Excellence in English and ICT

Excellence in English and ICT

Excellence in English and ICT

Abstract

It is a norm that technology can play a highly significant role in promoting literacy among all students and particularly among low-income and minority students. Technological tools such as the Internet and World Wide Web can also contribute in important ways to the development of a socially committed and intellectually critical citizenry.We are also very much aware, however, that thus far technology has exerted minimal impact in helping schools attain either of these goals. Massive investments in educational technology during the past decade have been undertaken on faith rather than evidence. Despite increasing access to technology by teachers and students, no large-scale improvement in literacy or numeracy has been demonstrated.

Introduction

Because effective use of technology must be supported by significant investments in hardware, software, infrastructure, professional development, and support services, over the last decade, we as a nation have invested more than $66 billion investment in school technology (QED, 2004). This unprecedented level of investment in educational technology has raised expectations of legislators and the public who are now looking for returns on this investment (Benton, 2002; CEO Forum, 1999, 2000), and therefore are calling for evidence regarding the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of technology in K-12 schools (Ringstaff & Kelley, 2002; Panel on Educational Technology, 1997; Melmed, 1995).

A decade ago, access to technology was limited and wiring schools was one of the nation's highest education priorities. Ten years of substantial investments have vastly improved this picture. According to the Secretary's Fourth Annual Report on Teacher Quality, virtually every school with access to computers has Internet access (99%), compared to only 35 percent of schools in 1994, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (Parsad & Jones, 2005). Public schools have also made consistent progress in expanding Internet access in instructional rooms, according to NCES. In 1994, 3 percent of public school instructional rooms had Internet access, compared with 93 percent in 2003. And between 1998 and 2003, the student-to-connected-computer ratio went from 12-to-1 to 4.4-to-1.

Along with expanded access has come a growing pervasiveness of technology in society. For a generation of young people, technology, particularly the Internet, has assumed a substantial stake in their social and educational lives.

In a previous survey, the project found that 71 percent of online teens said they relied mostly on Internet sources for the last big project they did for school and 34 percent of online young people ages 12-17 download study aides from the Internet. (Lenhart, Rainie, & Lewis, 2001).

Two major rationales for this ongoing investment are particularly relevant in the present context:

1. To promote the development of the kinds of literacy (and numeracy) skills required to function effectively in the global economy and society of the twenty-first century (henceforth, twenty-first century literacy skills)

2. To improve traditional learning outcomes for all students, but particularly for low-income and minority students who experience disproportionate underachievement.

Government and private sector policymakers are increasingly discussing the educational challenges of realigning school curricula and assessment systems to take ...