ICT´S IMPORTANCE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS - PARENTS AND
STUDENTS´ PERCEPTIONS
Carla Ravasco, Carlos Brigas, Carlos Reis, Cecília Fonseca, Joaquim Mateus,
Urbana Cordeiro
Research Unit for Inland Development (UDI), Guarda Polytechnic Institute (PORTUGAL)
Abstract
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has altered the different ranges where we move, the way we interact with society, the way get information and the way we work. ICT is, undoubtedly, the innovation that is more responsible for change once “technology is in everything, all the times, anywhere”. ICT is used as an educational tool that has a huge potential. Its use is unavoidable in everyday school life, no matter the age or the school level of the students. ICT can be used to improve learning/teaching process or even to introduce new challenging approaches. Since the eighties (XX century) the Portuguese government have supported a set of projects with the aim of promoting the integration of ICT in different school levels. As far as the primary school is concerned, we can highlight the Minerva, Nónio Século XXI, uARTE, EDUTIC and Equipa de Missão Computadores, Redes e Internet na Escola projects, among many others. All the referred projects shared the objective of stimulating the use of ICT in educational environments, through the formation of both students and teachers, in financing equipment acquisition and in supporting the development and dissemination of contents. In the scope of the modern information society and facing the role technology may have in the improvement of educational practices, it is necessary to assess truly the impact of ICT in changing processes and educational practices. The project Interactive Approaches in Education is being carried out by researchers from the Research Unit for Inland Development (UDI), from the Polytechnic Institute of Guarda. Our main goal is to assess the actual influence of the use of ICT in education in all Guarda’s elementary schools, namely as far as computers and software are concerned – in general – and the Magalhães computer in particular. Besides the analysis of the integration and use of ICT in the overall context of elementary schools, we intended to study the development of competences in ICT and the digital literacy of the students and their parents and ICT’s influence in the construction of knowledge from a multidisciplinary point of view. The study was carried out from April 2012 to June 2012. In a first phase, the study implied the development of the questionnaire and its validation. The methodology used is empirical and descriptive. This methodology allows to describe the characteristics of population. The questionnaire was the tool used to collect data for our study. Thus, the target market of our research has involved all the students, teachers and parents from the public primary schools in Guarda’s county. We are presenting partial results of the study, currently highlighting assessment of the perceptions of parents and students from primary schools in Guarda’s county, their habits in using computers and their sensitivity towards Magalhães computer. From the results obtained, we can conclude that almost all students have a permanent contact with technologies, that parents value this sort of practice. It can also be observe that the practice is held in different contexts and for different finality.
Keywords: ICT, technology, school.
1 INTRODUCTION
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is definitely the most altering innovation as far as society is concerned. ICT is “everywhere, at all times, in all places” (original “tecnologia está em tudo, a toda a hora, em qualquer lugar”) (1). In the last decades, ICT has changed the places where we live in, the way we connect with society, the way we work and how we access information. (2) (3) (4). ICT are educational tools with a huge potential. It is undeniable its use in daily school life, no matter the age or the school level of the students (5). It can be used in the improvement of learning and the teaching process and it can also facilitate the introduction of some innovative approaches. Besides, its use in school context should be promoted for social reasons, once students must be prepared to face a technological society.
concerned, it is worth mentioning some projects, such as: Minerva, Nónio Século XXI, uARTE, EDUTIC e Equipa de Missão Computadores, Redes e Internet na Escola. All these projects shared the common aim of stimulating the use of ICT in educational contexts, by the formation of teachers and students, by supporting computers’ equipment acquisition and by developing and disseminating contents (6). More recently, the government initiatives called e-Escola and e-Escolinha have allowed the purchase of computers by both teachers and students. In the case of the primary schools, all pupils were entitled to obtain, at very affordable prices, the Magalhães computer with the objective of promoting the access to society of information, to fight info exclusion and to make the use of ICT in classrooms easier.
In an area whose distinctiveness is the general use of ICT, it is imperative to study the ways in which society and particularly schools have adapted to the dynamics of change, as well as to understand how ICT can cause change in the educational paradigms.
1.1 The project Interactive Approaches in Education
The project Interactive Approaches in Education is being carried out by a team of researchers from the Research Unit for the Inland Development from the Polytechnic Institute of Guarda. The purpose of the project is to assess the use of ICT in education, especially as far as the computer is concerned and more particularly as far as the Magalhães is concerned, in the case of the primary schools from Guarda’s county. Besides the analysis of the integration and use of ICT in primary schools in its total dimension, it is also our intention to study the development of ICT competences and the digital literacy of the students, parents and teachers connected to Guarda’s primary schools. Furthermore, we aimed to consider ICT’s inclusion in knowledge construction from a multidisciplinary point of view. A critical reflexion on the outlook of the integration of ICT has become relevant as the technological development and the general access to the Internet have changed social behaviour and might have changed educational practices in school context. The access to information is permanent by now and that is why the integration of technology in schools should answer to the expectations of a demanding society, related to the competences students must have. According to the effort undertaken in the scope of the Technological Plan of Education (Plano Tecnológico da Educação (PTE)), the existence of technology in school environment can be considered real. A priori schools are well equipped however this may not correspond to the use of technology in learning and teaching context (7).
2 METHODOLOGY
The target market of this research is made by all the students, teachers and parents / carers related to public primary schools in Guarda’s county.
The present study took place from April to June 2012. In a preliminary step, the survey was made and validated. The methodology used is descriptive empirical for, as referred by Silva e Menezes (8), this allows to describe the characteristics of a population.
The questionnaire survey was the tool used to recollect the data referred to in the study. During the process, there were three different questionnaires with the following objectives:
I. Questionnaires for the students, with the objective of assessing how they use ICT, which tools they can use, in what context and the sort of support they demand;
II. Questionnaires for the teachers, with the objective of getting to know their perspectives on ICT integration in the classroom, their formation and their perceptions of students’ competences;
III. Questionnaires for the parents/carers. About the perception of their own competences, how they value the use of ICT in homework and the support they give when children are using ICT.
The process of data recollection took two months and parents, teachers, students and researchers were actively involved in it. The questionnaires to the students were collected in the classroom, with the presence of the teachers and the researchers from the UNIT. Afterwards, for the data analysis, the SPSS – version 21 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) was used.
In the results of the study we are going to present some of the results obtained from the questionnaires to parents/carers and students from the 24 public schools in Guarda’s county. The analysis is based on 1064 and 1080 survey questionnaires answered by, respectively, parents/carers
2.1 Students Results
Table 1 shows the percentage of students who have answered the questionnaires according to their age.
Table 1. (Results to the question: “Students age”)
Age Percent 6 years old 14,7 % 7 years old 24,4% 8 years old 27,2% 9 years old 22,4% 10 years old 9,6% >10 years old 1,8% Total 100,0%
In the questionnaires analysis we realized that 92,2% of the students have got a computer (Table 2). When asked whether they could use a computer, 95% of the students answered positively. (Table3).
Table 2. (Results to the question: “Have you got a computer?”)
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Valid Yes 976 91,9 92,2 No 82 7,7 7,8 Total 1058 99,6 100,0 Missing System 4 0,4 Total 1062 100,0
Table 3. (Results to the question: “Can you use a computer?”)
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Valid Yes 1000 94,2 95,0 No 53 5,0 5,0 Total 1053 99,2 100,0 Missing System 9 0,8 Total 1062 100,0
Concerning the use of the computer, we have observed 94,2% positive answer from students (Table 4). In the questionnaire, we asked students to identify the weekdays they used the computer. From the results, we see that Friday, Saturday and Sunday are the days referred as the favourite for using the computer by a larger number of students (Table5).
Table 4. (Results to the question: “Do you use the computer?”)
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Valid Yes 989 93,1 94,2
No 61 5,7 5,8
Total 1050 98,9 100,0 Missing System 12 1,1
Total 1062 100,0
Table 5. (Results to the question: “When do you use the computer?”)
Week day Frequency Percent Monday 353 33,2 Tuesday 315 29,7 Wednesday 373 35,1 Thursday 339 31,9 Friday 494 46,5 Saturday 855 80,5 Sunday 768 72,3
Questioned about the place where they use the computer, 92,2% of the students showed they use the computer at home and only 41,8% of the students said they also use it in the classroom (Table 6).
Table 6. (Results to the question: “Where do you use your computer?”)
Frequency Percent In the classroom 444 41,8 In the school library 72 6,8 In extra curricular classes 200 18,8 At home 979 92,2 In ATL (free time activity) 211 19,9 Other places 172 16,2
According to Table 7, we can highlight that only 8,4% of the sample refers having been taught how to use a computer by a teacher, whereas 39,7% of the students says they have learnt with parents. 24,2% points out they have learnt to use the computer autonomously.
Table 7. (Results to the question: “How have you learnt to use the computer?”)
Frequency Percent
Alone 257 24,2
With parents 422 39,7 With brothers 157 14,8 With friends 32 3,0 With their own teacher 30 2,8 With another teacher 60 5,6
Considering the nature of activities performed at school using the computer, data show that there is a wide range of activities (Table 8). Similar scattered results appear when other places where the computer is used are considered (Table 9). At school, the activity they take the most is writing texts although in extra-school activities gaming or playing is the activity they prefer.
Table 8. (Results to the question: “At school you use the computer for…”)
Activities performed at school Frequency Percent Research on the internet 484 45,6
Playing 387 36,4
Writing texts 594 55,9 Studying Maths 462 43,5
Drawing 411 38,7
Studying Portuguese Language 498 46,9 Chatting with friends 73 6,9 Studying Sciences 471 44,4 Listening to music 444 41,8 Studying English Language 135 12,7 Watching movies 393 37,0 Studying Expressions 145 13,7
Table 9. (Results to the question: “Out of school you use the computer for…”)
Activities performed somewhere else Frequency Percent Research on the internet 635 59,8
Playing 916 86,3
Writing texts 563 53,0 Studying Maths 425 40,0
Drawing 644 60,6
Studying Portuguese Language 425 40,0 Chatting with friends 302 28,4 Studying Sciences 406 38,2 Listening to music 740 69,7 Studying English Language 216 20,3 Watching movies 631 59,4 Studying Expressions 177 16,7
According to the results shown in table 10, it is possible to observe that the majority of the students have got a Magalhães computer (77,3%). When they are questioned where they use it, 72,8% answered “at home” and 37,4% pointed they use it “at school” (Table 11). A possible reason for the lower percentage of use at school may have to do with the fact that not all pupils say they have got the Magalhães, which, certainly, may condition the teacher on the decision about using it in class. About the activities carried out with the Magalhães computer, 63,9% of the students referred they use to do homework. In addition, 62,9% of the students also said they use it for entertaining activities (Table 12). It is quite expectable that pupils indulge in a social, entertaining use of the computer, if we bear in mind that widespread use of technology in so many socializing actions.
Table 10. (Results to the question: “Do you have a Magalhães computer?”)
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Valid Yes 809 76,2 77,3 No 237 22,3 22,7 Total 1046 98,5 100,0 Missing System 16 1,5 Total 1062 100,0
Table 11. (Results to the question: “Where do you use Magalhães computer?”)
Frequency Percent
At school 397 37,4
At home 773 72,8
Other Places 104 9,8
Table 12. (Results to the question: “What do you use the Magalhães computer for?”)
Frequency Percent To work 679 63,9 To play 668 62,9
Table 13 illustrates students’ perception about how the Magalhães computer works, the majority say that it works well or very well.
Table 13. (Results to the question: “How does Magalhães computer work?”)
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Valid It does not work 85 8,0 10,2
It works bad 81 7,6 9,7 It works well 287 27,0 34,4 It works very well 382 36,0 45,7 Total 835 78,6 100,0 Missing System 227 21,4
Total 1062 100,0
As seen in table 14 a percentage of 68,6% of the students use the Internet, against 23% of the students who don’t. The remaining (8,4%) did not answer this precise question.
Table 14. (Results to the question: “Do you use the Internet?”)
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Valid
Yes 729 68,6 74,9
No 244 23,0 25,1
2.1.1 Parents and Carers Results
Although it was meant to have a hundred percent coverage of the parents, the fact is that all of them accepted to answer the questionnaires. Table 15 shows the age percentage of parents/carers who answered the questionnaires.
Table 15. (Results to the question: “Age:”)
Age Percentage
<30 years old 11 %
30-39 years old 48%
40-49 years old 39%
>=50 years old 2%
According to fig. 1, we can perceive that 91% of our sample considers his competence to work with computers enough or very good and 9% considers it poor. Likewise, 62% of parents think that computers are important in schoolwork and only 2% considers it not important (fig.2).
Poor Good Not important Important Enough Very good Not very important Very important
Fig. 1 – Competence to work with technology.
Fig. 2 – Use of computers in schoolwork.
Table 16 illustrates the comparison between week time devoted by students to using computers at home (according to parents’ opinion) and parents’ preference for weekdays for that use.
Table 16. (Results of the crossing answers: Q6 “Indicate how often your child uses computers” Q7“As far as computers are concerned you prefer:”)
Q7
Total Weekends Working days
Q6
Once a week 275 29% 40 4% 315 33%
2 or 3 times a week 346 36% 71 7% 417 43%
4 or more times a week 163 17% 65 7% 228 24%
To the sample of 1.064 parents/carers, 960 answers were considered valid, correspondingly 90,2% of the sample. In terms of the regularity of computer use at home, the majority indicates that children use it 2 or t 3 times a week (36%), and, in second place, those who use the computer once a week (29%). It is noticeable that parents favour the weekends for computer use (82%) against working days (18%). Although parents/carers consider technology a major tool for schoolwork (62%, fig.2), they also tend to favour its use during weekends (82%, table16), what can be understood as incongruence in the opinion of the surveyed parents.
According to fig. 3 it is possible to notice that the majority of children has got a Magalhães (64%) whereas 11% does not have a computer at all. Fig. 4 evidences the 933 parents’ opinion that Magalhães (67%) works well and 9% thinks it does not run well, that is similar to the children’s opinion (table 13).
Magalhães No computer Doesn’t work Works well Another kind
of computer Does not work well Works very well
Fig. 3 – Kind of computer at home. Fig. 4 – How Magalhães works.
3 CONCLUSIONS
From the general results obtained, we emphasize the overall characterization of the parents/carers’ and students’ perceptions form a population living and attending Guarda’s primary schools. We can pick out their habits when using computers, particularly Magalhães computer. Results demonstrate that almost all the students have a regular contact with computers and ICT, and this contact is made in different contexts and serves multiple purposes.
With this descriptive approach we are also able to typify the parents in Guarda’s council, as far as computers and technology are concerned. We can know declare that they self assess their informatics competence as enough or good, meaning that they are able to run basic operations with computers. Most of the families have joined the Magalhães program and are satisfied with the way these computers work maybe because they think computers are important in their children’s school life. In fact, they see computers are major tools at school, though they do not allow children to use them all the time.
As we have already mentioned, there is an ongoing production of methodologies and projects that aim to frame ICT in educational contexts, using the enormous potential that ICT possess by creating interactive, innovative and dynamic environments.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Publicação apoiada pelo projeto PEst-OE/EGE/UI4056/2014 UDI/IPG, financiado pela Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia
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