THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN PRIMARY EDUCATION:

QUANTITATIVE TIME-ON-TASK INVOLVING THE USE OF

TECHNOLOGY AND QUALITATIVE USES OF THE TECHNOLOGY.
Andrew Boulind; David Mndez Coca

Fomento de Centros de Enseanza (SPAIN)

mrlv_aboulind@fomento.edu
dmendez@villanueva.edu

Abstract:
Despite the digitalization of society and education during the last decades, the quantity and quality of
the educational use of computers may vary in the different schools. The aim of this study is to analyse
technology in primary education in terms of quantitative classroom time involving the use of computers
and the qualitative pedagogical uses that are developed during this times. The quantitative use of
technology in the classroom is considered as the amount of hours per week that the student has
classes which use information and communication technologies. The qualitative uses are defined by
the different pedagogical activities supported by the computers. The analysis was developed in 29
schools in Spain providing Primary education. Results shows three types of technology use in the
classroom, where the use of blogs is the most used activity, supported by the use of technology.

The use of technology in the classroom and its integration into the curriculum in the form of
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has had a major impact on schools and
the education system as a whole. Developments in computer and communication technologies had an
impact on many areas, including education. Internet-based online learning has grown dramatically
over the past decade to provide additional training and education for students.
In order to analyse the quantitative and qualitative uses of technology in primary education we
identified 35 head teachers in Spain (18 women, and 17 men), whose schools taught total number of
22,000 students. This selection of the participants was made in order to ensure that the participants
had a broad knowledge of their schools.

The relevance and possible significance of the study was to look at how teachers used ICT in their
teaching practice each day and their level of competency. The relevance of the ICT resources was
examined by viewing what schools felt was appropriate for them in the view of (severely) limited
resources. Thus apart from the incorporation of ICT and its level of penetration in the schools, another
marker was postulated: the selection of the appropriate resources combined with the use of ICT tools.
The respondents indicated 4 (14.8 %)of the teaching staff in their schools did not use digital material,
ICT teaching material in their classes. 16 (59.3%) stated that there was only occasional use of digital
teaching materials: with only 4 (14.8%) and 3(11.1%) respectively responded that the use of digital
materials was normal, or frequent practice.

A third of the respondents 9(333 %) commented that their staff were never engaged in this type of
activity. This rose to 16 (59.3%) commenting that this happened on an occasional basis. Only 7, 4%
(2) respondents confirmed that this was a regular activity and 0% (0) that this was a frequent practice.
According to their use of technologies, the schools were identified as being in three groups:

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
The evolution of ICT and technology in education has provided new challenges to the educational
establishment. Nevertheless the introduction and use of ICT in schools has not had a big an impact on
academic performance, nor has it changed substantially the learning processes used. Why is this?
They have been considerable investments in training and money but the results have not been as
expected. The possible reasons for this would be explored in further research.

Keywords: Attainment, Education, ICT, blended learning, digital technologies, qualitative teaching,
instruction and exposure, e-learning, computer aided, collaboration

1 INTRODUCTION:
The use of technology in the classroom and its integration into the curriculum in the form of
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has had a major impact on schools and
the education system as a whole. Developments in computer and communication technologies had an
impact on many areas, including education. Internet-based online learning has grown dramatically
over the past decade to provide additional training and education for students [1].

One form of technology-enhanced learning environments, called blended learning, combines the
Internet with traditional, face-to-face in-class instruction [2][3]. The availability of digital technologies in
their diverse forms (desktop, laptop, tablets, and interactive-whiteboards) is a reality in Spanish and
also other European schools [4]; however, a fifth of European teachers believe that using computers
in class does not have significant learning benefits for pupils. This holds true especially for Spain
(52%), Sweden (48%) and Iceland (47%). The rejection of change, in the form of ICT use in the
classroom has been pointed as one of the reasons [5].

These results are in line with other studies on the weak of use of ICTs in Spanish primary and
secondary education [6][7]. In this respect, despite the interest of technology for secondary education,
research on the effective uses of technology in the classroom has led to vast diversity of uses and
different degrees of integration in terms of the amount of activities in the classroom that involve the
use of computers. The main objective of this study is to analyse how often and in which qualitative
teaching uses primary students receive instruction and exposure to technology in the classroom.

1.1 The use of ICT in education.

The use of ICT in education has meant that there are great deals less barriers and that the digital
divide is closing. There are however major questions to be asked about the impact on learning or the
ability that ICT has encourage innovation in teaching practices. In the last 10 years schools and
educational institutions together with local and regional governments have invested heavily in
Information and Communication Technologies. A great number of academic researchers have tried to
look at a theoretical and empirical level as to whether those technologies have a significant impact on
student academic achievement.

E-learning and the use of ICT is seen as a possible solution to the problems in education using
traditional methods. Kose [8] demonstrates in his study that computer added presentations have
considerable effect on students learning and retention abilities in the classroom. Kose concludes in
his study that a computer aided education environment is more effective for learning than non-
computer aided education environment. He does however highlight that there is no real difference
between the two forms of learning, traditional and computer aided, when looking at performance of
what has actually been learnt. Youssef and Dahmani [9] identified that ICT brings widened possibilities
for the learning process which are independent from place and space, allowing a shift to a more
collaborative and less individualist model of learning. Technology allows a more personalised form of
learning and promoting students development of competences such as collaboration, team building,
project management, skills which are closer to the job market.
The studies related to the effect of ICT (failed to demonstrate even minimum impact in terms of
performance) show some contradictory results. Some research show little or no impact of ICT in the
classroom [10][11][12] where on the contrary some studies do show a real impact of ICT in the
classroom [13][14][15][16]. Fush and Wossman used data from PISA. Their data showed that there
was a significant correlation between ICT availability and students performance.

However when they took into account other student environment characteristics, the correlation
became small and insignificant showing that the problem is multifactorial. Youseff and Dahmani [9]
point out there is a large amount of literature dedicated to student performance and that there is
correlation between educational environment, students characteristics and student performance.
Tang and Austin [17] also highlight the fact that there is a large amount of empirical research
regarding the use of technology to promote learning. Their study also shows that the teachers
effective use and mix of technologies in the classroom, promoted the most learning, and most heavily
satisfied students learning needs and objectives.

Following the characterisation of quantitative and qualitative considerations of the time used in
computer-based activities [18], this study also considers both the quantitative uses of technologies,
(expressed as the percentage of the classroom time where the computers are used), and the
qualitative teaching uses of the technology as the learning activities that are supported by the use of
ICTs.

1.1.1 Qualitative uses of technology:

There are many qualitative uses of technology if judged by (according to) different learning activities
that could be developed through the support of computers. Tang and Austin [17] also mention that
teachers may use a variety of technologies in the classroom to promote learning not in a single, but in
creative ways to satisfy the students learning needs and objectives. They looked at students
perceptions of technology as the regards teaching effectiveness on learner performance and
concluded that it allows students to be self-directed and active (rather than passive) in their learning. It
increased academic performance and was thought to be due to the organisational change, an area
highlighted by Youssef and Dahmani [9] as being vital.

Wider investigation and qualitative data collection would have enabled us to see and find greater
correlations between teachers use of technology, academic results and the type of technology used in
class - collaborative tools etc. Through the interviews with teachers, heads of ICT enhanced
perceptions of ICT use; implementation of the Strategic plan and its success could have been
measured, gauged and correlated to identify where academic success taken place and to what extent
technology had effected the results and combined with new teaching methodology to effect change.

1.1.2 Quantitative uses of technology:

Sigals, Momin and Meneses [8] research on the integration of the internet in Spanish schools found
indicators in their research that the use of technology in the classroom was scarce and limited in the
schools that they investigated. As Sigals, Momin and Meneses states in their study, ICT has
become part of the everyday fabric of schools and the educational community in general. And also
they state that the use of these technologies is developed around administrative work, management,
class preparation and the search for information. Teachers also use ICT for in service training and for
the own personal professional development. As the authors of this study state when we look at class
and classroom penetration, the use of ICT is much less frequent. They found that only 1 out of every 3
students in primary and secondary education used ICT regularly (more than once a week) in
conjunction with their other subjects. This was similar when it compared to 28,5 % teachers of ICT
never using ICT and 30 % using it once a month.
2 METHODOLOGY:

2.1 Participants.

In order to analyse the quantitative and qualitative uses of technology in primary education we
identified 35 head teachers in Spain (18 women and 17 men), whose schools taught total number of
22,000 students. This selection of the participants was made in order to ensure that the participants
had a broad knowledge of their schools.

2.2 Instruments.

The survey was offered to 35 head teachers (for their completion); 29 of them responded with 6 failing
to do so. In addition to the survey, a semi-structured interview (based on open ended questions
related to the use of ICT in the classroom) was used to triangulate the responses collected with the
survey.

The self-reporting online questionnaire was composed of 4 separate parts, with closed-end questions
in a multiple choice format, and interval scale questions when we wanted to find out about feeling,
attitude agreement levels. There were also open ended questions and opportunities for respondents to
reply. Table 1 introduces an overview of the questions and the data collection techniques applied to
each of the questions.

The purpose of the questionnaires and scrutiny of teacher competencies was to try to establish a link
between teacher competency and academic achievement. The objective was that by looking into the
teacher competency it might be possible to find a correlation between ICT penetration in the
classroom, academic achievement and the use of ICT in general. It was felt to be important in the
investigation look for a possible relationship with between teacher competency and its direct effect on
results as well as trying to establish whether teachers felt that ICT had real impact on academic
progress in the classroom.
Table 1.Data collection techniques for each of the research questions.

Questions Data collection

Interviews with teachers.

ICT Competencies of teachers ICT

Coordinators Questionnaires

Observations

Interviews with teachers.

Teaching through ICT
Questionnaires.

Questionnaires no time for interviews.

Organization and management of the school

Questionnaires no time for interviews

Professional development
2.3 Procedure:

The survey design included a testing phase, focused on looking at the clarity and accuracy of the
questions in the questionnaires all of which were online. Four participants were asked to complete the
online questionnaires and asked to give feedback on how it could be improved. The findings from the
testing phase helped to identify questions that had been repeated, as well as badly phrased questions.
The final release of the survey was preceded by an e-mail informing the participants about the
purpose of the study and giving instructions.

3 RESULTS:

3.1 Qualitative uses of technology:

In the introduction to the research project the incorporation of ICT into teaching practice and the
possible barriers acting against it was mentioned. This was an area in the study that required
investigation in number of different ways: looking at the school management and organization and its
effects on ICT incorporation into the curriculum as well as (on a more qualitative basis) the perception
that school managers and teachers had on the ICT and its introduction into the curriculum.

Figure 1. Qualitative use of technology in Secondary schools

The incorporation of ICT in the study was measured by the use of questionnaires and the data in a
number of ways.

After having discussed and carried out an analysis of the 35 schools we devised a rating for each
school based on how each school had progressed in the incorporation process of ICT was based on
the level of development. This yielded the first data on the level of each schools incorporation:

1) Level 1: Schools where there was a high level of technological development following the Schools
strategic plan.
2) Level 2: Schools where they were in the middle of the development in rolling out the introduction
and use of ICT in the Curriculum.

3) Level 3: Schools who had only recently started the rollout process.

The results were as follows:

Level 1= 17.1 % (6 schools)

Level 2= 40 % (14 schools)

Level 3= 34.5 % (12 schools)

Youssef and Dahmani [9] in their paper cited Downes et al. [19] who differentiated 4 different levels of
ICT use/incorporation into the curriculum:

Level 1: ICT skills are added into the school program through a separate ICT subject, while teacher
practices in other subjects remain unchanged;

Level 2: ICT skills are integrated into teachers daily work with some teachers educational
practices and classroom behaviour remains the same, while the practices of others change
more radically;
Level 3: ICT is transformative at the classroom level as it changes content as well as method
(what students learn as well as how they learn it);
Level 4: ICT is transformative at the school level (leading to changes in the organisational and
structural features of schooling).

Our intention, using the information gained in the analysis of each school's level of ICT incorporation
together with the research data gained from the questionnaires on organisation and management of
the schools was to build up a clear picture of the level of incorporation. The original plan had been to
carry out interviews on 8-10 of the head teachers from schools at different levels of development to
triangulate data and provide more coherent results of a quantitative and qualitative nature, but this
was unfortunately not possible as due to illness and death in the close family, investigative time
became less available; time was lost in the research.

The relevance and possible significance of the study was to look at how teachers used ICT in their
teaching practice each day and their level of competency. The relevance of the ICT resources was
examined by viewing what schools felt was appropriate for them in the view of (severely) limited
resources.
Thus apart from the incorporation of ICT and its level of penetration in the schools, another marker
was postulated: the selection of the appropriate resources combined with the use of ICT tools. This
was considered in the height teacher competency to see if an emerging pattern could be found.

From the open ended questions is observed that usability and relevance of the computer-based uses
of technology, 60% (17) were of great importance in the use of ICT resources. In addition, many
school directors felt also that those priorities motivated teachers to use ICT or teaching resources or
educational resources; these did not always adapt well to the way that teachers taught their subjects
in class
3.2 Quantitative uses of technology:

Out of the 29 respondents (only 27 participated in this survey) of the participants indicated 4 (14.8%)
of the teaching staff in their schools did not use digital material, ICT teaching material in their classes.
16 (59.3%) stated that there was only occasional use of digital teaching materials: with only 4 (14.8%)
and 3(11.1%) respectively responded that the use of digital materials was normal, or frequent practice.
A third of the respondents 9(333 %) commented that their staff were never engaged in this type of
activity. This rose to 16 (59.3%) commenting that this happened on an occasional basis. Only 7, 4%
(2) respondents confirmed that this was a regular activity and 0% (0) that this was a frequent practice.

According to their use of technologies, the schools were identified as being in three groups:
Level 1 schools where there was a high level of technological development following the
Schools strategic plan.
Level 2 Schools where they were in the middle of the development in rolling out the
introduction and use of ICT in the Curriculum.
Level 3 schools who were very much at the start of this rollout process.

The results shown in figure 2 allows to identify that in level 1 schools, 60 % of the curriculum time had
a regular ICT input. That is to say that in those classes, ICT was used and was prevalent in the
methodology. When the same criteria was looked at in level 2 schools the amount of classes and
class time where there was regular ICT input dropped to 41.5 % . These figures were similar for
students in schools that were in transit from level 2 to level 1 in their schools (38%). The biggest chain
and gap seen was in level 3 schools where only 20 % of class time had an ICT or technological input.

40,00%

35,00%

30,00%

25,00%

20,00%

15,00%

10,00%

5,00%

0,00%
Level 1 schools. Extensive Level 2 schools. Regular Level 3 schools. Occasional
use. use. use.

Figure 2. Quantitative use of technologies according to schools levels.

When basic knowledge and concepts were examined and compared the ability to select of ICT
resources it was found that 58.6% of the respondents in both questions had a superficial basic
knowledge of both parameters. When we compare that to the schools who were in earlier stages of
their ICT rollout following the categorization of schools (level 1, 2, or 3) - we see that the vast majority
of the schools 40% were in level 2 development and 34.55 were in level 3 development. The study
carried out found that in level 1 schools, 60 % of the curriculum time had a regular ICT input. That is to
say that in those classes, ICT was used and prevalent in the methodology. When the same criteria
was looked at in level 2 schools the amount of classes and class time where there was regular ICT
input dropped to 41.5 % . These figures were similar for students in schools that were in transit from
level 2 to level 1 in their schools (38%). The biggest chain and gap seen was in level 3 schools where
only 20 % of class time had an ICT or technological input.

Can we directly relate the data on ICT use, teacher competency and selection of resources to
academic performance? We believe that it does and although the data is not conclusive that we can
begin to see clear trends emerging.

Kose [8] demonstrated in his study that computer-aided learning environments were more effective as
regards students learning. With more data and more time it would be possible to affirm that
technology does have an impact on academic performance. From the data collected we can begin to
see a pattern emerging whereby the level one schools are taking the lead in the use and selection of
ICT resources and their implementation in the classroom.

The results in the quantitative use of technologies according to the school levels are in contrast to that
provided by school head teachers where 66.7% (19) said that ICT had a profound impact on the
organisation and teaching in their school. The collaborative and cooperative dimensions that allow
sharing resources are important dimensions of the learning process, as Youssef and Dahmani [9]
state.

4 CONCLUSION:

The results of the basic knowledge requirements possessed by the teaching staff we have observed,
shows that an inadequately prepared teacher is unlikely to be able to select the appropriate
technological resource. In those teachers where a high use of ICT knowledge is available this is
especially prevalent in teachers in the science and technology department, where high usage of ICT
knowledge appears.

We can already see how ICT use in schools is shaped by different teachers (or logical educators) with
different motives, likes or reasons. In this sense, we also need to contextualize School ICT use in
view of the mounting administrative and managerial pressures that educational institutions face (in
relation to recently amalgamated forms of primary and secondary education), we need to put school
ICT use in context.

Indeed, the increasing use of ICT in universities over the past 30 years is intrinsically linked to with a
parallel transformation of the general modus operandi of schools. Since the 1980s, schools in most
developed countries have found themselves having to cater for burgeoning numbers of students,
whose enrolment has unfortunately not been generally matched by correspondingly increased funding
or resourcing.
As previously discussed, these changes have derived, in part; from governmental concerns over
global economic competitiveness and the need for increasing numbers of school leavers who become
university or polytechnic graduates.

The evolution of ICT and technology in education has provided new challenges to the educational
establishment. Nevertheless the introduction and use of ICT in schools has not had a big an impact on
academic performance, nor has it changed substantially the learning processes used. Why is this?
They have been considerable investments in training and money but the results have not been as
expected. The possible reasons for this would be explored in further research (possibly in terms of the
lack of adequate training for teachers, lack of incentives, the teaching practices and old customs that
die hard and a rejection of change).
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