Abstracts

Evaluating the importance of common concepts in school-based websites: frequency of appearance and stakeholders' judged value

School websites can improve external links to other schools and other organisations in the local area or elsewhere. They can also improve links within the school and its community. They can showcase achievements and help to develop ICT skills. The literature on school websites makes a number of recommendations about them. They should be run through committees. The ownership of the site should be clearly established through copyright statements. They should include a mission statement and should be guided by well-defined goals. Load time should be minimised and bandwidth conserved. Navigation should be simple and clear. A research project based at Cloud Springs Elementary School, Illinois, has investigated the extent to which schools in its area follow such recommendations. It reviewed the websites used by 70 primary school websites in its area. Only 17 of the schools had individualised websites. The sites were compared against a checklist of 19 features recommended by expert Linda Starr. Five of these features were found in more than half the sites: physical location of the school, a staff list, a school calendar, educational links and school mission statement. Features commonly absent were homework information, Internet use policy statements, community information and curriculum details. Overall, features that need to be updated frequently were less commonly found on the sites. The research project also surveyed teachers, parents and older students at Cloud Springs Elementary for suggestions on features that should be included in a school website. All three groups highlighted the importance of a school calendar but gave a low priority to community information. Students had more interest than parents or teachers in displaying student work samples online. Parents and students saw value in in having homework details and classroom level details online. Teachers did too, but to a lesser extent, perhaps because these details would have to be updated frequently. Content on school website must be partly decided according to the school’s access to people with time, energy and expertise needed to keep the site up to date.

Secondary teacher attitudes toward including English-language learners in mainstream classrooms

Research has suggested that many mainstream teachers hold ‘negative, unwelcoming attitudes’ towards the inclusion of ESL students in mainstream classes. University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers surveyed attitudes towards ESL students among 281 mainstream secondary subject teachers. Most respondents indicated that they ‘would welcome the inclusion of ESL students’ into their classes, and felt that inclusion created a ‘positive educational atmosphere’. However, nearly half did not believe ESL student inclusion benefited all students in the class. Seventy-five per cent indicated that they did not have time to meet the needs of ESL students, and that ESL students should not enter mainstream classes until they had attained a minimum level of English proficiency. The contradiction between a general welcoming stance and reluctance to address ESL students’ specific needs may have arisen from social pressure to exhibit positive attitudes. It may also reflect the complexity of mainstream teachers’ experiences with ESL students, which are often characterised by insufficient training, resourcing or planning time. A climate of educator accountability for the learning of all students creates additional pressures around students with special needs. Most teachers expressed limited support for reducing or simplifying coursework for ESL students, although more than 80 per cent felt ESL students should be allowed extra time to complete activities. This may be motivated by a desire to preserve the integrity of coursework standards, and not limit ESL students’ future educational opportunities. A clear majority of teachers did not feel they had adequate training in teaching ESL students, but only half expressed interest in undertaking related professional development. Many mainstream teachers believe responsibility for ESL students should lie with specialised ESL teachers. Others may have been disillusioned by ‘one-shot professional development schemes’ that fail to provide active, sustained professional learning. The survey also revealed misunderstandings about second language acquisition. Many teachers expected ESL students to acquire English within two years (it may take up to seven years), and discouraged the use of ESL students’ native languages at school. Continued use of native languages has been shown to be beneficial for English acquisition.

What makes for success? Current literacy practices and the impact of family and community on Pasifika children's literacy learning

Access denied: Internet filtering software in K–12 classrooms

Internet filters are widely used in schools and homes to protect young people from websites that are pornographic or that promote hate group ideology. However there is widespread debate over the value of these services, which are often said to block appropriate websites dealing with sensitive issues such as sexual health. It is also claimed that filters are unable to block all offensive material. These debates have sharpened in the USA with the passing of the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). The Act requires schools and libraries to install filters as a condition of government funding. In 2001 and 2003 the Act’s powers were upheld by courts in the face of challenges by groups of schools and libraries and the American Civil Liberties Union. Many educators and parents believe that the most effective way to protect underage computer users is to teach acceptable use policies for the Internet. A range of considerations apply when deciding on such a policy. At the school level it is important that teachers, parents and students are all involved in establishing the policy. Once students have broadly endorsed a policy they can be asked to sign an agreement to follow it at an individual level. Technology ethics should be taught within the school curriculum. Usage guidelines may be shaped by the age level of the students and how practical it is for teachers to monitor student use of computers, in terms of the location of terminals and the total numbers of students supervised. If filters are used it is preferable to select types that can be customised to suit a school’s conditions.

CyberEthics: the new frontier

Many schools in the USA have adopted policies that set out acceptable use of the Internet by students. However, students often use the Internet unethically. A recent poll of almost 50,000 US school students by Scholastic Inc. found that almost half did not consider hacking to be a crime. Websites that encourage plagiarism are burgeoning, and in another poll 25 per cent of post-secondary students admitted to plagiarism. In 1994, the University Laboratory High School in Illinois has responded to this challenge by requiring students to complete a two-semester sequence on covering the culture as well as the technical applications of the Internet. Cyberethics training is now spreading. It is promoted through organisations such as the Alliance for Childhood, which has proposed guiding principles for students’ use of the Internet. Schools should include cyberethics as a component of the curriculum, however it is also important to raise it in a range of different subject areas. Students should be asked to comment on examples of ethical dilemmas involving the Internet.

Virtual bullying: managing bullying with technology

Virtual bullying causes ‘quite powerfully real’ distress for its victims. It is a form of covert bullying. Covert bullying is more characteristic of girls than boys. It is hard for adults to detect. ICT can be used to enhance its efficiency, in forms such as bombarding the victim with text messages from many students, sending many people malicious comments about the victim, filming compromising behaviour on a mobile phone and disseminating it widely, discussing the victim in chat rooms, and sending malicious messages at any time of the day or night. Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School (IGGS) investigated virtual bullying after being selected in 2003 as an intervention school in the beyondblue school research initiative. The school set up focus groups for students in Years 8, 9 and 10 to identify issues in preparation for surveying students on their opinions and experiences regarding bullying and ICT. Students were found to be unaware of many issues, such as people’s legal rights to have personal details protected from dissemination, and the potential for police to become involved in cases of bullying. To encourage participation in the topic, the school ran a poster design competition where entries highlighted the issue of virtual bullying and ways to get help. Almost 10 per cent of participants had received a threatening or offensive mobile message, most often at night; the IGGS mobile phone policy does not cover outside of school hours’ behaviour. Thirty five per cent of respondents had received a threatening or offensive message via online chat systems, such as MSN. Sixteen per cent admitted to sending offensive or threatening online messages, usually as a response, while 5 per cent admitted sending similar messages on their mobiles. Reasons for sending offensive mobile messages included avoiding face-to-face confrontation and ‘relieving boredom’, while Internet-based messages were often sent in ‘the heat of the moment’ or because they allowed senders to ‘feel anonymous’. The school is involving students and staff in developing a ‘personal website creation’ policy that will include anti-bullying and safe Internet use guidelines for website creators and users. Development of the policy will be led by Year 9 students and involve Years 6, 7 and 8.

Conversations toward effective implementation of information communication technologies in Australian schools

There is significant evidence that school reform to deepen the integration of ICT can enhance student learning. However school reform is frequently frustrated by inadequate implementation in the curriculum, teaching practice and school governance. Reform initiatives need to recognise that the functions of governance are effectively distributed between systems, schools, individual school staff, and the wider school community. Rather than ‘insert’ new ICT into a school the groundwork must be prepared through careful re-examination of the school’s culture. This re-examination needs to involve the school community and establish new levels of mutual trust and new social interconnections. To explore these issues, researchers in Tasmania have interviewed 65 school leaders in the State to ask for their opinions on issues surrounding the implementation of ICT in schools. Responses were organised into 14 themes. Respondents stressed that ICT cannot be examined separately from the social relationships at the school. ICT was broadly seen as empowering. Respondents varied widely in their estimation of ICT integration in the school curriculum, the effectiveness of professional development in ICT, their access to good quality ICT, and the degree to which their schools had been reformed to accommodate ICT. However, the ‘vast majority’ saw ICT as simply an enabler, rather than a driver, of ‘educative functions’. Responses were also categorised by school sector (Catholic or government), location (urban/rural), school size and the position held by the respondent (eg principal, ICT coordinator). No significant difference was found in the responses within these categories.

There's a nappy in my schoolbag: e-learning for two generations

An investigation into ICTs’ capacity to enhance education for teen parents was conducted in one of New Zealand’s 16 teen parent education centres, Te Whare Whai Hua. Teen parents are often members of social groups most disadvantaged in terms of ICT literacy. ICTs also offer flexible, constructivist learning strategies to meet teen parents’ needs in relation to whanaungatanga (sense of belonging), life skills, academic performance and parenting. The use of a ‘cyber classroom’ was widely regarded by students and teachers in Te Whare as fostering whanaungatanga by creating a sense of community communication. It presented an opportunity for young mothers who could not regularly attend class to remain connected, but this was heavily dependent on their access to ICTs at home. Teaching life skills, especially critical thinking, is part of the centre staff’s core educational values. Teachers sought to create a learning environment where students developed confidence and a strong sense of identity. This would enable them to critically ‘filter’ messages marketed to them through media and other channels. Critical thinking proved especially relevant to Internet use, where students were exposed to messages directly, without teacher mediation. The Internet also enhanced Te Whare’s existing practice of inviting ‘resource people’ such as lawyers or health professionals into the class, providing a forum to engage with providers online. Digital media proved highly engaging for students in tracking their child’s development, thereby enhancing their parenting skills, as well as core curriculum skills such as literacy. Although ICTs facilitated a flexible approach to curriculum delivery, students still needed to join ‘one-size-fits-all’ correspondence courses to gain formal accreditations. Educators should explore the possibilities created by ICTs for adapting such courses to accommodate greater flexibility. Overall, while ICTs offered some enhancements to teen parent education, the need for trust and frequent face-to-face contact with this isolated group of students must be emphasised. Although parenting placed heavy demands on young people, it can be the turning point for students who have not previously succeeded at school, to strive for an education and a better future for their child.

Increasing access to mathematical thinking

A maths approach designed for use with upper primary and lower secondary students has created a framework that addresses the needs of struggling, mainstream and advanced students. The approach also keeps students at varying ability levels involved in common tasks, so that all students enjoy the benefits of whole class discussion and debate. Students are set open-ended problems for which there is a variety of correct answers and a variety of ways to reach those answers. The activities used to solve the tasks foster creativity and represent an alternative to following step-by-step instructions and recalling procedures. When students struggle with a task teachers sometimes respond in unhelpful ways, such as by grouping struggling students separately from peers, emphasising procedural steps, and repeating instructions, ‘probably more slowly and perhaps in a louder voice’, as the students listen passively. Another unhelpful response is to set the students substantially different tasks from their peers. Instead, students struggling with a task should be kept in the mainstream class setting and re-engaged in simpler activities around the same task. Working on these simpler exercises prepares the students to re-engage with the main task and increases the likelihood that they will participate and learn from class discussion. At the same time, advanced students benefit from the open-ended nature of this approach to tasks. Advanced students can be offered extension activities, or supplementary exercises that extend their thinking on the task, without moving on to new work before other students. Extension activities could involve finding all possible ways to solve a problem, finding different ways to express an answer or displaying results graphically. Students should all be allowed to attempt tasks at the same level of difficulty without reference to the teacher’s perceptions of their general ability level. Teachers can then adjust the level of difficulty based on each student’s actual performance on the task. See also new publication by Robyn Zevenbergen in this week’s Curriculum Leadership.

The potential of gaming on K–12 education

Think sex

High rates of pregnancy, abortion and sexually transmitted diseases among Australian teenagers have led to widespread concerns about the quality of sex education. Sex education is largely left to the discretion of individual schools and often focuses only on basic biological facts, not the information adolescents crave about the emotional aspects of sex and relationships. Teen magazines are a major source of sex education for many adolescents, and teen boys also frequently rely on adult websites. Writer Kaz Cooke set up a website inviting girls to comment on and ask about sexual issues, and received almost 3,000 responses. She says that girls in Catholic schools said they lacked information about contraception, abortion and ‘how girls felt about things’. A spokesman for the Catholic sector in Victoria has said that the church’s stance on homosexuality, abortion and premarital sex does not prevent the topics from being discussed in class, but has also suggested that the proper place to learn about sex is at home. Sex education in Victoria’s seven Islamic schools is also driven by religious beliefs, emphasising family and monogamy. A spokesman comments that ‘there’s no need to mention contraception’ as it may give ‘a hint that it’s all right’ to indulge in premarital sex. The program at Bundoora Secondary College, highly regarded by experts, drew on the government resource kits Talking Sexual Health and Catching On to prepare a manual for Year 9 students, covering sexually transmitted diseases and contraception as well as values and responsible decision-making. Debbie Ollis, author of both programs, says that teachers need more training in the area and lack confidence to address issues such as homophobia and sexual assault. Sex education programs should discuss ways of expressing intimacy. Single-sex classes may be suitable for some topics. In the USA the federal government has channelled funding into abstinence-only sex education, but researchers in Victoria recommend broader programs. The Netherlands has one of the world’s lowest teen pregnancy and abortion rates, which has been linked to its broad ranging, age-appropriate K–12 sex education.

If the calculator can do the algebra, what algebraic knowledge do our students need to learn?

New curricular ways with new technologies

The Le@rning Federation (TLF) was established by the MCEETYA in 2001 to provide educators with a repository of quality online curriculum content. The repository contains learning objects developed by TLF, which may be used by teachers in stand-alone lessons or in conjunction with non-digital materials. TLF has undergone two major evaluations of these learning objects, consisting of teacher and student surveys and detailed case studies. In the surveys, both students and teachers showed generally positive attitudes to the learning objects. For students, learning objects were generally ‘interesting and fun’, ‘easy to work through’ and provided a valuable opportunity for them to ‘work at their own pace’. Teachers were impressed by the learning objects’ potential to engage students and foster independent learning, especially for students at risk. Some teachers ascribed differing value to the learning objects for different types of learning, or rated learning objects in some subject areas more highly than others. These differences can be expected, due to the novelty of the TLF initiative and the lack of international precedents to guide this type of work. Uptake of learning objects was most successful in schools where teachers were supported by a principal or other ‘champion for the cause’. Successful integration was also characterised by the use of a complementary pedagogy that emphasised innovative exploration of curriculum content, although the learning objects were also sometimes used to supplement a more traditional pedagogical approach. Teachers warned against relegating the learning objects to ‘time filler’ status, advising instead that they should be integrated contextually into units of work, either as in-class or extension activities. Given that learning objects can be used in such a wide variety of ways, the ultimate success of the TLF initiative will depend on teachers’ and school leaders’ ability to apply them creatively and effectively.

Effectiveness and delight in an online learning community: a learner-centred approach

The Internet is increasingly being used as a social learning space, not just as a repository of information. Online learning communities are underpinned by social constructivist learning theory, where the teacher is a ‘facilitator’ of learning, rather than a ‘source’ of predetermined knowledge. Studies undertaken by Ultralab in England indicate that ‘delight’ is an important aspect of online learning. New Zealand researchers investigated the teaching strategies and other factors that led to primary students experiencing delight through the Learn-Now program. Conducted through The Correspondence School in New Zealand, Learn-Now involved 75 students in an online learning community. Blackboard software was used to create a secure online environment, with multiple spaces. In one space, students could participate in collaborative projects, such as collecting and sending stamps to support a family in the Philippines, or create a project of their choice. The Chit Chat space enabled students to get to know each other and practise using computer texting (abbreviated language) or adding colour and movement to their electronic communications. The Cyber Clubroom area housed clubs that the students created around pets, sports, or other shared interests. In the Business Centre, students practised leadership and life skills by creating and running their own businesses. The teacher used deliberate strategies to maximise the potential of the online environment for learner-centred teaching that engages ‘both the head and the heart’. She provided time for introductory activities so all students were familiar with the software. She used chatty, informal language to begin communications, but clear, formal language to give instructions. Exemplary model material was provided to students, but they were also given ample latitude to design their own programs. Delight was evident in students throughout the program, indicated in their communications and high level of engagement. Analysis indicated that delight arose chiefly from the use of the ICTs themselves, from the social learning incorporated into the program and from the authentic learner-centred nature of the activities.

Three skilful moves to assessment for the busy principal

Principals have an important role to play in helping teachers implement assessment for learning effectively. Teachers often enter student grades in the school reporting system and move on, rather than using assessment to inform instructional decision-making. To begin with, principals should build a common focus on assessment by embedding it into their school improvement process. Secondly, they should develop assessment literacy among school staff by encouraging training programs, professional learning teams and reflective inquiry or action research. The third step is supporting teachers’ individual growth through principals’ in-class supervision. Typically, principals do not conduct classroom observations during testing, but it is necessary to reverse this trend to bring assessment into focus. The principal should preface in-class observations with a pre-observation conference with the teacher. Questions should be prepared beforehand to guide the discussion, to gauge the teachers’ intentions about the nature, purpose and expected outcomes of the testing. During observation, the principal’s notes should describe what is taking place objectively, without making interpretations or judgements. Analysis should be undertaken in preparing observation data for the post-observation conference. It may be useful to create a discussion map to match discussion questions with observation data, and a sample map is provided. The post-observation conference should be carefully constructed so that the teacher is led to reflect on their own practice. Open-ended questioning should be used to promote dialogue, avoiding approaches that may elicit a defensive response. This method is consistent with the clinical supervision model, and respects the teacher as a professional. Case studies of this process in action are provided in the article. Principals must also assume the role of lead learners themselves, or catalysts for, rather than imparters of, professional learning. They should participate actively in staff professional development, and explore further opportunities for learning through mentoring relationships or national conferences.