points#user#and#carer#involvement/digital#stories/
74
100
service redesign. A digital story repository has been developed76 and additional stories relating to
good practice for carers and safety are planned. The Regional Support Centres for further education
colleges is also actively promoting the use of Digital Storytelling with colleges in Scotland.
Social media is less extensively used. The Glow intranet provides some social media type facilities.
For example, learners can write their own learning blog and take part in online discussions. Blogs
are also used by students in some Local Authorities to create e#portfolios to allow them to record
their achievement in secondary school77. Teachers can also allow students to talk to each other
through the Glow Chat facility. Wiki facilities are also provided which allow individuals and groups to
work together on one shared area. There is interesting use of this, especially in very rural areas. For
example, children on one small island, where the primary school has only 11 pupils, use a wiki to
document the world travels of their stuffed whale Magnie78. Not only does this help develop their
reading and writing skills, but as their whale visits schools in different countries, they get the
opportunity to explore with the ‘host’ school what it is like to live in different communities, refining
their communication skills as they go.
While there is currently little data regarding the use of social media in schools, discussions with
practicing teachers highlight a range of issues. While the Glow blogs, wikis and chat facilities offer a
‘safe’ environment for students, anecdotal evidence suggests teachers and students can find the
facilities difficult to use and limiting. The current support model can also cause frustration. Many
teachers are, however, reluctant to use equivalent facilities on the Internet, due to worries about
social media misuse. Further, while the likes of wikis readily lend themselves to project work in
primary schools, teachers are more wary of their use in secondary schools, especially upper
secondary schools as it is less clear how they fit into subject curriculum and teaching practice. The
new focus on interdisciplinary learning, especially through collaborative projects may offer new
opportunities for use of wikis etc.
Finally, an educational charity # The Digital Learning Foundation79 – has been set up, dedicated to
assisting educators and students in adopting new technologies and integrating them into everyday
teaching and learning. The charity runs a range of 3D shows, workshops and digital media
competitions and other activities designed to inspire and motivate students and teachers regarding
how digital media and emerging technologies could be used purposefully in the classroom.
Research within Scotland into the use of ICT/Digital Storytelling and
social media in classroom practice, particularly the teaching of
reading and writing
The Scottish government commissioned a series of reports (HMIE 1999) (Condie 2002) (HMIE 2005)
into the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Scottish Schools. These studies
examined: levels of pupil knowledge and skills relating to ICT; pupils’ and teachers’ access to and
attitudes towards using ICT in learning and teaching; the impact of professional development on
teachers’ knowledge skills and attitudes; the impact of ICT on pedagogy, school management and
administration; and pupils’ and teachers’ hopes and expectations for the future use of ICT. The
studies showed a progression in skills and confidence in use over the years.
By 2004, most primary and secondary schools had at least 1#2 computers per classroom and access
to bookable computer suites. However, both pupils and teachers reported being frustrated due to
technical failures and inadequacies – they had better access to more up to date resources at home.
While pupils and teachers were beginning to experiment with mobile phones, MP3 players and
76
http://www.digitalstorylibrary.scot.nhs.uk/
http://cookbooks.glowscotland.org.uk/blog/2011/03/07/s1#e#portfolios#in#scottish#borders#part#1#
overview#of#process/
78
http://cookbooks.glowscotland.org.uk/blog/2011/02/01/getting#started#with#glow#wikis/
79
http://digitallearningfoundation.org/about
77
101
digital cameras, this took place out of school. Few schools were adapting their teaching to utilise the
educational potential of these emerging technologies and there was little evidence of any clear
pattern of impact on pedagogical strategies.
The Report, Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World (Hughes 2009), produced by an independent
Committee of Inquiry, examined the impact on higher education of school pupils' widespread use of
Web 2.0 technologies. The inquiry noted 6 key findings relating to young people leaving secondary
education. (i) There continues to be a ‘digital divide relating to access to and engagement with
technology, technological capability and individual competence. (ii) Use of Web 2.0 (social and
multi#media) technologies is high and pervasive for 11 years old upwards. (iii) Use of Web 2.0 helps
school students develop a sense of networks, communities of interested and bounded web spaces.
(iv) There is room within this ‘group’ space for areas to be developed to support learning and
teaching. (v) The process of engaging with Web 2.0 helps school students develop communication,
collaboration, creativity, leadership and technology skills – key learning and employability skills. (vi)
information skills including critical literacy skills are decreasing. The inquiry also found that while the
extent and type of use of ICT within schools varied, there was a general trend towards use of ICT in
project and group based learning.
ICT/Digital Storytelling in Teacher Professional Development
Most teachers had received basic ICT training, mainly through the New Opportunities Fund initiative.
Teachers were keen to learn more about using ICT across the curriculum. However lack of time to
learn new skills, source resources, plan and try out new methods and reflection was a major
stumbling block. (HMIE 2002)
Training in Digital Storytelling is much less prevalent; however there are some organisations offering
Digital Storytelling training. For example, Inner Ear Ltd80, a new media production company, was
commissioned by one Local Authority to provide a six#part Digital Storytelling workshop for a small
primary school. Further, the JISC Regional Support Centre for the North and East of Scotland offer
online Digital Storytelling training81 for Further Education teachers.
Initiatives Impacting on the Use of ICT/Digital Storytelling in Scottish
Schools
At present there are no current or prospective national policies, procedures or initiatives directly
concerned with Digital Storytelling; however many of the initiatives mentioned previously provide a
basic level of technology availability and training that would allow schools and teachers to introduce
Digital Storytelling. – e.g. Building Better Schools, the Curriculum for Excellence initiatives and the
Glow Intranet .
There are a number of storytelling initiatives that could in the future impact upon the use of Digital
Storytelling. The Adventure Author82 a research project from Heriot Watt University is developing a
computer game authoring tool aimed at 10#14 year olds. Its aim is to encourage creativity and
authorship through a game#making toolset that enables children to design and build interactive
stories that can be ‘played’. A complementary set of applications enable children to capture their
ideas, note outstanding tasks, and evaluate and discuss their work with peers.
SBT also has two programmes which use online platforms to offer reasonably traditional
reader/writer development # author events, master classes, reviewing etc. The ‘Meet Our Authors’
80
http://www.innerear.co.uk/clients/south#lanarkshire#council/digital#storytelling#classes/
81
http://rsc#eden.co.uk/events/event_details.asp?eid=69
http://judyrobertson.typepad.com/adventure_author/about#adventure#author.html
82
102
programme83 broadcasts children’s authors events live over the Internet and provides quality digital
resources about children’s authors using social media. The ‘Creative Writing’ programme84 provides
podcasts and bite#sized video based workshops from two authors as well as links to writing
competitions.
The SCRAN85 charity provides free access for Local Authority schools and teachers to an online
learning resource base with over 360,000 digital rights cleared resources including images & media
from museums, galleries, archives and the media. These learning resources will greatly ease the
creation of digital stories.
Finally, LTS have played a pivotal role in ICT provision and support within Scottish schools. It is
unclear how the forthcoming merger of LTS and HMIE to form Education Scotland will impact the
provision and support of ICT within schools.
Barriers and Enablers to the Use of ICT as a tool for Engagement with
Reading, Writing and Literature
Three main barriers to use of ICT in the curriculum can be identified – all of which are equally
applicable to its use in engagement of students with reading, writing and literature. Firstly, teacher
motivation for new ideas and practices is perhaps at a low due to the recent period of considerable
change brought about by the introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence. The benefits of new
practices will need to be clearly advocated, both in the relation to student achievement and
Curriculum for Excellence targets. Secondly, the current technological capability of the Glow Intranet
and its support model may act as a barrier to innovation in technology#supported learning. In
particular, it will take time for Glow to incorporate emerging technologies into the Intranet, limiting
the organic development of technology#supported learning. Teachers may increasingly use
technologies outside Glow in order to leverage emerging developments. However this is likely to be
those teachers most comfortable with technology. Thirdly, lack of time for teachers to train, develop
new materials and reflect on their practice is likely to act as a significant barrier.
While teachers may suffer change#fatigue, the Curriculum for Excellence, its adoption of media in the
wider digital sense and the embedding of ICT across all parts of the curriculum will be a significant
enabler, encouraging purposeful pedagogical use of ICT in engagement of students with reading,
writing and literature. Further, the advent of Web 2.0 technologies and the educational user forums
and micorblogging sites such as Twitter will also act as enablers and motivators.
International Publications, Influencers, Initiatives
See section 2 of main READIT WP3 Final Report.
Reflections and Conclusions
While ICT has been available in Scottish schools for over 20 years, it is only in the past few years that
it has made inroads into daily classroom practice. This increase in use reflects the fact that
computers and smart technologies are now available to most teachers and students in their
classrooms and a general increase in use of technology and digital media, especially by young
people. Increased availability and regular use does not automatically lead to effective use of
technology learning and teaching.
There is currently an overall political will to help develop and embed innovative and effective
technology#enhanced teaching throughout the education system as illustrated by the Curriculum for
83
http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/childrens#authors#live
http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/children#and#young#people/creative#writing
85
http://www.scran.ac.uk/
84
103
Excellence, Building Better Schools and New Opportunities Fund ICT training initiatives. However,
technical restrictions and support models both deter teachers who are not confident in ePedagogy
and limit the ability of adventurous teachers to innovative. Further, a lack of time to learn about
new strategies and technologies and develop new materials and lesson plans limits the pedagogical
use of ICT. If Digital Storytelling is to be used effectively within reading and writing development
and more generally within the curriculum, these issues will need to be addressed.
104
Appendix C : The Initial Teacher Survey
Use of ICT and Digital Storytelling to support reading and writing
1.
Welcome to the READIT Project Teacher survey exploring the use of ICT and digital storytelling to
engage pupils in reading and writing.
Velkommen til REDADIT projektets undersøgelse af læreres brug af IKT og digital storytelling i
forhold til elevernes arbejde med læsning og skrivning.
Benvenuto nel questionario indirizzato agli insegnanti nell’ambito del progetto READIT, che prende
in considerazione l’uso delle Tecnologie dell’Informazione e della Comunicazione (TIC) e della
narrazione digitale per incentivare gli alunni alla lettura e alla scrittura.
Bun venit! Acesta este un sondaj adresat profesorilor, creat în cadrul Proiectului READIT, ce dore"te
s$ exploreze folosirea TIC "i a povestirii digitale în scopul antren$rii elevilor în lectur$ "i scriere.
Ö!rencileri okuma ve yazmaya yönlendirmek için Bilgi %leti"im Teknolojileri (BIT) ve Dijital
Öyküleme’nin kullanõmõnõ ara"tõrmak üzere düzenlenmi" olan READIT Projesi’nin Ö!retmen
Anketi’ne ho" geldiniz.
*1.
Please click on the buttons below to select in which of the available languages you
wish to answer the survey.
Klik venligst på knappen nedenunder for at vælge sprog.
Clicca sulle caselle sottostanti per selezionare quale lingua, tra quelle a disposizione, si
desidera utilizzare per rispondere al sondaggio.
V$ rug$m s$ da&i click pe unul din butoanele de mai jos pentru a selecta dintre limbile
disponibile pe cea în care dori&i s$ r$spunde&i la acest sondaj.
Lütfen, anketi a"a!õdaki mevcut dillerden hangisiyle cevaplamak istedi!inizi
i"aretleyiniz.
Dansk
Italiano
English
Român$
Türkçe
105
2. READIT Survey Introduction (English)
The READIT project is seeking to develop teachers’ skills and practice through the inclusion of ICT
tools and digital storytelling techniques in classroom practice, specifically to produce book trailers
as a means of promoting engagement with reading and writing. The project, funded under the
European Union Lifelong Learning Comenius Programme, is being undertaken by partners in five
European countries: Italy, Romania, Turkey, Denmark and Scotland. In Scotland, the ReadIT partner
is Scottish Book Trust.
The purpose of this online survey, being conducted by Scottish Book Trust on behalf of the READIT
Partners, is to gather information on teachers’ experiences, needs and views relating to the use of
ICT and digital storytelling to engage pupils and to develop their reading and writing. The
information gathered will be used to identify good practice, skills and training needs.
It will also help to identify pedagogical priorities relating to the use of ICT and digital storytelling to
engage pupils in the development of their reading and writing. This information will then be used
to create a professional development course for teachers.
Participation, Ethics and Informed Consent
This online survey will be open from 28th February until 25th March 2011. It is open to practising
teachers in the partner countries who have been invited to participate by their local education
authority. The survey and READIT research is being undertaken in accordance with the Scottish
Educational Research Association Ethics Guidelines. By completing the survey you will be
consenting to participate in the research. Participation will be anonymous and all data collected will
be stored by Scottish Book Trust. Analysis of the survey data will be undertaken by Scottish Book
Trust for the purposes of the READIT project in line with the Data Protection Act UK.
The resulting report from this research will be published on the READIT project website. The data
may be used in following phases of the READIT research. Additionally, it may also be used to
develop practitioner#focused and academic publications.
For more information relating to the project, please see the READIT project website.
Format and Instructions
The survey has been split into 6 question sections and should take approximately 15#20
minutes to complete. Each section should be completed in turn. All questions should be answered,
unless you are instructed otherwise. You may use the back button to return and revise earlier
answers. Further information and examples can be accessed by hovering your mouse over
highlighted text. You may return to finish a partially completed survey using the same computer and
same browser at a later date provided cookies are enabled and not cleared. Partially completed
survey pages (sections) will however be lost in this case.
106
3. Current Practice
In order to gain an overview of practices in each of the partner countries, this section focuses on
the methodologies you use currently to engage pupils in reading and writing.
*1. The following is a list of strategies which encourage pupils' engagement with reading and
writing. Please indicate the frequency of their use in your classroom.
Everyday Frequently Quite Often Rarely Never
Active Learning
Cooperative Learning
Interdisciplinary learning
Creating Texts
Formative Assessment
Exemplars/shared practice
Personalisation and choice
Peer/self assessment
Other (please specify)
*2. Please identify the one strategy that, in your experience, makes the biggest impact on pupils'
engagement with reading and writing. It would be useful to have a brief description of how you
apply this strategy in the classroom, and the nature of its impact.
*3. What are the main barriers you encounter when engaging pupils in reading and writing?
Not significant
Poor prior engagement with reading
Poor levels of literacy
Wide range of classroom ability in
reading and writing
Lack of engaging resources
Lack of differentiated materials
Lack of time for basic literacy
building activities
Lack of time for literacy extension
activities
Restrictive or over#busy curriculum
Lack of support staff
Social exclusion
Lack of basic materials
Poor or unavailable ICT facilities
107
Slightly
significant
Quite
significant
Highly
significant
Class size
Multiple classroom languages
Lack of personal reading time for
pupils
Other/no barriers experienced (plea
se specify)
*4. Please identify briefly the one thing that would enable you to improve how you engage pupils
in reading and writing. You may wish to consider resource availability, professional development,
access to good practice, educational materials, access to ICT facilities, access to on#line technologies
...
*5. Which of the following practices do you employ to assess your pupils' engagement with
reading and writing?
Every day
Frequently
Direct observation
Structured questions
Survey / questionnaire
Short essay
Check#list
Critical essay
Creative response to text
Creative writing
Verbal response
Group discussions
Research report
Summary
Exercise
Portfolio
Other (please specify)
108
Quite often
Rarely
Never
4. Current Use of ICT
In this section you will be asked about your current use of ICT and on#line social/collaborative techno
logies both to engage pupils in reading and writing and in general.
*1. Please identify the type of computer access you have available in your school.
Available
Used by you
Used by your pupils
Computer Lab
Internet enabled Computer Lab
Computers in Classroom
Internet in Classroom
Interactive White Board
Mobile Technologies (phone, iPad ...)
Other (please specify)
*2. Please indicate which of the following technologies [including on#line, social and collaborative
technologies] you have available and provide an indication of frequency of use.
Used
regularly
Used
occasionally
Available,
but not used
Desktop document
processing
On#line
presentation
software
Collaboration
software
Wikis
Blogs
On#line
mind#mapping
Digital walls
Video creation/
sharing
Picture sharing
Social media
Digital storytelling
Animation
Games#Based
Learning
Other technologies
(please specify)
109
Unavailable
Availability
Unknown
*3. To the best of your knowledge, how many of your pupils have access to the following at home?
All
Most
Some
Few
None
Don't know
Computer
Internet
*4. How often do you encourage pupils to use the Internet or other ICT resources for tasks at
home? (Homework, research ...)
Frequently
Quite often
Rarely
Never
Not applicable
*5. To what extent does the curriculum include provision for engaging pupils in reading and writing
through the use of ICT?
Explicitly
Implicitly
No provision
*6. How would you rate the benefits for pupils and teachers in using ICT and on#line technologies
both in the classroom and in home#based tasks?
Not useful
Moderately useful Very useful
Personalised learning
24/7 access to course materials
Pupil motivation
Improved pupil writing
Subjects made easier to learn
Differentiated learning
Collaborative learning
Learning across disciplines
Peer and self assessment
Self#paced learning
Improved attitude to learning
Improved classroom interactions
Other benefits (please specify)
110
Extremely useful
5. Digital Storytelling
Digital Storytelling is the practice of using digital technologies to tell a story. Like traditional
narratives, digital stories will focus on a subject and feature a particular point of view. What
distinguishes digital storytelling is the inclusion of digital images, text, audio narration, moving image
(video), and music. Stories used (or created) in the classroom will typically last between two and ten
minutes. Topics covered in Digital Storytelling range from personal reflection to historical events,
from life in the community to life between the pages of a book. And everything in between ...
With this in mind, we would like you to think about the extent to which you use (and feel confident
in using) digital storytelling as a way to engage pupils in reading, writing and literature.
*1. How often do you use digital storytelling as a way to engage pupils in reading, writing and
literature?
Never
Rarely
Quite often
Frequently
Reading
Writing
Prose (non#fiction)
Prose (fiction)
Poetry
Drama
Film and Media
*2. Digital storytelling uses a range of different media to tell a story. When asking pupils to create
stories or to respond imaginatively to text, how confident are you in using the following?
Never used
Not confident
Digital images
Text (literary or other)
Sound/Audio
Moving image (video)
Music
Storyboarding
Scriptwriting
Collaborative software
(Google docs / Etherpad ...)
Social Media
(Twitter, Facebook ...)
If you use another media, please identify.
111
Moderately confident Very confident
*3. Digital Storytelling has been found to have a variety of positive impacts on pupil engagement
with reading and writing. How would you rate the impact of the following aspects of Digital
Storytelling on pupils' engagement with reading and writing?
No impact Low impact Moderate impact High impact
Opportunities for collaborative learning
Scope for individual learning styles
Encouraging emotional response to text
Expression of pupil personality
Expression of teacher personality
Exploring Multiple Intelligences
Audience beyond the classroom
Pupils’ creative ‘voice’
Purposeful way to learn new
technology
Confidence in digital literacy
Capturing the essence of a text
Exploring visual literacy
Demonstrating personal understanding
of text
Please briefly identify any other benefits you feel important.
*4. What barriers do you perceive to using digital storytelling as a tool to engage and develop your
pupils' confidence in reading and writing? Consider the significance of these barriers to your
personal engagement with digital storytelling.
Not a
barrier
Lack of confidence in ICT in general
Lack of confidence in social/collaborative technologies
Lack of exemplar lesson plans or materials
Lack of time to innovate / research
Lack of time for training
Lack of relevant training
Lack of expert/practitioner advice
Lack of interest by pupils
Lack of support at school management level
Lack of support at authority level
Other (please specify)
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Slight
barrier
Significant
barrier
Prevents
use
*5. Which of the following options would encourage you to use digital storytelling in your teaching
practice.
Significantly
encourage
Moderately
encourage
Training relating to the
educational use of storytelling
Practitioner case studies
Impact analysis of digital
storytelling
Training in the use of moving
Image technologies
Training in the use of social
media/collaborative
technologies
General ICT training
Digital storytelling mentor
Community of Practice relating
to digital storytelling
Talk from practising experts
Pupil request
Peer usage
Other (please specify)
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May
encourage
Would not encourage
6. Professional Development Needs
In this section you will be asked about your professional development needs relating to the use of IC
T and digital storytelling to encourage reading and writing.
*1. How frequently in the last 5 years have you participated in training (organised or informal)
relating to ICT, emerging technologies, social media, collaborative softwares ...
Never
1#2 times
3#4 times
5 or more times
Training in school
Training through Education Authority
Training through teacher training organisations
Training through informal networks
(Nings, Twitter, Facebook ...)
Training through private organisations
Briefly describe one ICT training experience that you found particularly useful.
*2. In enabling teachers to make effective use of digital storytelling as part of classroom practice,
please indicate how useful you feel these areas of CPD (continuing professional development) would
be?
Extremely useful
Storytelling as a pedagogical tool
Routes to visual literacy
Routes to digital literacy
How to assess digital stories
Creating content for digital stories
Suitability of texts for digital
storytelling
Finding resources for digital
storytelling
Creative Commons
Other (please specify)
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Very useful
Moderately useful Not useful
*3. In enabling teachers to make effective use of digital storytelling as part of classroom practice,
please indicate how useful you feel training in the following technology would be.
Extremely useful Very useful
Moderately useful
Not useful
Desktop document processing
On#line presentation software
Collaboration software
Wikis
Blogs
On#line mind#mapping
Digital walls
Video creation/sharing
Picture sharing
Social media
Digital storytelling
Animation
Games#Based Learning
Other (please specify)
*4. Please select your preferred ways of engaging in professional development relating to digital
storytelling from the following options.
Seminar
On#line training using digital story telling
Self#paced learning materials
Community of Practice
Good practice exemplars
Social Media (Twitter, Facebook ...)
Expert practitioner advice
Other (please specify)
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7. School and Teacher Background
In this final questions section you will be asked to provide some background information on your sch
ool and your own experience. This information will help us to develop more appropriate professional
development materials and courses.
*1. What age of pupils attend your school and which age ranges do you personally teach? (Please
tick all that apply.)
In school
Personally teach
Below 12
12#13
13#14
14#15
15#16
16#17
17#18
Over 18
*2. Please provide details of the size and composition of your school. (An estimate is acceptable if
you do not know specific details.)
Number of pupils
Number of pupils studying English
Number of teachers
Number of teachers teaching English
Number of support staff/assistants supporting English
Pupil/teacher ratio in English classes
Pupil/assistant ratio in English classes
Number of technology support staff
*3. Which of the following describes your school? (Multiple choices may apply.)
Selective (academically)
Selective (other)
State
Independent
*4. How many years have you been qualified as a teacher?
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0#2
3#5
6#10
11#20
Over 20
*5. Please identify your current role(s).
Classroom teacher
Senior classroom teacher (Chartered teacher in Scotland)
Head of department
Learning support
Other (please specify)
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8. Next Phase of READIT Research
Thank you for taking the time to complete the READIT Teacher Survey. The information you have
provided will be invaluable in helping the project to understand teachers' experiences and training
needs relating to the use of ICT and digital story telling to engage pupils in reading and writing.
We would like to invite volunteers to participate in the next stage of the READIT project. This will inv
olve exploring pupils' experiences and views on the use of ICT and digital storytelling to engage them
in reading and writing. Participation in this action research phase will help you to gain deeper under
standing of young peoples’ experiences and expectations in critically and creatively engaging with
text, and the ways in which ICT may be used in school, and beyond the classroom, to achieve this.
This pupil#focussed action research will be conducted using two specially designed lesson plans. Each
participating teacher will take part in an on#line seminar which will introduce them to the lesson
plans and how to conduct the action research. The seminar will take place on 19th April 2011,
starting at 4pm. You will then be asked to conduct these two lessons with a selected class some time
during May 2011. After the lessons, you will also be asked to complete a short reflective survey on
your experiences and insights.
1. If you would like to volunteer to participate in the teacher#led action research please provide
contact details below. Participants will be selected and informed in due course.
First name
Family name
School
Email
Phone number
9. Links to Social Media and Collaborative Technologies
A brief list of some of the social media tools and collaborative technologies mentioned in the survey.
This list can also be found on the READIT project website.
Mindmapping
bubbl.us: Create colourful mind maps online, share and work with fellow pupils
Timeline Software
Timetoast: Timelines made simple!
Electronic Notes
Wallwisher # an online notice board where you create the content by adding interactive stickies to
the board.
Writing prompts and Collaborative Storytelling
Storybird: collaborative storytelling
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Wordle: a toy for generating beautiful “word clouds” from text
Sound Literacy
audacity.sourceforge.net: Free recording software – very easy to use ...
voicethread.com: capturing student voices
Collaboration Tools
Google docs
Animation
animoto.com: Animation made simple!
Social Media
Twitter
Wikis: easy#to#create on#line learning communities
www.wikispaces.com
sites.google.com
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Appendix D : The Action Research Documentation and Survey
Welcome
ReadIT Classroom Research.
ReadIT undersøgelse i klassen.
Ricerca di Classe nell'ambito del progetto READ IT.
ReadIt Cercetarea la clasa.
ReadIT Sõnõf Ara"tõrmasõ.
Please click on the buttons below to select in which of the available languages you wish to
answer the survey.
Klik venligst på knappen nedenunder for at vælge sprog.
Clicca sulle caselle sottostanti per selezionare quale lingua, tra quelle a disposizione, si
desidera utilizzare per rispondere al sondaggio.
V$ rug$m s$ da&i click pe unul din butoanele de mai jos pentru a selecta dintre limbile
disponibile pe cea în care dori&i s$ r$spunde&i la acest sondaj.
Lütfen, anketi a"a!õdaki mevcut dillerden hangisiyle cevaplamak istedi!inizi
i"aretleyiniz.
English
Italiano
Dansk
Român$
Türkçe
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Choosing texts
This page has questions exploring how students find out about the range of different texts they
engage with (including written, illustrative, moving image and interactive texts)
*1.Where do you find out about books/films/games/TV?
Films
Fiction
Books
Non#
Fiction
books
TV
Programmes
Games
DVDs
Comics
Graphic
novel
Social Media
(Bebo, Facebook,
Twitter ... )
Websites
(imdb, Sparknotes)
Books
Magazine features
Newspaper features
TV programmes
Advertising
Libraries
School teachers
Friends
Family
Phone Apps
Online media provider
s
(iTunes, Spotify, LastF
M …)
Book and music stores
Charity shops
Blogs
*2. How much do you trust the information you get from these sources?
Most Trusted
2nd Most Trusted
Source of Information
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3rd Most Trusted
*3. Which of following influences what you choose to read, view, listen to or play?
No influence
Mild influence
Peer recommendation
Teacher recommendation
School Librarian
Cover art (books, games,
DVDs / trailer)
Length
Back cover
summaries/blurb
Part of a series
Web#based reviews
Genre
Familiarity of author /
actors / title (games)
Awareness of Awards
Strongly gender#based
subject
Access
Other (please specify)
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Strong influence
Making Texts
This page includes questions which explore students' preferences for expressing their opinions and c
reativity
*4. How do you share your opinions about books/films/games/TV?
Frequently
Quite often
Rarely
Never
Posting (Facebook,
MySpace …)
Blogging
Microblogging (Twitter)
Texting
Email
Formal school essay
Chat room conversation
Peer interaction
Teacher / pupil interaction
Word of Mouth
Other (please specify)
*5. How do you like to make/tell/share stories?
Frequently
Quite often
Computer games (self#
created narratives)
Images (Flickr
School essay
Video
Animation
Journals
Diary
Verbal response
Group discussions
Summary
Graphic novel
Other (please specify)
Technologies for learning
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Rarely
Never
These questions are aiming to find out what experience students have of technology being used to
support their learning around reading and writing
*6a. In your learning about reading and writing, how would you describe your experiences of IT,
Digital Storytelling and Social Media
Extremely
Positive
Extremely negative No experience
positive
Negative
Digital images
Digital text
(PowerPoint,
Prezi ...)
Sound/Audio
Moving image (video)
Music
Storyboarding
Scriptwriting
Collaborative software
(Google docs ...)
Social Media (Twitter,
Facebook ...)
*6b. Please describe one good experience with IT, Digital Storytelling and/or Social Media, and one
not#so#good experience.
Good Experience
Not#so#good Experience
How can things be better?
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Questions to find out how students feel using technology might improve their engagement with read
ing and writing.
*7. How could ICT, Digital Storytelling, and Social Media be used to improve both your interest and
confidence in reading and writing?
Improvement 1
Improvement 2
Improvement 3
*8. Think about the technologies you use in school/ for school work and the technologies you use
at home/during your leisure time. Are the any differences or similarities? Which technologies offer
you the most interesting ways of reading and writing and in which context do you use these
technologies?
Similarities
Differences
*9. When engaging with texts, which do you prefer most: watching, listening, creating or reading?
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Do you prefer to engage on your own or collaboratively (pairs, groups …)?
What are some of the factors that affect your preference?
Preference when engaging with text. Why?
On own or collaboratively. Why?
Influencing factors?
126
Teacher Reflection
A final page to capture teacher reflections on the discussions with students.
*10. In light of discussions with your class, please provide a concrete example of how you might
change / adapt your teaching practice. Has the action research highlighted any additional training
needs not highlighted in your original survey response?
*11. In order for us to monitor who has completed the survey, please complete the information
below.
Name:
School:
Country:
Email Address:
Phone Number:
*12. How many students took part in the action research to complete this survey?
1#10
11#15
16#20
21#25
26#30
30+
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Appendix E : Teacher Survey Responses and Analysis
Detailed survey responses are provided below. Extraneous and confidential responses have been
removed.
E.1
Current Practice Relating to Teaching of Reading and Writing
§3Q1: Strategies for Encouraging Student’s Engagement with Reading and Writing
Teachers were asked to rate the frequency of their use of a range of strategies designed to
encourage students’ engagement in reading and writing.
250
200
150
100
Never
50
Rarely
0
Quite often
Frequently
Everday
Figure 1: Frequency of use of various strategies to support students' engagement in reading and writing
As Figure 1 illustrates, Active learning was the most often commonly employed strategy with 93% of
teachers reporting quite often or higher usage, followed by Creating texts (85%), Cooperative
learning (82%) and Exemplars/Shared Practice (81%). Interdisciplinary Learning was the least used
strategy with 34% of teachers reporting rare or no usage. Other strategies identified by a few
teachers were Summative Assessment, Creativity#based Learning (e.g. creativity contests,
brainstorming and drama) and Project#based Learning (production of multi#media texts for final
thesis).
§3Q2: Strategies for Impacting Students’ Engagement with Reading and Writing
Teachers were asked to each identify the one strategy that, in their experience, makes the biggest
impact on students' engagement with reading and writing. This was to include a brief description of
how you apply this strategy in the classroom, and the nature of its impact.
Responses
Formative assessment # with next steps in learning to provide specific targets for future learning.
Cooperative learning: Pupils enjoy swapping ideas; are motivated by the group work; give
constructive criticism to their peers and stay engaged. It creates a culture of 'We are writers' and
'we are readers'!
Creating Texts # I really like the way creating texts can make the 'bridge' between reading and
writing. For example, a pupil can learn about a particular technique or approach used by a writer
and then try to use it in their own creative work. The whole idea of "transforming" texts by creating
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imaginative responses (a character's diary entry, a missing chapter etc) or re#creating it in another
genre is also an approach I enjoy and find effective.
Active Learning. Allows them to talk and share ideas as well as here opinions on their ideas.
The strategy which I think engages pupils most is the sharing of success criteria and looking at work
as it is created by using a visualiser.
Reading aloud excellent examples from texts and classwork and encouraging youngsters to share
the best parts of their writing aloud. People like to hear what friends have written. We share what
makes this an excellent piece of writing (however short the piece)
Active learning that has a creative aspect with an element of performance and group cooperation.
Eg # making a short film form a series of short ghost story monologues.
Peer exemplars have a great impact. For example, if I choose a piece of pupils' work that shows
great use of metaphor and share it with the class it inevitably spurs pupils on to engage with that
technique. This has worked for a number of foci e.g. metaphor, simile, lateral thinking, description
etc.
use of graphic novel as 21st century text
Formative assessment # gauging from this how much the pupils have understood what they have
been taught. Used to plan next steps.
Pupils enjoy creating and sharing their own writing.
exemplars and self/peer assessment using success criteria
I think producing something in a group engages pupils. It might be a topic that they have studied
and produced a poster/leaflet or a character they have studied from a book we have read. When
they are given a specific time frame and the rule that everyone must be actively engaged they are
keen to get on and do their best.
cooperative learning! I have been getting pupils to research their own chosen topic and have
satisfied a number of Learning Outcomes in doing so.
Exemplars/Shared practice
Using modern, well presented texts.
Exemplar (teacher or pupil) and clear success criteria.
Modelling of writing process.
Peer assessment has a very positive impact on pupils' enjoyment. In my class, pupils' written work is
often read aloud. This encourages the pupils to stretch their imaginations in order to amuse,
entertain and impress their peers.
Pupil self#generated questions. I use this strategy to allow pupils to probe deeper into the text by
questioning their prior knowledge, connections with the text and to attempt conclusions. Pupils use
graphic organisers to access the above and recently a question section has been added.
Exemplars / shared practice; one thing that has worked really well is to have a class share their
favourite childhood book (S3 class). They read it to the class as if they were an adult reading to a
child, put on voices etc. Once all the class had done this, they then did a solo talk to the class about
their choice of book. This talk included information about the illustrators as well as the authors and
why their particular book held such strong memories for them. This task was serious fun,
Exemplars
Reading the work of other pupils in the class. Recommending a book to them, or for them to
recommend it to each other.
Reading out loud # performance and storytelling. I read texts with emphasis, accents, fun. I demand
extended listening to texts # sometimes for half an hour or more so as to improve stamina.
Storytime is powerful # even for 17 year olds. Pupils who don't engage with reading and writing do
so because their stumbling literacy makes it boring for them.
None of the above for reading. Visiting the library is the most effective method I have found of
engaging pupils with books. Talking and discussing about books stimulates interest and, as a
teacher, taking the time to help each pupil find a book is important. With Writing, probably using
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exemplars is most effective as pupils use it as a challenge to match (or better!) what you have
produced.
cooperative learning
Co#operative learning: activities such as synergy allow pupils to assume roles and develop
interpersonal skills alongside literacy skills.
Personal Reading Dialogue Journals. Once a week, pupils write in a journal in response to weekly
questions written in Journal by the teacher.
formative assessment # giving every pupil an indication of what they've done well, and how to do
better next time.
Peer assessment. I use this very often as part of my day#to#day teaching practice as I find that pupils
enjoy learning from each other more than the teacher on occasion! They are very observant and
honest when commenting on their partner's work # especially with classes who have been
accustomed to this as a practice. They learn from each other's mistakes and this in turn builds up
their own confidence in their abilities.
Collaborative learning is a very useful tool in engaging the less enthusiastic pupil into literacy
activities in the classroom. A major difficulty for reluctant writers is knowing where to start # a
symptom of not reading enough, largely # and chunking the task, allowing pupils to compare work
and peer assess along the lines of two stars and a wish gives those who are less comfortable writing
the confidence to put pen to paper.
Active learning
I use the exemplary method # among other things by using the Smart Board and by reading texts
together and work through common concepts before the pupils are put to the task of working with
the genre; after that common synthesis of the individual findings # often the pupils will be asked to
hand in an individual production (e.g. written composition)
When pupils are given the opportunity to be creative, this may be in relation to text production or
other more creative forms of work with a focus on a final product
I tell the pupils what they may expect form the book # they get the bare bones so that they may
form concrete images of the action. I have done this for the last two years since I found out how my
daughter approached watching movies (of which she sees quite a few). She never saw a movie that
she knew nothing about beforehand. I have transferred this to books and my class. I also often read
one or two highlights from the book. I have no doubts about the writing process # it is the
authenticity in the assignments that motivates the most.
I use cooperative learning in my everyday teaching; it promotes pupil engagement, maybe for no
other reason that the fact that they are not able to hide in the crowd. As the pupils get accustomed
to CL (mine have known it for 9 months), they assume responsibility for each other and their team
in a new way. It intensifies their motivation for reading and learning.
text production
Cooperative learning. Reading of roles is very good, because pupils are dependent on each other,
and afterwards they have to keep up when the others are reading. There are many structures in CL
which help pupils read and write. Speedwriting is also good at the beginning of a new topic or
afterwards as a reflection on a topic.
Active learning
User defined
Perhaps personalization and choice
Active learning. When pupils work with the material themselves # things happen! This clearly
presupposes that there is close attention and quick access to help. A prerequisite for active learning
is that new input is provided.
Creative text production
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Writing: The introductory presentation must be relevant for the student and the goal must be clear.
What is the purpose of this assignment? # Possibly with focal points. Reading: Introduction to
author, period or genre plus talks about what we know about the text beforehand. What may the
text be about?
Dividing up the text into small compartments with work assignments often formulated by the pupils
themselves
Getting accustomed reading through continued challenge incorporating own experience and
reflections, often in the form of pre#reading/questions forming the basis of reflective reading
The pupils are given the opportunity to choose text and genre so that the reading becomes
meaningful.
In class we use the interactive board for presentation of the actual topic. The pupils work in groups,
in pairs or individually with assignments related to the actual topic. As part of the internal
evaluation they may use presentational tools such as radio montage, film and images.
Presentational tools such as radio montage, film and images.
Clear goals for concrete reading and writing assignments Writing coupled with textual
understanding. Writing as a natural part of teaching and learning
The production of fictional texts in relation to a given topic
Text production
Pracsis oriented teaching. We keep relating theory to examples from the texts and so on.
Text production
Getting close to the language. In reading it is a good thing to read on between and behind the lines.
Which language functions are dominating and what consequences does it have for the text. When
pupils are given the tools for analysis they are often very motivated. As if they were given the key
for the text. With regard to written work it is a good idea to offer functional tools such as teaching
what it actually means to write in a varied language.
individualization and choice
Text production # because reading on its own is not possible # writing and the production of text is
as important as reading.
cooperative learning
Portfolio motivates many of my pupils in their text productions. What regards reading the choice of
text is very important # and the purpose of the reading.
Co#operative learning. I often make drills in which they continue writing on each other's small
stories, correct them and give response. Reading often takes place in groups in which they help
each other understand the text.
It is a great help to work with model texts in class so that the pupils familiarize themselves with a
genre before they have to produce texts within that genre.
Text production and the kind of assignment where you compose your own ending to a story
because it makes the pupils follow a creative process and it gives them a sense of being "authors"
themselves and through this understand the writings of others.
In regard to writing it is often very motivating if they know that an evaluation by the teacher will
follow #to the oldest pupils the most crucial thing is to get a grade in order for them to make an
extra effort. Apart from that it is always motivating if the pupils are turned on to the writing
assignment. My pupils bring laptops to school and this has most certainly made writing easier.
Motivation in relation to reading is their knowing that there is a purpose to the reading. That they
know they need it for some assignment or other.
Create interest by choosing very concrete topics or topics directly relevant for the exam
It is a question of interaction
Text production e.g. re#write from one genre to another
Text production
Active learning
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in the study of my discipline, word processing, students first need to write and process the contents
assigned on the base of the exercise required
watching movies, short films, news, topics related to their experience, debate, production
Proposal for authentic tasks such as participation in competitions and projects online (i.e. on#line
journals), which involves the whole class.
Reading in class of a text chosen with the students. Choice of texts to read at home and then to
report in the class.
In the learning of physics, the student is asked to consider further ideas and gather information
from written texts and online.
The strategy of making small dramatizations of the texts read, with the active involvement of
students; This strategy requires to restructure the narrative text, on the basis of sequences, useful
for building a simple script. The script will be supplemented by extemporaneous performance.
I briefly tell a story specifying where to find the continuation of the story.
Evaluate the interests of the students improving their intellectual curiosity
Provide texts from different sources, or encourage students to search and use more texts
After selecting a hundred books, including classics, fiction and poetry, I ask pupils to choose
between these books for a total of 1000 pages. The choices of students are different, some of them
focus on a long text to work all year round # such as "War and Peace" by Tolstoy #other students
choose to work on five or six short books # such as " The Shadow#line " by Conrad or "Alice in
Wonderland" by Carroll. Every 30#45 days I ask them to write their personal opinions about what
they are reading. In this way I engage students in reading classical texts and turn them into open
discussions in the classroom.
Propose appealing books with plots related the pupils' experience
The strategy is to start from a situation or a problem familiar to students inviting them to seek a
solution through teamwork.
Concerning the reading activities in the class, I start with motivating questions (pre#reading) and I
use to anticipate some possible difficulties with language (vocabulary and structural choices). For
writing activities, I try to focus on the need to communicate and not on the grammatical form.
Group work with sharing of the achieved results.
Pre#reading phase\ reading phase/ post reading phase
reading in the classroom, selecting text, comparisons between different narrative techniques (the
same text as book and movie), propose simple exercises of screenplay
Through the "learning by doing" approach. Students perform tasks assigned by the teacher to
increase their motivation to read. In a second phase it is required a written work that can be of
various types (reports, newspaper articles, essays, letter, etc.)..
propose topics chosen by students themselves: i.e. read and analyse texts of songs
Describe an argument with contextualized examples in order to stimulate curiosity in searching for
information by reading and expressing what they learn with short summaries.
Involving students in the presentation of the plot. Of course, you have better results if you
particularly like the book of which you speak. I would not report a particular practice which
encourages students to read and write.
Working in group
Production of texts on their own experience that often opens up a debate on the problems of
adolescence
Immediate assessments
Collaborative learning
Making summaries. Creative writing. Participating in a Reading project in collaboration with the
local library. Personalized reading suggestions. Corrections and reading in the class of works
produced by students.
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Presence of books in class, reading in class, games tied to books such as 'process to the book': the
class is divided into two groups: 1) Supporters of the book 2) Critics of the book. The two groups
then have to support the reasons why a book is worth to be read and why it is criticized.
I spend an hour a week to ask my students what books they are reading and open a class discussion
asking them to briefly describe the plot of each book they are reading. I also try to suggest them
books / novels or authors relating to the topics studied in class.
My students usually struggle to read and write. The strategy adopted is to present them a short text
of fantasy and ask to write the sequel.
Involvement of pupils through the brainstorming and the use of audio#visual materials to become
active learners
Read books close to their experience or with a strong emotional impact. Encourage informal ways
of writing (diary, letters etc.).
Involving them through the stimulation of the individual capacities (dynamic teaching#play) and
building together concepts or knowledge (sharing / assuming different roles: trainer, tutor, etc.).
with the supervision of the teacher.
Interdisciplinary learning, Writing about personal experience and interests (rarely used by the
pupils).
Cooperative learning
I try to encourage kids to read, by commenting on with them the magazines they read regularly
The visit to a library of the city has always stimulated lively discussions about the students'
preferences and the contemporary literary scene. Activities such as signages, multimedia works and
group exercises for short essays are exciting opportunities for them. The meeting with authors that
takes place every year in our school is another interesting way to interact with young people and
their preferences and their critical spirit. The phenomenon of literary publishing do#it#yourself on
the Internet is a phenomenon that fascinates them and sometimes involves them in person.
I invite my students to revise their school notes with insights based on book to be found in the
library.
When we use the Interactive Whiteboard and internet in the classroom, all the pupils follow with
interest the explanation and read carefully the contents. At the same time, they explore the
websites suggested by the teacher, and provide insights and suggestions. The use of computers and
new technologies greatly motivate the students.
read with them book considered to be appealing
propose easy readings and creative reporting
teamwork, self#assessment
Workshop of reading (out loud) and dramatization. The reading is meant as: key of all knowledge,
interdisciplinary crucial tool, supporting educational activity, development of creativity, a means to
recreate the spirit and grow in harmony. The purpose of the "Reading Project" is to lead my
students to discover reading as a pleasure, though a methodology that seeks as much as possible to
recover a dimension of a "seductive reading" even in schools, through gradual paths characterized
by motivating activities . The promotion of reading is mainly expressed in the creation of
spontaneous workshops where the students produce artefacts such as books of poems, stories,
texts of various kinds improved with images, graphics, binding through the use of digital tools (use
of pc, digital camera, video, etc.) as well as simple and cheap techniques and tools.
Reading authentic books linked as much as possible to the students' interests or books that give
students an opportunity to reflect, talk and produce piece of writing # alone or in groups
Numerous and repeated exercises in creative writing in the classroom and at home on different
texts, with a final participatory testing in the classroom
Telling the plots of novels or bring books and read a few pages to stimulate the curiosity and the
pleasure of reading. Encouraging them to write
Reward the students by telling them that their compositions, including only questions, will be
evaluated positively
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problem solving
After the lesson, make sure that the pupils have had an interest in involving them in class discussion
through the analysis of written texts or documents
Peer assessment is quite important as the pupils perceive it as more objective as the one provided
by the teacher on the basis of a series of descriptors which have been decided upon together with
the pupils, the pupils evaluate the writing of their peer and express their opinion.
What I have found stimulates students is engaging them in creative writing workshops where they
derive inspiration from reading material and are then guided towards
reinterpreting/questioning/responding to some of the most compelling points it raises. One such
project was an online English magazine I worked on which was the result of a creative writing
workshop, involving multimedia and new technologies. at that time, actually, i first learnt about
software for digital storytelling and became quite interested in it. We replaced it with videos and
stop#frame photo animations.
Cooperative learning has a strong impact on engaging students in writing and reading. The students
were involved in case studies, projects, portfolios, etc
Deciphering the text under the direct guidance of the teacher.
stimulating originality
Examples / sharing practices
One of the tasks I give my students (one which is also a very useful) is to create stories beginning
from a narrative line. At the same time, they have to follow certain rules, depending on what our
goals are; but this is one of the most productive methods. What is important is that they like it and
they get involved in such exercises.
Creating texts # participating in different creativity competitions (students have even obtained
prizes at creation competitions on interdisciplinary topics such as 'Ars Poetica # Ars Mathematica'). I
cannot use this strategy with all my classes because not all students can be creative. Sometimes
they have to write a text as homework, then the most successful ones are selected and possibly
submitted for a competition.
The most efficient method, which always worked for me, is making the student curious about the
literary work, by presenting him an exciting element from a literary work or a critic's view on that
work.
Reading: giving students a list of supplementary reading titles and they present a summary of these
works in order to receive a grade.
Writing: writing in class or as homework a composition on
different topics; in order to do this students can use information from the supplementary reading
list
interdisciplinary learning has a major impact on students' involvement
Cooperative learning / organising different group activities, such as competitions with prizes, if
possible.
Monthly assessment of compulsory reading in such a way that each student gets to present the
summary of a book with arguments so that the other students, who did not read the book, might be
motivated to read it.
cooperative learning
active learning # using different methods; the most often used is the 'mosaic method' which not
only makes the student curious, but it also stimulates teamwork, it develops communication skills, it
stimulates them to do
interdisciplinary study; I frequently make connections to other subjects (which my pupils study)
active learning
personalisation and choice
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individual reading classes in the library; role#play reading followed by explanatory reading (without
too much theoretical explanations); allowing students to express their own opinions in their own
words or sharing their life experiences; the possibility of making connections with other subjects of
study, thus making good use of the student's acquired knowledge in history, geography, foreign
cultures, religion, IT, physics or chemistry (especially in the case of SF or adventure literature); using
reading notes / quotations during classes and making good use of the students' inquisitive spirit and
their independent, individual or cooperative work (encouraging, praising the student in class,
expressing satisfaction for the progress in the development of reading and writing skills)
The creation of texts is determined by supplementary reading and summary creation, where this is
the case, for literary works, which are then included in a personal portfolio. At the end of a study
unit, the student must bring written arguments which justify the inclusion of the text in a particular
type / species of literary genre
personal reading of a complete or of a fragment of a literary work which then stimulates their
interest; curiosity to read the entire proposed literary work
heuristic conversation
creation of texts: it engages them the most in writing and reading
Expressing their opinion, with arguments, on a character, an attitude, the text itself
continuing/creating the final of a written work; the literary process; critical essay
creation of texts
I try to use mixed strategies, but heuristic ones work better with all students, as they make students
try to discover and find information on their own most of the time by using a computer, which
motivates their learning even more.
Interdisciplinary learning, because it is the most often used in the teaching of English, in order to
present vocabulary and expressions, grammar, which we then use in writing different texts and
compositions.
Jigsaw reading is quite effective to motivate the students to read. When you deliver the parts of the
story to different groups and want them to tell each other and finally ask questions about the story
like a competition. If they compete they learn more.
Each strategy has impact on pupils . It depends on the aim of the teacher and the reading text. In
writing, developing and organizing ideas are very important. I mostly prefer rapid writing, mapping,
webbing...
Students like materials which are interesting and encountering everyday life. Reading materials
should be enforced with writing. Writing material should be related with reading material.
pre# activities, brainstorming in writing silent reading
Examples from their own experiences or similarities with their own lives make the biggest impact in
my opinion. If they are interested in the subject, they read it more eagerly and they write more
creative writings
Active learning. It raises the self#awareness and enables the students to discover his own learning
strategies. I ask my students to do both extensive and intensive reading. Besides, they answer the
comprehension questions, summarize the text orally and in written form etc.
Reading for pleasure is one of the best methods, as I observed. The can read in English whenever
they like without the fear of being assessed. And It is also helpful for self#assessment or peer
assessment. Even they feel very motivated when they see that they can also understand authentic
texts.
giving reading tasks related to questions and projects: If an aim is defined the reading activity
becomes more efficient
The activities that involves creativity
case Study# The best way to motivate the students is presenting them a model and then evaluating
what happens it at the end of the activity.
I give them a list of story books to read and want them to choose the relevant one for themselves. I
also want them to read the books I have chosen and give them a quiz.
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reading # understanding
collaborative activities
group works, filling the blanks attract students' attention
using visuals
active learning # student centred strategies #skimming texts
using interesting texts and materials
I find interesting stories and read them in class. After doing this activity I ask the students to do the
same thing and bring stories to the class.
The students take teachers as models through observation. They try to read and understand the
text by taking teachers as models.
Firstly I want them to read the text without dictionaries and ask them what the text is about. Then I
ask them to read in details once more. I try to find interesting subjects for the exam. I know that
translation is not a good method but I ask them to translate the texts as Homework to make them
be prepared for the lesson .It helps me as we have limited time. If the text is a new one I always
have a brainstorming activity. If there is a picture I make them talk about it. For instance for a
writing activity# I ask them to write about: If you are alone in an island what will you take first?
What will you do to survive? The students write about this subject in groups. This teaches them to
use their imagination. Then we have a peer evaluation.
I tell my students that will give a book as a present to my student who has the highest average of
exam marks and keep my promise at the end of the term.
After grouping students into four a text is given to them, each student is given a task related to
comprehending the text. Then õ give the comprehension questions to students and give an extra
mark to the students who answer correctly.
####### ######
In reading and writing activities forming or completing a text is really useful. The subject is chosen
by the students. Then groups are formed. All the groups are asked to write their own ideas about
the topic and then let them read what they have written to their friends. To make all the students
participate in the activity each student is expected to write a sentence and then they combine the
ideas and form a main idea.
Assessment and displaying of projects
In reading and writing activities I guide them to have role plays so that they can personalise and
create examples. We have enjoyable and creative results.
cooperative learning
reading aloud
Grammar Translation
I start the activity with the information creating personal interest and talk about things that let the
students have an idea of what they are reading about and remind them of the vocabulary so that
they have no difficulty in understanding the text and they don't get bored.
To make reading activities more attractive I give post reading exercises. In writing I try to use the
activities that the students can reflect themselves.
active learning
modelling
Before asking them to write a text I show them an interesting picture, and then let them talk about
the picture .This strategy makes reading and writing activities easier.
I attract their attention and make them participate by asking questions to everyone in class.
choosing subjects that can motivate students.
asking questions
Using drama is really useful. If the student acts or if he gets in the activity he learns more
effectively.
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I choose the student who writes the best and announce him in the class and appraise him in class.
The student who develops self #confidence always participates better.
active learning
I read a beginning part of a reading text and ask them if they wonder then I have an idea if they are
interested or not. If they want me to continue reading then I read, if it is a part of a book I tell them
the name of the book and advise them to read it. In writing I read a beginning paragraph and want
them to continue the story and complete it as they want.
I am reading a part of a book which can attract students' attention and stop reading in the most
exciting part. I tell them if they wonder the end they can read it on their own and lend them the
book. They read the book one by one .
writing an example sentence and structure on the board and then asking them to develop their own
sentences.
students enjoy participating in reading and writing activities in my visual courses prepared by
PowerPoint as teaching vocabulary and sentence making with animations seem to motivate them.
#
persuading students( by mentioning the benefits, reminding them of being ready to help and
support them.
sample and shared strategy. study on the topic of the students before the example to a text which
will enhance the interactive and the owner of the information about the topic of the hardliners.
relating to daily life and asking surprising questions.
To motivate reading we choose "bookworms of the month". We try to develop a class library and in
this way they have the chance to read the books paying a little money . "Giving stars to the
students", this star system "facilitates to choose the group of month.
while studying authentic poems I brought some examples and tried to teach them by using old plays
with these examples.
active learning is a good strategy.
After the warm up session, all the ideas obtained in the brainstorming process, students are asked
to note them down and create a piece of writing. Through group and collaborative working,
students write one or two phrases into a piece of story or composition, first reading what his/her
friends wrote and then add their own writings. at the end of the session, from a group of 5
students, 5 different pieces of writings come up, through a collaborative work. The product is
genuine and also very fun to read when it is complete.
choosing subjects related to students' interests and the activities in which they can use their
creativity seem to have positive [effects].
participation is provided with giving awards to students.
emphasizing the importance of writing activity to improve language
Warm up activities and motivators are very useful to attract students' attention in reading. In
writing making students write about private things (things that aren't known about them) seems to
be very useful.
Table 3: Strategy that, in respondents’ experience, makes the biggest impact on students' engagement with reading and
writing
§3Q3: Barriers to Engaging Students in Reading and Writing
To better understand the perceived difficulties teachers were asked to rate the significance of a
range of perceived barriers to student engagement with reading and writing.
137
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
Other
20
Highly significant
0
Poor prior engagement with reading
Poor levels of literacy
Wide range of classroom ability in reading and writing
Lack of engaging resources
Lack of differentiated materials
Lack of time for basic literacy building activities
Lack of time for literacy extension activities
Restrictive or over#busy curriculum
Lack of support staff
Social exclusion
Lack of basic materials
Poor or unavailable ICT facilities
Class size
Multiple classroom languages
Lack of personal reading time for pupils
Other/no barriers experienced (please specify)
Quite signifiant
Slightly significant
Not significant
Figure 2: Perceived significance of various barriers to students' engagement in reading and writing
In general, as Figure 2 illustrates, respondents agreed that the suggested barriers were quite
significant or higher. Poor prior engagement with reading was viewed as by far the most significant
barrier to engaging students with reading and writing. Lack of time for literacy extension activities
and a restrictive or over#busy curriculum were also rated as reasonably significant barriers. On the
other hand, lack of support staff, social exclusion, lack of basic materials and multiple languages in
the classroom were not generally rated as significant barriers to engaging students with reading and
writing. However, in the latter case, as one respondent noted, this may be due to the fact that some
of the respondents had not taught in such an environment. Other barriers highlighted included “lack
of effective parental involvement with reading at home”, lack of interest and imposition of set texts
which turn students off a book they would otherwise have enjoyed.
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§3Q4: Strategies for Improving Engagement of Students in Reading and Writing
Teachers were asked to identify briefly the one thing that would enable them to improve how they
engage students in reading and writing. It was suggested that they may wish to consider resource
availability, professional development, access to good practice, educational materials, access to ICT
facilities, access to on#line technologies ….
Responses
better teacher # pupil ratio
Definitely access to ICT.
CPD to learn new/different approaches # either formally delivered or through sharing/networking
with colleagues
Availability of stimulating and up to date resources.
better access to ICT facilities, particularly a dedicated computer suite for the English department.
Curriculum is busy and we are managing different requirements in the classroom
Curriculum (Int 1, 2, Higher) currently focused on high stakes testing and exam technique, not
personal / intellectual / creative development through literature study.
Access to basic literacy strategies. As a secondary teacher I find it very difficult to work with
students who have very poor literacy or no English. I often don't know where to begin.
prof development # modern texts
finding more available engaging resources
Greater access to peer educators.
better access to ICT
If pupils come in to school in S1 with a poor attitude it can be hard to shift. It's hard to see where
this attitude would come from but maybe home has had a negative impact.
I work in a special school so this question does not affect me. I sometimes have pupils that cannot
read in the class but are happy to listen to stories.
Engaging materials # probably on the computer
Smaller class sizes.
Time to develop interesting/engaging materials and the latitude to work with colleagues in other
specialities
Access to engaging texts/ resources.
The emphasis on results means that many lessons are focused on acquiring the skills required to
pass tests, not to enjoy texts.
Excellent and motivating reading materials # e.g. books!
The one thing that would really, really improve how secondary English teachers engage pupils in
reading and writing is to have a complete overhaul of Literacy teaching in the primary schools. Far
too many pupils enter S1 with extremely weak literacy skills # not through lack of ability, but
through what appears to be a lack of systematic, knowledgeable teaching. If I could change
anything, I would introduce a programme of study ( as per the English NC) which outines what an
average pupil is expected to be able to do at each stage # and what they need to successfully engage
with English and Literacy at S1 level.
ICT facilities more readily available
Time
Access to the authors # good readers who engage the pupils with their texts. This could be done
through more online meets.
More time as in being able to dedicate more lessons to talking about books and visiting authors or
going to a Book festival! Of course, just having the resources to buy lots of new books is very
important too! Especially because the class texts get very dated and it would be nice to have more
current choices available.
parental involvement in reading at home
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Professional Development workshops and provision of engaging, modern materials that put reading
into a 21st context for pupils.
Time on timetable
Access to ICT
The key difficulty for me is trying to make their reading relevant to their own lives in some way. I
think that being able to approach it in a different way (perhaps through a different medium) would
help with this. As such, I would benefit from having better access to those who have pioneered such
projects or at least to materials that would enable me to attempt these new strategies.
Being able to provide classes with sets of new books with interesting and engaging storylines would
do wonders in breaking down the many barriers put up by reluctant readers. This, of course, takes
investment at a level which is impossible to secure in the current financial climate.
The development of good educational praxis in cooperation with colleagues with an aim to work
with varied forms of teaching letting the group of pupils be the point of departure. The use of ICT,
interactive boards, mobile applications ## making education more realistic.
Better parent support for the pupils' everyday preparation of their homework. The general attitude
towards school.
More time for the pupils to immerse themselves (in their tasks)
ICT facilities
Inspiring educational material plus more time with the pupils
The accessibility of inspirational material
All we really need may simply be ideas of how to make pupils read more… and we do not here
speak about e#mails, text messages etc. The bad everyday language is there in excess # with
repetitions of the same mistakes over and over again.
Better time and more freedom of choice
Fewer pupils per class
Access to ICT facilities
Access to online technology and more time
Teaching assistance # the possibility of a more differentiated education
Ideas for the intelligent use of IT in education.
A greater number of varied suitable texts; novels, magazine articles and so on.
The relevant educational materials, often self#made, in combination with electronic platforms
Knowledge of the use of ICT
More ICT facilities such as cameras, microphones etc. That the pupils from the youngest ..have used
IT more and have personalized more media which have also been presented in class.
The Pupils write very much for private purposes: text messages, mails, Facebook. It is all mainly for
fun, filled with errors and un#edited. Writing in a nuanced way, securely and with a purpose i hard.
It is not motivating # it cannot be so. It is, however, a necessary qualification. On their own most
pupils read next to nothing # except from homepages and Stieg Larsson. Pupils do not find it 'cool' to
read books. I hope to motivate them for reading by introducing them to good literature. They often
find it interesting but they would not dream of reading on at home at their own leisure. It is
something that is part of school. The lack of education of the modern middle classes (the parents)
is the greatest obstacle to the development of the pupils' love of reading.
Nothing
Time for correcting and giving feed#back
Educational materials
If they were better prepared when entering high school
More lessons
Small classes for reading purposes and the exclusion of disturbing pupils (let us start discussing the
"financially" governed prejudice that we are able to contain everybody. We may well do this but it
seriously reduces the level of academic achievement
140
That the pupils take part in a production of texts that outside in the big world are shared and
discussed + the remediation of texts
More time for writing in class and afterwards use and evaluate what has been written # process
writing takes time.
The computer for note taking makes my pupils formulate themselves more and in time better # that
is my experience. Notebooks in class would be a good thing.
Access to ICT facilities and online technology
Do more useful writing assignments eg Wikis and homepages which may be publicly accessible
when finalized.
When and if I have the time and not too many pupils it works with varied and workforms adapted to
the pupils. For instance I happily use (?structures from?) Cooperative Learning
More time in Danish is what I find most decisive. My pupils have as stated access to computers in
every class and this means that many traditional obstacles have been removed. But time is short #
there are so many things that we have to do.
more time
More time for written work
More time
More time for tasks
Supplementary training
interdisciplinary activities
use of digital tools, interactive whiteboard and appropriate environment,
more time and resources to organize workshops and group activities.
Access to school libraries, internet, etc, ICT services
use of digital technologies
First, a positive relationship and involvement between teacher and students. secondly the charm of
literary texts, and thirdly the possibility of publishing articles on the magazine of the school and,
finally, reasons related to the efficiency and the learning outcomes each student want to achieve
Tell stories both live and through digital tools
interpretive reading / recited with musical accompaniment
resources (of various kinds) that are missing and more time
I think that an online support to the activities of reading could be very significant # like blogs or
social networks
access to online technology, Internet, the collaborative production of texts
Writing and reading with the help of new technologies.
Use of computers and of different online resources, as well as best practices already tested and
documented
Internet, ICT services and digital whiteboard
workshops on expressive reading and creative writing
good practice, access to ICT services, careful selection of texts to be proposed, expressive reading in
the classroom by the teacher and, after exercises by students, drama
Being able to use the ICT services and technologies online through a school online network active in
all the school.
I think the first step is to have smaller classes, certainly the use of technologies can involve more
young people.
the use of tablenet can stimulate reading as a means of research to satisfy their own curiosity or
consolidate their own interests
Use of a library, whether paper or digital, knowledge of expressive reading techniques
Certainly involve students in activities using new tools, which are more attractive for them
for reading, more possibilities of exchange with the outside world in which the student is the
protagonist (local culture, identification, etc.). For writing, greater access to ICT services as
141
curricular activity
Difficult to answer every student has different ways of reading
more resources, time, and more training and support of experts on ICT
Access to ICT services and online technologies, training courses, educational material enrichment
a division or responsibilities across the College teachers. The policy of the school, Presence of
books
more participation in cultural events outside the classroom or organizing cultural events within the
school
professional development and use of ICTs. Facilities to use the interactive whiteboard and internet
access
available resources, professional development, best practices, access to ICT
availability of different types of materials (magazines, not didactic books). Use of the interactive
whiteboard. use of internet and digital tools
interesting didactic material for students (also online). Spirit of interest. More interdisciplinary
approach to stimulate the students' intellectual curiosity.
more lessons (hours) in the classes and the availability of technology facilities
create a diary with the daily experiences that occur in class
The school should provide students and teachers with current magazines and teachers should be
more committed in motivating pupils in reading.
certainly classrooms equipped with internet, mandatory training courses focused on learning of
new methodologies, interdisciplinary discussion and collaborative exchange, meetings with writers,
intellectuals and professionals in the area, competitions for pupils indoor and outdoor, readings
loudly made by the students, more communication with other schools network also foreign ones. all
these activities should be considered and evaluated during the school time!
multi#media lab in all the schools
You would have a greater involvement of pupils in reading and writing, if you implement best
practices, use of ICT and online platforms with the ability to write and create online multimedia
book with audio#video.
All the resources previously indicated (good practices, materials, hours spent on these activities,
training, resources, etc..) would be largely significant.
More time for reading in class, availability of didactic materials (e.g. monolingual dictionaries in
class) and access to technology resources
I don't know
the use of new technologies (scanners, digital cameras, etc.) the production of digital books with
sound and recording voice#overs in several languages (those representing the nationalities in the
class group, in addition to English )
Training courses for teachers designed to encourage pupils in reading and writing and producing
personal texts. Getting students used to read and introducing them to the use of tools such as
shared libraries and /or reading on#line; didactic materials structured to stimulate the production of
written text. More chances to analyse parts of books or articles online or on the pc, so more use of
ICT; interdisciplinary writing activities and more collaboration among different disciplines.
First, it would be nice to have more time to assess the work of the students. Furthermore, a
constant access to the web would allow a more frequent consultation of news websites in various
European languages, which could stimulate the desire to read in kids by providing models and
examples of writing and inspiring discussions.
support material (in the classroom closet where to keep a number of books or other useful
materials), Interactive Whiteboard, laboratory for reading and writing like the one for foreign
language.
Have dictionaries and encyclopaedias and Interactive whiteboard or PC connected to the Internet in
the classroom
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Use of the Interactive Whiteboard
To read or to work with audiovisual media in a group would increase the involvement of pupils
I don't have any clear ideas now about this issue
I would definitely have to say access to ICT facilities and software that would reduce the time spent
trying to improvise/cope with technical issues. Having ICT facilities that are always available to use
and do not need to be carried around, that do not break down or malfunction because of improper
storage or handling would make a world of difference. Also, access to resources that could appeal
to this generation that has such amazing potential for multitasking when it comes to IT and online
technologies, would certainly be more than welcome.
access to ICT facilities
ICT, access to good practices, examples
suitable environment
more computers. More classes allocated precisely for this practice
permanent access to the internet, classrooms equipped with computers, varied teaching resources
more time allocated for reading or creative writing, modern means (ICT) made available for
students and teachers
I believe that the most effective method would be if all teachers of Romanian would share the same
attitude towards students' reading and thus create a common front which we should promote
The availability in the / our school of teaching resources which would make students interested in
reading and writing (books with fragments from captivating stories; workbooks which would include
exercises in writing and creative writing)
selection of contemporary texts
access to good practices
a better equipped school library
ICT facilities and any online technology
a larger variety of teaching resources, books, dictionaries
ICT resources (I have a website with learning resources for my students, but it is difficult to
permanently update it by myself
resource availability
access to good practices
If I had more time (the curricula would be less loaded with information and the pressure of national
exams would be less stressful), I think it would benefit my students if we could read together,
discuss what we read or create together more texts. I am considering in this case especially those
students with learning difficulties or who come from less favourable environments or who cannot
keep up with the "top" students (with a more intensive learning rhythm)
access to ICT facilities. I would prefer to be able to access the AEL system (a system implemented by
the Romanian Ministry of Education in cooperation with SIVECO, a software company) from home
so that I could create lesson plans, tests in a more flexible schedule
the existence of other more attractive teaching resources, suitable for the students' age and
interests
the TIME factor
access to online technologies
access to good practices, teaching resources
access to good practices and online technologies
Access to ICT facilities, parents' availability and ability to cooperate, varied teaching resources
A poor engagement in reading prior to this stage in schooling (i.e. in primary school teachers do not
encourage reading). I would improve on that because students read less and less and, since they
frequently use computers, it would be preferable to find other ways of spending their free time,
which could be reading an online book.
I need to improve myself on how to motivate my students and access to necessary materials.
143
Actually, the students don't like reading and writing at all since they don't have a habit of reading
and writing in L1 as well. So, It is very important to choose an interesting topic with structure
according to the level and rare unknown vocabulary. Adding that, pre#,while#,post steps should be
followed to involve all the students. The students should be familiar to the topic and vocabulary
before reading and writing. A short film, posters, flash cards, internet... Everywhere is full of
materials...And the teacher should encourage the students to bring them to class.
I wish I would have all these things and use them equally in my classrooms. But there are many
distractions, shortages unfortunately.
access to good practice, õct
I personally make my students read as many readers as they wish and exchange their readers with
their classmates. I believe this improves their reading. I hanged a poster on the wall of the
classroom for the students to comment on the readers they have read. This way, students have an
opinion about the book before they start reading it. After reading I make my students write a
review of the books they read. This improves their writing ability. I make this like a competition and
this makes them more eager.
Access to good practice is a highly important point to consider. Lack of time ,physical and
technological deficiencies inhibit the students' access to good practice. Giving more home
assignment thus leaving more time for practice in class can be a way to overcome the problem.
Besides, Material choice that will encourage the students to be more active is another thing for the
amount and the quality of practice.
I wish to have digi classrooms which enables students to have all of the things above.
finding sources, education materials, sample practices
access to good samples and sources
In service training, sufficient materials, access to ICT
If you create time and support with good activities , reading and writing activities can be really
efficient
Education materials are very important
Education materials
Using the digital boards actively
Education materials
a high level of professional development and sufficiency in practice
good samples, materials
access to a variety of materials and ICT
The sample materials can be copied and handed out and school library can provide the students
such materials
finding the relevant materials
access to good samples
access to good samples#in service training
If reading and writing activities can be continued out of school( If the technology of the school
enables the teacher to follow and evaluate the students online) these activates will be more
efficient
the use of materials and ICT
online technology can facilitate the difficulties related to buying books
observation , educational materials, creative answers
the love of the books
Reading
the activities that can be done against the difficulties, and suggested good practices
interesting and innovative ideas for reading activities, good samples of class practice
access to ICT
we have such practices
144
I sometimes have small changes in the activities according to the personal differences of my
students
finding the materials
access to reach good samples
professional development
professional development and access to good samples
If was able to use a computer in my lessons, I would have a presentation of famous writers and ask
them to write similar stories and poems.
the number of the different activities is not enough
access to reach good samples
Finding the materials , professional development, educational materials
Writing activity after every subject and giving the students a lot of choices
using the technology much more like overhead projector , and creating a difference in that way,
putting aside boring subjects and writing dialogues that can help them to express themselves
through daily speech expressions
Vocational development
sufficient time , teaching materials, support of the school management, persuading the student,
and making the love the subject.
The activities and materials that are interesting for the students.
Finding examples, access to reach good samples access to good samples and ICT
being able to reach the good samples and professional development
Education materials
The curriculum must be easier.
IT based auxiliary materials.
Choosing and finding the most relevant materials.
Through ICT activities and activates related to real #life reading and writing activities can be more
interesting.
ICT and sufficient materials.
The best thing is the materials that are ready to use and proved to be attractive .
Table 4: Strategies Identified by Respondents for Improving Engagement of Students in Reading and Writing
§3Q5: Assessment of Student Engagement with Reading and Writing
Teachers were asked about the frequency of their use of a range of assessment practices when
assessing students’ engagement in reading and writing.
145
250
200
150
100
Other
50
Never
Rarely
Other (please specify)
Portfolio
Exercise
Summary
Research report
Group discussions
Verbal response
Creative writing
Creative response to text
Critical essay
Check#list
Short essay
Survey / questionnaire
Structured questions
Direct observation
0
Quite often
Frequently
Every day
Figure 3: Frequency of use of various assessment practices in assessing students' engagement with reading and writing
As Figure 3 illustrates, the majority of the suggested assessment strategies were employed quite
often or higher. As might be expected, verbal responses (91%) and direct observation (90%) were
the most frequently used followed by structured questions (87%) and group discussions (85%).
Survey/questionnaires, research reports and portfolios were the only strategies which were
predominately not employed often with 19%, 15% and 32% of teachers respectively never
employing these strategies. Reading dossiers (plot, characters, meaning of the story, evaluation)/
case studies were highlighted as another assessment practice employed by one respondent. Other
practices highlighted by respondents were specific examples of the assessment practices suggested
in the question.
E.2
Current Use of ICT
§4Q1: Technology Access in Schools
Teachers were asked about the availability and use of a range of technologies/hardware in their
schools. Unfortunately respondents did not answer this question consistently with for example
some teachers saying they used interactive whiteboards but that none were available to them! The
data for the availability has therefore been discarded. The rest of the data is presented below in
Figure 4, however given the consistency issue this data must be treated cautiously.
146
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Used by students
Used by teacher
Available
Figure 4: Availability and use of various technologies in schools
In general most teachers appeared to have access to Internet enabled computer labs and have
computers and the Internet in their classroom. Interactive whiteboards and mobile technologies
appear to be available to a lesser extent. The classroom computer and interactive whiteboard are
predominately used by the teacher, although students do use these too but to a lesser extent.
Where used, the computer labs, classroom internet and mobile technologies are predominately
used by students, although not exclusively.
§4Q2: Use of Technology Applications in the Classroom
To understand better the technological environment of the teachers, respondents were asked about
the availability and frequency of their use of a range of technological applications.
As with the previous question, the data present in Figure 5 below must be treated with caution. In
particular the data on availability expresses the respondent’s perceptions of availability rather than
actual availability.
147
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Other
Availability unknown
Other technologies (please…
Games#Based Learning
Animation
Digital storytelling
Social media
Picture sharing
Video creation/sharing
Digital walls
On#line mind#mapping
Blogs
Wikis
Collaboration software
On#line presentation software
Desktop document processing
Unavailable
Available, but not used
Used occasionally
Used regularly
Figure 5: Availability and frequency of use by teachers of various technological applications
As Figure 5 illustrates, desktop document processing is by far the most widely used application with
57% or respondents using it regularly. On#line presentation software is the next most regularly used
application (29%). These were the only 2 applications actually used by the majority of respondents.
Collaboration software and picture sharing followed by video creation/sharing and social media are
all used occasionally by a reasonable number of respondents (45%#39% respectively). The least used
applications are on#line mind#mapping and digital walls at 4%. While the data on unavailability must
be treated with caution, Digital storytelling and animation applications had notably high
unavailability rates at 49% and 48% respectively86. The data would have been more useful if the
question had also explored the reasons behind the unavailability and non#use of the applications. As
well as national virtual learning environments such as GLOW, respondents also identified TV87 and
simulation software as relevant applications which they used.
§4Q3: Home Access of Students to Technology
Teachers were asked about the access to technology in their students’ homes.
86
Digital wall unavailability rate of 60% is questionable as this should be comparable to that of other web#
based applications and therefore discounted.
87
Sits better perhaps with the previous question about technologies/hardware.
148
250
200
150
Internet
100
Computer
50
0
All
Most
Some
Few
None
Don't
know
Figure 6: Teacher's knowledge of students’ home access to technology
As Figure 6 illustrates, teachers were of the opinion that most if not all of their students had access
to both a computer and the Internet at home. One teacher felt that none of their students had
Internet access perhaps indicating a geographical or possibly socio#economic distinction.
§4Q4: Encouragement of students to use Internet/ICT
Teachers were asked how often they encourage students to use the Internet or other ICT resources
for tasks at home. All teachers indicated that they did encourage such use with 83% doing this quite
often or frequently, with 17% rarely.
§4Q5: Curriculum Provision for Use of ICT to Engage Students in Reading and Writing
To gather information about the curricula support, teachers were asked about the extent to which
the curriculum I their country includes provision for engaging students in reading and writing
through the use of ICT.
Type of provision in the curricular for using ICT for engaging
students in reading and writing
Explicitly
Implicitly
No provision
Number of Respondents
57
94
101
Figure 7: Teachers opinion regarding the provision in the curricular for using ICT for engaging students in reading and
writing
Overall 40% of teachers felt that there was no provision, 37% that there was implicit provision while
only 23% felt there was explicit provision for engaging students in reading and writing through the
use of ICT.
§4Q6: Perceived Benefits of using ICT
Teachers were asked to rate the benefits for students and teachers in using ICT and on#line
technologies both in the classroom and in home#based tasks.
149
250
200
150
100
Not useful
Moderately useful
50
Very useful
Extremely useful
0
Figure 8: Perceived benefits for teachers and students of using ICT and on!line technologies both in the classroom and
home!based tasks
As Figure 8 illustrates, use of on!line technologies was rated as being very useful or higher in
enabling the listed benefits with the exception of improved student writing. In particular, it was
viewed as most beneficial with respect to student motivation, 24/7 access to material and
personalised learning.
E.3
Digital Storytelling
Digital Storytelling (DS) was introduced as the practice of using digital technologies to tell a story.
Like traditional narratives, digital stories focus on a subject and feature a particular point of view.
What distinguishes digital storytelling is the inclusion of digital images, text, audio narration, moving
image (video), and music. Stories used (or created) in the classroom will typically last between two
and ten minutes. Topics covered in DS range from personal reflection to historical events, from life in
the community to life between the pages of a book. And everything in between …. With this in
mind, teachers were asked to think about the extent to which they use (and feel confident in using)
DS as a way to engage students in reading, writing and literature. The findings relating to DS are
presented below.
§5Q1: Use of DS to engage students in reading and writing
Teachers were asked to rate how often they used Reading, Writing, Prose (non!fiction), Prose
(fiction), Poetry, Drama, Film and Media.
150
160
140
120
100
80
Never
60
Rarely
40
Quite often
20
frequently
0
Figure 9: Frequency of use of DS to engage students in a range of core aspects relating to reading, writing and literature
As Figure 9 illustrates, in each case the majority of teachers surveyed (53%) had never employed DS
to engage students in reading, writing and literature. Where it was employed, DS was most
commonly used to support engagement with Film & Media (64%), followed by Prose (fiction) (49%),
Reading (46%), Writing (45%) Prose (non!fiction) (45%), Poetry (40%) with Drama being the least
used (38%). Such usage tended to be roughly equally divided between ‘quite often’ and rare’, with
rare usage predominating in all but Reading, Prose (fiction) and Film & Media. Very few teachers
(only 4%) indicated frequent use of DS.
§5Q2: Confidence in using DS Technologies
Digital storytelling uses a range of different media to tell a story. Teachers were asked about their
confidence in using a range of technologies/media when asking students to create stories or to
respond imaginatively to text.
151
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
Never used
40
Not confident
20
Moderately confident
0
Very Confident
Figure 10: Teacher confidence in using various technologies/media when asking students to create stories or to respond
imaginatively to text
Overall, as Figure 10 illustrates, the majority of teachers reported being very (35%) or moderately
(33%) confident in using these technologies/media. However, on average 19% had never used these
technologies/media, with Collaborative Software being the technology/media the most unused
(30%). While teachers tended to be very confident in most instances, their confidence tended to be
more moderate in the cases of Digital Images, Scriptwriting, Collaborative Software and Social
Media. Only one other technology/media – instant messaging (MSM) was identified as being used in
this context.
§5Q3: Impact of DS on student engagement with reading and writing
Teachers were asked to rate the impact on students' engagement with reading and writing of a
range of perceived benefits associated with DS .
152
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
No impact
20
Low impact
0
Moderate impact
High impact
Figure 11: Perceived impact of a range of aspects of DS on student's engagement with reading and writing
As expected, as Figure 11 illustrates, overall the majority of teachers rated the above benefits as
having a high (49%) or moderate impact (39%) on student engagement with reading and writing.
Students’ Creative ‘Voice’ was rated as having the highest impact, followed by Expression of Student
Personality, Exploring Visual Literacy, Exploring Multiple Intelligences and Confidence in Digital
Literacy respectively. While still of significant impact, Expression of Teacher Personality was rated as
high impact by far fewer teachers than the other benefits. While respondents did not identify any
additional benefits several expressed in rating impact at all as they had no experience of using DS to
encourage reading and writing.
§5Q4: Barriers to using DS
Perceived barriers can significantly implement uptake of new practices. Teachers were asked to rate
a range of perceived barriers to using digital storytelling as a tool to engage and develop your
students' confidence in reading and writing.
153
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
Prevents use
40
Significant barrier
20
Slight barrier
0
Not a barrier
Figure 12: Significance of a range of perceived barriers in using DS to engage and develop student confidence in reading
and writing
As Figure 12 illustrates, in general, most teachers reported that the suggested barriers were
significant. The most significant barrier identified was Lack of Time to Innovate/Research, followed
by several barriers related to lack of resources – Lack of Exemplar Lesson Plans or Materials, Lack of
Time for Training, Lack of Relevant Training, Lack of Expert/Practitioner Advice. On a positive note,
three barriers – Lack of confidence in ICT and social /collaborative technologies and lack of student
interest were in general rated as only slight. However a significant percentage (11%) reported on
average that the identified barriers prevented use – the most highlighted prevention being Lack of
Relevant Training.
§5Q5: Encouraging use of DS
Teachers were asked to rate the extent to which a range of options would encourage you to use
digital storytelling in their teaching practice.
154
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
Other
40
Would not encourage
20
May encourage
0
Moderately encourage
Significantly encourage
Figure 13: Extent to which a range of options would encourage use of DS in teaching practice
As Figure 13 illustrates, the vast majority of teachers thought that the suggested interventions would
significantly encourage uptake of DS in support of reading and writing. Training Relating to the
Educational Use of DS was rated by far as encouraging uptake the most, with Training in the Use of
Moving Image Technologies, Practitioner Case Studies and Talk from Practising Experts also rated
highly. General ICT Training and Training in the Use of Social Media/ Collaborative Technologies
were viewed as least likely to encourage uptake of DS, possibly as they were viewed as too general.
Additionally better access to facilities in schools was also highlighted as a factor that would
encourage uptake.
155
E.4
Professional Development Needs
§6Q1: Training History
Teachers were asked how frequently in the last 5 years they had participated in training (organised
or informal) relating to ICT, emerging technologies, social media, collaborative software from a
range of sources.
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Never
1!2 times
3!4 times
5 or more times
Training in
school
Training
through
Education
Authority
Training
through
teacher
training
organisations
Training
Training
through
through
informal
private
networks organisations
(Nings,
Twitter,
Facebook ...)
Figure 14: Frequency of training relating to ICT, emerging technologies, social media, collaborative software etc
As Figure 14 illustrates, In!School training was the most popular followed closely by Education
Authority Training. On average teachers had undertaken 1!2 sessions over the last 5 years, although
in each form of training a significant number of teachers said they had never used it. Indeed the vast
majority of teachers stated they had not made any use of Teacher Training Organisations (58%),
Private Organisations (74%) and Informal Networks Training (74%). While the non!use of the former
two may be down to lack of availability in their location, there is clearly considerable underuse of
informal social networks.
Teachers were also asked to briefly describe one useful training session. Answers varied significantly
by country. For example, in Scotland respondents predominantly highlighted GLOW88 and
interactive whiteboard training sessions. In Romania and Italy Comenius Programme workshops in
other countries were highlighted as particularly useful. While the answers in general were limited,
those that did expand highlighted opportunities where there were immediate practical results to be
gained. Sessions on digital technologies and digital literacies were also highlighted; however there
were often difficulties in translating the learning to practical results.
88
GLOW is an virtual learning environment designed specifically for primary and secondary education sectors
in Scotland. Most local authorities have contracted to use this in their schools.
156
“A CPD opportunity with the company DoBe was very useful in suggesting ways to use digital
technologies in all sorts of classrooms, not only in terms of literacy. As this was a lecture rather than
a hands!on session, it was less useful than it could have been, had we been able to actually use the
software for ourselves. However, the enthusiasm of the presenter was infectious, and many of the
probationer teachers present set off with great hopes for their future plans. The reality was, though,
that by the time we got to a computer, the ideas had gone, and the result was less than effective.”
§6Q2: Continuing Professional Development Requirements ! DS
To help identify CPD (continuing professional development) requirements, teachers were asked to
rate the usefulness of training in the following DS!related areas in enabling teachers to make
effective use of digital storytelling as part of classroom.
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
Not useful
40
Moderately useful
20
Very useful
0
Extremely useful
Figure 15: Usefulness of DS!related CPD in helping to make effective use of DS in classroom practice
As Figure 15 illustrates, overall teachers rated the different training options extremely useful.
Storytelling as a Pedagogical Tool was rated highest followed by Creating Content for DS and Routes
to Digital Literacy, with Creative Commons training being rated slightly lower than the rest of the
options. No other training options were identified although as one teacher commented “Everything
and anything would be wonderful!”.
§6Q3: Continuing Professional Development Requirements ! Technology
To explore how to help make effective use of digital storytelling as part of classroom practice,
teachers were asked to rate how useful they felt training in a range of technologies would be.
157
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Not useful
Moderately useful
Very useful
Extremely useful
Figure 16: Usefulness of technology CPD in helping to make effective use of DS in classroom practice
As Figure 16 illustrates, Training in DS technologies was rated as most useful followed by Animation,
Video Creation/Sharing, Games!based Learning and then On!line presentation software. Desktop
document processing was rated lower, perhaps indicating a reasonable level of competency exists
already. Training in Wikis and Blogs were rated least high although overall they were still viewed in
general as very useful by most. This could perhaps be due to perceived issues with their use in
general. As one teacher commented – “Social media are a minefield and I should think most
teachers would avoid them like the plague”.
§6Q4: Preferred CPD Method
Teachers were asked to select their preferred ways of engaging in CPD relating to DS from a range of
options.
Seminar
105
108
On!line training using
digital story telling
46
116
Self!paced learning
materials
Community of Practice
116
Good practice exemplars
77
110
Social Media (Twitter,
Facebook ...)
Figure 17: Preferred ways of engage in CPD relating to DS
158
As Figure 17 illustrates, the most popular methods by far were On!line Training using DS and Good
Practice Exemplars, followed by Self!paced Learning Materials, Seminars and Expert Practitioner
Advice. Social media was rated significantly lower than the rest perhaps indicated a lack of
understanding of the opportunities that it might afford.
159
Appendix F : Action Research Responses and Analysis
Detailed responses from the action research survey are provided below.
confidential responses have been removed.
F.1
Extraneous and
Choosing Texts
Q1: Finding out about books, films, games and TV
Teachers asked their students which of a range of sources they used to find out about books, films,
games and TV.
Social Media
Websites
Books
Magazine features
Newspaper
features
TV programmes
Advertising
Libraries
School teachers
Friends
Family
Phone Apps
Online media
providers
Book & music
stores
Charity Shops
Blogs
Films Fiction Non!
Games TV
DVDs Comics Graphic
Books fiction
Programmes
Novels
books
18
7
4
16
12
10
12
7
27
15
10
22
13
17
8
10
5
13
5
2
3
3
4
2
14
7
6
10
12
9
8
4
11
5
4
4
9
6
5
1
10
20
2
5
19
10
6
6
7
9
17
19
14
10
3
2
2
8
13
12
6
10
0
2
9
13
1
1
16
10
13
9
20
16
2
3
13
0
6
6
5
13
2
3
14
0
5
8
6
8
6
3
10
0
1
2
3
7
5
8
8
0
1
1
7
18
14
7
3
19
16
14
2
8
7
5
2
2
2
11
1
5
2
6
2
4
2
5
Table 5: Sources students use to find out about books, films, games and TV
Q2: Trust of Sources
Teachers asked their students to discuss and rank which three of the resources they most trusted.
Figure 18: Sources of information most trusted by students
Q3: Influences on Reading, Viewing, Listening and Playing Choices
Through group discussion, students collectively rated the degree of influence that a range of factors
have on their choice of what to read, view, listen to or play.
160
30
25
20
15
10
5
Strong influence
0
Mild influence
No influence
Figure 19: Degree of influence that a range of factors have on students choices to read, view, listen to or play
F.2
Making Texts
Q4: Sharing Opinions about books, films, games and TV
Students discussed how often they shared their opinions about books, films, games and TV through
a range of communication channels.
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Never
Rarely
Quite often
Frequently
Figure 20: Frequency of use by students of various communication channels to share opinions about books, films, games
and TV
161
Q5: Making, Telling and Sharing Stories
Teachers asked their students to discuss and collectively rate how frequently they used a range of
technologies and methods when making, telling or sharing stories.
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Never
Rarely
Quite often
Frequently
Figure 21: Frequency of use by students of technologies and methods to make, tell or share stories
F.3
Technologies for Learning
Q6a: Experiences of ICT, Digital Storytelling and Social Media
Students discussed their experiences of using a range of ICT, Digital Storytelling and Social Media
technologies and applications when learning about reading and writing.
30
25
20
15
No experience
10
Extremely negative
5
Negative
0
Positive
Extremely positive
Figure 22: Student rating of their experiences of using a range of technologies and applications when learning about
reading and writing.
162
Q6b: Good and Bad Experiences of using ICT, Digital Storytelling and Social Media
Through discussion, students were asked to identify as a class, one key good experience and one bad experience with IT, Digital Storytelling and/or Social
Media.
Good Experience
Keeping in touch with, and keeping old friends, informed. Talking to
brother in Iraq.
Power point helped me organise my thoughts and see the order of actions
Preparing talks
Song!writing helped to improve literacy skills in an imaginative way.
Pupils also focussed on how helpful it was to redraft an essay by typing
rather than writing it.
being able to communicate with the class and teachers using a Google site
Watching and studying moving image texts ! more engaging than written
word and more relevant to interests outside of school.
Workshops for a whole day on storyboarding
Use of storyboards to outline a narrative to be written helped us visualise
the characters and create more atmospheric setting.
Inanimate Alice
YouTube
It is easy, fast and practical to work with image collage in publisher
Creation of multimedia works on the content of study; completion of the
script of some Boccaccio's tales; production of short films
Videos of the experiences of the class with photos and music
Using power point for book trailers production, which allowed a better
understanding of a text; sharing of notes and information on social
platforms
Bad Experience
School computers are too slow. Being tagged in a bad photo on Facebook.
Facebook could be misleading sometimes, because you don't always get
the responses you expect
Not getting to use it enough
Pupils have recently been attempting to use the national intranet, Glow,
across a range of subjects. There were a number of negative comments
voiced, including that they were confused about how to use it and how it
could benefit them. A recent opportunity for online discussion had not
worked because many pupils were unable to logon.
not knowing how to create presentations in Power Point or other similar
software
Access to certain sites blocked when using the internet in school.
!
Using Radiowaves can become problematic as the software is unreliable
and it makes things boring for us.
Solo Talk Presentation
Google Translate
It is difficult to make a presentation in PowerPoint if one is not familiar
with the application in advance
none
Teasing in social media
The sharing of tasks done badly or wrong information that led to negative
consequences
163
Power point presentations ( book trailers practise)
Real!time communication
Production of a PowerPoint presentation for a project about "Content and
Language Integrated Learning" (CLIL) in English
Social media: sending and comparing educational materials
Conversation with famous people/ meeting with old friends through
Facebook
opportunity to interact with other people and use new technologies
reading a novel in multimedia format
lessons in which digital storytelling is used.
finding information faster
when presenting the case study during my class, for different subjects.
finding necessary materials faster
participating in a literature class which takes place on a computer
(attending a class where literature is being taught with the help of
computer technologies) helped me understand better the topic and
narrative techniques.
Video and software programs facilitate learning during the lessons. Using
videos in class increases motivation.
Teacher's presentation
Long lasting learning occurs when storyboarding technique is used in
classroom
Initially the power point presentations because we were not able to do
them
Risk of alienation
Identity theft using Facebook
creation of scripts never used
viruses; nasty comments from strangers
everything is made too much public, for instance through the use of
Facebook
we do not have negative experiences with respect to the use of ICT, the
Digital Storytelling or Social Media
some images distract the attention from learning
lack of internet connection ! servers
use of my personal data without my permission and access of my
personal account by unauthorised persons
lack of internet connection ! servers
lack of complete sets of equipment; I find it annoying that there are not
enough computers and they do not have speakers.
Students mention about the insufficiency of audio visual materials used
during the lessons. Moreover they mention about their experience in
insufficiency of quality and variety of the audio!visual materials used in
classes.
PowerPoint presentation is text based. When the text is long, it becomes
boring.
Investing a lot of time for Facebook
In a literature course, using PowerPoint which just includes texts and
requires reading from screen is very boring.
Table 6: Good and bad experiences of using ICT, digital storytelling and social media identified by the classes
164
Note: While this question was supposed to be answered by the students, in some cases teachers’ opinions are evident.
F.4
Improvements
Q7: Using ICT, Digital Storytelling and Social Media to Improve Interest and Confidence in Reading and Writing
Students were asked collectively to identify with three ways that ICT digital storytelling or social media could be used to improve their interest and
confidence in reading and writing.
Improvement 1
To be honest, it can't. Nothing can change them.
Improvement 2
I find it better to write on a laptop.
more creativity
Graphic novels make reading more fun.
more openness
Digital pictures jog your memory so you can
write more easily and make what you have
written more interesting
While pupils have found Glow difficult to engage
with, they are keen on the idea of departmental
blogs, which would include examples of written
work. They felt that the chance to access
support materials away from school would be
valuable.
One group of pupils recently took part in the
BBC News Report as an extra!curricular activity
and it was felt by many that this type of group
task would benefit their understanding of the
media and writing skills. The report had
required that they create a filmed news report
in a short space of time. They felt that the
chance to use their literacy skills in such a real!
life situation had improved their understanding.
They also enjoyed the group work element.
Pupils felt that this type of activity would boost
their confidence.
use Power Point presentations to teach new
lessons
use video to make the classes more attractive
165
Improvement 3
Taking a book home and reading it with our
parents.
peer evaluation
Trailers for books (like the ones for films) make
you want to read the book.
Pupils also liked the idea of the teacher creating
a video to use as a resource in the classroom.
They indicated that this would be useful if the
teacher made the video alone or with pupil
input. Their idea was that the video could be
used to teach a particular point but the teacher
him/herself would also be available to provide
support.
use digital sorytelling to make the student more
interested in reading the book(s)
If we were allowed to use phones in class we
could use them to carry out research on the
internet, make notes and access images. Also,
listening to music could help improve
concentration and interest.
Improve vocabulary
We would like to use more technology in the
classroom which allows us to create stories
using the methods we are used to: phone apps,
games, graphic novels.
Can help visualise spelling etc.
Using YouTube in English class
Establishing a chat room for the group
through their use during classroom activities
ICT should be more accessible to students
Combine images and music in the books
presentations
"Video Essays" ! we could make a film of our
responses to texts we've studied. These could
use images, sound, interviews etc. This would
help raise our interest in responding to the text
but also develop our confidence in creating a
text of our own.
If there were Facebook groups to link writers
together
If teachers could use things like the internet to
send us information or recommendations about
books.
Could make reading and writing more
interactive
Get homework as an IT message
Texts might be posted as audio files for
download so that one might listen instead of
reading.
knowledge of useful software
Increased availability of affordable equipment
Networking parodies of novels or enjoyable
contents about authors and tales
publishing our own texts online would enhance
interest and getting feedback on our work from
online readers/viewers would build confidence.
Role models from films
We feel more confident sharing our work
anonomously in forums ! if this was an option
regularly, we would be more willing to
contribute our ideas and collaborate with peers.
It could increase confidence through
collaboration
Use Facebook as a learning platform in the
individual subjects
!
!
Closer integration with the school curriculum
Switch from handwriting to writing on
computers at school
Booktrailers made by the authors published
online
Chat rooms with the authors of the books
Using Internet for the correction of errors and
to resolve doubts in writing
A more attractive presentation for the young
people
more use of ICT in classroom to better
understand their potential
In!depth analysis of the text
Testing New Technologies
Planning reading and writing courses through
the use of ICT during the school year
!
incipit of a story through videos (with voice or
subtitled)
use video in its original language
use more ICT and train all teachers
166
sharing posts and links related to new books on
Facebook, adding pictures and video to capture
the attention
use them during lessons at school
to make the lesson more active, enjoyable and
interactive
to be used more often as homework assignment
Google should make the language simpler and
therefore more comprehensible to us young
people
improve the approach toward reading and
writing
to stimulate students' creativity
raise awareness among young people through
campaigns in schools
more competitions with prizes in money
students should be encouraged by their
teachers
!
attract the interest of the less willing students
to improve the skills
social media can improve one's interest for
reading because of the relationships established
between members and, of course, due to the
trust built between them
stimulating creativity
!
Short movies ! Images ! Animation !
commercials ! Presentations
reading groups
attractive presentations related to reading and
writing
soundtrack
having the class in the laboratory (probably the
IT lab); the lesson / class to be [delivered by
means of] on a computer
presenting the subject [story / theme] of a novel
in a digital form so [we/students] can
understand better
a computer archive with all lessons held, with
lecture notes, summaries, so [we/students] can
access them anytime
Comments and suggestions made in social
media can be attracting, They increase interest
or create change.
The actual use of images
It gives more opportunity for reading
Texts can be transformed into visuals like video
and slides.
In reading and writing visual materials play a
motivating role.
E!book will facilitate students' reading.
Visuals supported with music
It enables to see interests of peers
Texts can be changed into visual simulations.
Making presentations with formal data.
!
!
expressing opinions; debate
Table 7: Ways that ICT, digital storytelling or social media could be used to improve interest and confidence in reading and writing
Note: While this question was supposed to be answered by the students, in some cases teachers’ opinions are evident.
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Q8: Comparing ICT use in Schools and at Home
Students were asked to discuss their use of ICT at home and at school, identifying similarities and differences.
Similarities
Computers and laptops.
I use the same kind of technologies at home and at school
Computer ! Google to find out information about homework or hobbies
Pupils use the internet at home and in school for research purposes and
to access revision websites. They also type up essays or other school
work and use computers in both locations to make PowerPoints. Pupils
very much focussed on computer technology when answering this
question and did not seem to equate other types of technology, for
example mp3s, with school.
laptops are a good way of reading the news , e!books anywhere be it
school or home
Internet used in both contexts but better at home because no sites are
blocked and access is quicker and easier. Some software, e.g. Microsoft
Word and PowerPoint, is sued in both contexts. Google.
Books, Computers, DVDs.
Internet access for ideas; using mobile phones for research;
Internet/ Google/ Wikipedia
Intranet, Microsoft Office
Facebook for debate on assignments and homework, YouTube with for
instance mathematical proof
Use of multimedia tools for collective use (videos, documentaries, films,
Differences
They are slow in school, and faster at home. No provacy in school.
no
Read fanfiction at home online. X Box and X Box live, Playstation Network,
IPod, Facebook, Twitter, Television
There was a feeling amongst the pupils that the use of technology in
school was too restrictive, particularly with regard to websites that are
blocked or what they are instructed to do by the teacher. They
mentioned a number of ways that they use technology at home that they
would never think about in school, for example to purchase goods, to
access videos, to play games or for forum chats (on social media sites).
They also acknowledged that their ICT equipment tended to be more up!
to!date at home. Finally, pupils focussed on the difference between using
technology at home for leisure versus the work they are asked to do at
school.
!
Use of social media, especially Facebook, at home but not in school. More
of a shared experience in school, for example when the class is using the
smartboard. A more individual experience at home. Use of laptops and
smartphones at home as opposed to desktop PCs in school.
Up to date computers, social networking sites, games consoles, YouTube,
iPod, mobile phones
Home internet is not restricted, even educational sites. Using media
messaging/uploading videos and pictures to tell our narratives.
More access at home/ Phones/ Facebook
YouTube, Facebook, games
Only use Word when forced to do so, otherwise text messaging
Best equipment at home ! personal use; Few technologies at schools to be
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etc.)
Availability of texts in both cases
We use the computer both at school and at home. We learn with
multimedia technologies at home and at school. We read a text in a more
engaging and less heavy way
We use technologies for studying, doing research, themes, grammar tests.
We search information on many websites, we buy books.
Use of word processors, and image search and research in internet
The technologies used are more or less the same
internet: search for images and information
there are not similarities
both at home and at school, the use of technology can help simplify some
of the concepts
use the same software
smartphone, PC ! sources of information, the internet
!Google, Facebook
Internet, PowerPoint, Windows, Word, Excel
internet ! books ! Facebook
computer, internet, video
It provides opportunity for research
Internet usage. If there is limitless access we can react to information in a
faster and easier way.
shared with other peers. Use of internet and useful software at home to
study
Increased availability of technology used individually ( few computers
available at school)
At home we use media (TV, console etc). At school technologies are used
for a limited time. Websites and software we use at home are different
from those used at school. Writing on the computer allows you to
immediately see some errors.
A home computer is used to establish relationships with friends to play
music to buy anything (CDs, clothing, posters, music)
At school you are not allowed to use social networks
The activities performed are different
latest technology at home and without blocked sites
at home we can have immediate access to internet to study, at school the
more accessible sources are books
rarely we use the computer for further study at home
At home is easier to use technologies because each student uses his own
computer
at home ! fun; at school ! studying
at school ! educational purposes; at home ! relaxation
more and faster software at home; media auxiliaries [peripherals];
authentic software for different tasks
better computers, using a pencil, access to a TV set
printer, DVD, TV, speakers, headphones
Office programmes are technologies that are only used for school
homework.
Using technology at school is very limited, sometimes there is no access
to net. Access to net via 3G mobiles is more common. Internet access at
schools should be more easy so that it can promote socialization. If there
are lessons over internet, we can reach to our teacher and his teachings
every time, everywhere.
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Websites and social network sites are commonly!used technologies.
Internet usage.
0
0
Table 8: Similarities and Differences to students use of IC in school and a home
Q9: Preferences when Engaging with Texts
Teachers asked students to discuss: (i) whether they prefer to watch, listen, create or read most; (ii) whether they preferred to engage collaboratively or
work on their own; and (iii) what factors affect their preference.
Preference when engaging with text. Why?
Watching
listening, reading because I can relax and enjoy
Watch. You learn better from watching. Reading
is hard and you forget what you've read.
On own or collaboratively. Why?
On own. No one comments on the video/DVD.
sometimes on my own, sometimes
collaboratively, because it depends on my mood
Depends what it is. Mostly in groups.
Reading. There were a range of comments,
including, 'you can easily come back to a book or
go over something you don't understand'; 'I can
visualise what is happening in the text from my
own ideas and imagination'; 'it helps my
language skills and gives me ideas for writing my
own story'; 'ideas when watching or listening
are presented very quickly and can be difficult
to grasp'.
Collaboratively. Comments included that
collaborative work leads to 'improved ideas';
'you can hear other peoples' opinions and ideas
which could inspire and educate you'; it is more
fun; peers can offer support with understanding.
watching ! because it is easier to follow the
story
collaboratively ! because it means exchanging
ideas and learning new things all the time
Watching
Collaboratively
Influencing factors?
More chance to concentrate and enjoy.
mood, quality of material
On your own is boring ! two heads are better
than. Creating something is a good way to
remember it.
Pupils commented that their preferences did
depend on the end purpose for engaging with
the text. For example, some preferred to read
alone when digesting information but wanted to
take part in group discussion to stimulate their
thinking about analysis. Those pupils who
preferred watching commented that they found
watching a text made it easier to take in and
that pictures and animation made it more
interesting.
stress, lack of time
Watching film/TV/video is more enjoyable and
more immersive. A text you watch doesn't just
tell you the story, it shows you it. Watching in
groups is more fun. Watching in groups is better
because there are social benefits and it is more
interesting because people might have different
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opinions or ideas about what they are watching,
Watching
On own (less distractions)
Watching ! It is a more engaging method of
learning. Allows better retention of knowledge.
A mix of both works best for us. We like to
watch on our own or in silence to get our ideas
together and then share them with each other
to reaffirm learning.
Collaboratively as we learn from each other
Together with others. You share opinions and
debate issues.
Creating because it is fun
Reading and writing. Viewing other people's
images and more thorough descriptions in
books
Habitual readers prefer to watch, being creative
and listening appeal to the learning preferences
of the weak readers
The students agree that one works with more
concentration when working individually but
also say pair work may give a feeling of security
and add to what is learnt.
Read: it allows to catch all information
Individually if the work will have to be profitable
The pupils don't express preferences. All
approaches are valid, depending on the context.
In collaborative way, because it makes the
comparison easier.
We like all three modes, because they allow
more various experiences. A prevalent mode
does not stand out; maybe the action of watch
prevails.
All three modes, depending on the type of text
or of the topic. The film (watch) with its images
produces interest and emotion. The music
(listen) allows to follow our mood of the
moment. The book (read) allows to empathize
with the characters.
Reading individually. Listening to music both
individually and collaboratively. Watching film
with friends.
Reading is better individually. Listening to music
is an individual activity, with the headphones to
not disturb the others and because not all
people have the same tastes. Sometime we
listen to the music with friends to feel closer the
others. We prefer to watch film with friends, but
sometime we do it individually in front of the pc.
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Who you're watching with, the topic, any
distractions
Quality of technologies, productions etc.
The story
!
Whether you are interested in the subject, and
the conditions are conducive to work. Whether
those involved work at an equal speed and are
able to support each other's points of view and
whether one feels secure
the purpose (if it is related to the activity of
learning)
Character and individual aptitudes
The concentration (also depending on the time
and the tiredness). The interest in the topic
dealt with in the story or in the film or in the
music.
The personal tastes. We can't force nobody to
listen or to watch something that they don't
like.
It depends on if your friends share your tastes.
Watch film, because it is more direct. But the
reading is fundamental.
Individually, because the reading is a personal
experience
If you are at home or at school.
1. Watch and listen 2. Read. It's more interesting
and fun.
In collaborative way ! The sharing and the
exchange of opinions makes the understanding
easier.
Reading individually: greater concentration. Film
with own friends to share the opinions.
In collaborative way, because everyone
expresses own opinion concerning what he has
read.
The title ! The advice given by others.
plot, genre, the exchange of information
between peers, the dialogue with peers and
internet.
Reading helps to know better a text, because it
allows to catch the nuances.
Individually because it helps the concentration.
the genre
Read an e!book is more interesting.
All together because we can compare our
opinions.
to collaborate ! I learn easier
the genre and the advice of the group of the
friends
accessibility
to listen ! reading out loud is more expressive
in group ! efficient communication
author, genre, literary species
Reading, to better understand the content
Collaboratively, because it stimulates creativity
and competition, it fosters team spirit
Reading and listening to the text at the same
time in order to retain the information better. A
visual presentation of the text
collaboratively ! there are more ideas which
become constructive ideas.
the subject/topic and the bibliography; team
members; the technology to be used; time
management
inspiration, mood, atmosphere, discussions
Read: It allows a greater possibility of
identification and close examination.
Listen: because it allows to understand better
the fundamental concepts and create patters of
thought that help to memorize.
to read ! I have multiple possibilities of
interpretation, it develops creativity
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the subject of the text
I like it more to listen and watch so I can
understand better
when I choose a text to read, I am more
influenced by the recommendations of friends
and the summaries I read on the Internet
I like it more to work collaboratively, in a team
with my colleagues, because more opinions can
emerge, work is more fun and the result is
different/special
Working individually is faster and more
comfortable for concentration
Visual tools and interesting topics are
influential.
Watching and listening: It will not be boring
then. Texts will be more memorable/catchy
watching and listening; because it attracts more
!
!
Group work because we have chances to see
our weaknesses from our friends.
!
Watching. Since it is visual it becomes more
memorable.
Collaboration. In group/team work, there is
support issue and the deficiencies can finish
faster and in a right way.
!
Watching and listening because they are easier
for understanding and more fun to create.
Table 9: Students’ preferences when engaging with texts
F.5
Teacher Reflection
Q10: Planned Changes and Training Needs
In light of discussions with their class, teachers were asked to: (i) provide a concrete example of how they might change / adapt their teaching practice; (ii)
identify any additional training needs which they had not highlighted in their initial teacher survey response but that they have now identified.
Teacher Response
More opportunity to work on pc/laptop for pupils writing, as opposed to simply redrafting. (I am actually quite excited about this.) I would like to
try setting reading/watching/listening tasks for home ! since privacy, concentration and a preference for solo experiences was clear.
I need training in digital storytelling. I would like to be confident when using it with my students
It is clear that this class needs more creating and watching of texts. Their reading and writing levels are low and they need to improve these areas.
Movie making, comics, use of modern technology will all come into play when thinking about how to move forward.
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The research has highlighted for me that pupils do not necessarily equate technology with school and that there remains a gap between those who
want technology to be a part of their education and those who 'just want to learn'. Despite this dichotomy, I am inclined to suggest that often
pupils do not notice when technology is being used to enhance their learning, and it is only when something 'new' is used that they see it as either
negative or positive. Although, one pupil did comment that constantly being shown PowerPoint can get in the way of teaching. In terms of my
own practice, I am concerned that pupils are given the opportunity to engage with technology in meaningful ways and the research has highlighted
that sometimes technology is offered to pupils in a manner that is too restrictive. There are clear and sound reasons for blocking specific websites
at school but perhaps I could 'free up' the options to pupils in terms of how they complete a task e.g. by not suggesting particular websites or by
allowing them to choose the software programme they use. Finally, pupils clearly enjoyed the idea of using blogs and Glow would be an ideal
forum for this. I have already had Glow training but I need to consider how Glow is presented to pupils.
Students seem to be very interested in learning by using modern tools such as ICT. They specifically stated their interest in forgetting about books
and notebooks and using laptops and any other devices during the learning process.
I would like to extend my use of moving image/media texts in the classroom. Although I do use moving image at the moment, the overwhelming
preference shown for this type of engagement with texts suggests learners will be more engaged and motivated if it played a more substantial role.
I'd be interested in further training in this area, and I'll be exploring ideas and resources to do with moving image education as part of ongoing CPD.
I'm also interested in the idea of "video essays" which was put forward as a response to Q7. I like the idea that pupils could show their engagement
with texts in a creative and multi!modal way. Training/CPD around video and sound production would be really interesting.
More watching of texts to analyse. Also, more discussion with pupils on what they're engaging with.
I will try to engage my classes with technologies such as phones and cameras with the intention of creating a 'diary' of their day. i would like them
to take pictures which highlight key moments in their day. We will then structure these to give an impression of who they are and what matters to
them. It would be helpful to receive training in producing digital narratives or in the use of software which would facilitate creating graphic novels.
Use Inanimate Alice as a model to colleagues. Think about an interactive project in all years
More inclusion of computers and social media
Introduce the group to the use of chat rooms whereas only the group members have access
I don't think changes are necessary. The answers of the pupils are indicative of a "particularly reality of the province", in some ways still traditional
and not technologically advanced.
The discussions carried on in class and the completing of the survey online confirms the need for greater integration of curriculum and new
technologies and a better equipment of space and of tools in schools.
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Surely it emerges the need to enhance the ICT and put them not only as didactic tools but also teaching purposes. The students seem to have a
partial knowledge and not a great familiarity with the ICT; they don't use its potential and they are often almost computer illiterate (almost none of
them knows how to use the Office packet). Learn how to write a text using Word allows them to write faster and in a less clumsy way and
encourages them to write. The same is valid for the presentation in power point made at school. Particularly, we have realized simple trailer of the
first chapters of the novel "Promessi Sposi"; this work has made the reading easier and more interesting.
It would take more time to sensitize pupils and to give everyone the chance to express themselves.
It is absolutely necessary to use the ICT in the class in a more constant and professional way. The images, sounds, content development of various
types can stimulate creativity of pupils, but also of the teachers. It follows that the methodological approach is different compared to traditional
teaching methods; teacher and pupils work together to achieve a common goal. Teachers should develop more competent use of ICT.
Teachers need more training but, above all, it would be essential to have LIM in the classroom in order to plan interactive lessons using all available
tools: images ! video ! internet ! music.
It highlights the necessity of an integration between tradition (the book) and technology. Concerning this, we propose: 1) put an internet
connection into every classes; 2) put the LIM in all classes; 3) integration of test written with test in power point or media player formats; 4)
inclusion of authors who have a life closer to the life of a teenager of the year 2011.
Following the debate that has developed between the pupils and considering the answers of the survey, it emerges a need to update or at least
adapt the didactic methods in our schools. The new technologies and the use of Digital Storytelling are innovative and very effective tools, because
through a directly and immediately language they can spread such a quantity of information and cultural content which they could be hardly
understood and assimilated with the only lecture; therefore, they represent a valuable teaching support.
As a consequence of the debate in class, it came out the need to use the traditional content with a teaching method that have a preference for the
multimediality and interaction.
A more efficient communication is necessary. Students learn faster and easier through images and stories
This method can be successfully introduced in the teaching process and student assessment because the necessary information can be retrieved
easier, the obtained products being the result of internet surfing, exploration of different websites. After I had taken part in an IntelTeach course I
understood the importance of including ICT in the teaching process.
I could improve on the teaching strategy by including digital Storytelling and Social Media in my classes, by using the interactive whiteboard!Smart
!
ICT assisted teaching is, in my opinion, one of the main modalities of approaching lessons in my classes. I believe that this method helps student!
teacher!student interaction in a constructive way and it is more interesting for the students, because they prefer using a computer in their studying
as it is a stimulating and handy tool for them.
175
Following my discussion with my students I was surprised to discover they are influenced the most by the internet when preparing for lessons.
A[My] personal need[s] is [are] adapting my teaching strategy to these interests, having access to more computer!assisted lessons, perfecting my
skills relating to computer usage, finding those methods which could attract them to read literary texts
Students seem to be very interested in learning by using modern tools such as ICT. They specifically stated their interest in forgetting about books
and notebooks and using laptops and any other devices during the learning process.
In the classroom that I implemented action research, I found out that the students preferred individual study instead of cooperative work. I haven't
done any implementation but for future practices, I should keep this in mind.
There has been a slayt presentation in class regarding the topic. I observed that since visuals are memorable they are very influential for teaching.
Visuals supported with music or live visuals attracted more attention of students.
I haven't done any change yet. But I have increased my awareness towards getting students attraction via usage of audio!visual materials.
Moreover I am convinced that by registering one of the social media, becoming friends with them and following their personal blogs, I will be able
to chase students’ interests easily and can reflect them to classroom.
Table 10: Changes to teaching practice and training needs identified as a result of participation in the action research
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