Connect School Evaluation Report

South Dublin County Council
Department of Education and Science
National Centre for Technology in Education Evaluation of the CONNECT School Project FINAL REPORT
February 2010
Table of Contents
GLOSSARY OF TERMS ......................................................................................................................... I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ II 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 1 METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH................................................................................................. 4 CONTEXTUALISING THE EVALUATION.................................................................................... 10 REVIEW OF KEY MILESTONES.................................................................................................. 34 LEARNING IMPACTS AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT ............................................................ 43 TEACHING IMPACTS AND PEDAGOGY .................................................................................... 66 TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT ................................................................................................ 81 INTER-AGENCY PERSPECTIVES............................................................................................... 90 ICT INFRASTRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT........................................................................... 94
10 SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................... 108
APPENDICES APPENDIX A: BIBLIOGRAPHY AND LIST OF REFERENCES APPENDIX B: LIST OF CONSULTATIONS APPENDIX C: SCHEMA OF FOCUS GROUP QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS APPENDIX D: RESULTS FROM TEACHER ONLINE SURVEY APPENDIX E: ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY FOR CONNECT PROJECT APPENDIX F: DRAFT WAYSTAGE QUESTIONNAIRES
AUTHORS DR CONOR GALVIN, UCD SCHOOL OF LEARNING DERMOT COATES, FGS CONSULTING TOM MURRAY, FGS CONSULTING
The authors would like to acknowledge those who have contributed to the production of this report including Naomi Feely and Maria Caldwell of FGS Consulting. We would also like to extend our appreciation to the Evaluation Steering Group and the Management, Staff and Board of Management of St Aidans Community School for their cooperation and assistance throughout.
South Dublin County Council Evaluation of the CONNECT School Project February 2010
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
ACE Access to College Education CPD Continuing Professional Development DEIS Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools The Department of Education and Sciences social inclusion strategy, DEIS aims to help children and young people who are at risk of or who are experiencing educational disadvantage. The programme provides flexibility for schools to develop more effective strategies, like out-of-school support and outreach, family support, mentoring, staff development and parental involvement. DES Department of Education and Science ESS Environmental and Social Studies HSCL Home School Community Liaison The Home School Community Liaison Scheme is a preventative strategy which is targeted at pupils who are at risk of not reaching their potential in the educational system because of background characteristics which tend to affect adversely pupil attainment and school retention. The scheme is concerned with establishing partnership and collaboration between parents and teachers in the interests of children's learning (see www.education.ie). ICT Information and Communications Technology MOODLE - is an Open Source online learning and course management system NCTE National Centre for Technology in Education SCP School Completion Programme This is a Department of Education and Science programme which aims to increase the number of young people staying in primary and second-level schools. The programme is part of the Department of Education and Sciences social inclusion strategy, DEIS (see www.education.ie). SDCC South Dublin County Council SNA Special Needs Assistant VLE Virtual Learning Environment
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
This evaluation of the CONNECT School Project at St Aidans Community School was commissioned by South Dublin County Council (on behalf of the project partners) and was undertaken by FGS Consulting in conjunction with Dr Conor Galvin of the UCD School of Education. The review was undertaken with the application of a wide range of qualitative and quantitative techniques including a comprehensive programme of stakeholder consultations, an examination of the available internal VLE documentation and statistics and a review of the systems and procedures in place (including the open-source software used). The accompanying detailed report sets out our findings, conclusions and recommendations in accordance with the broad themes set out in the original Terms of Reference for this review. This Executive Summary sets out the key issues arsing under each theme.
Key Themes Emerging

Leadership The overarching vision of the CONNECT initiative is to create a platform for improving quality of life and access to opportunities for the communities of South Dublin vis--vis a series of diverse and complementary interventions including the CONNECT School at St Aidans Community School. These interventions are grounded in a pro-social philosophy which seeks to target the root causes of antisocial behaviour and to enhance community engagement by means of an innovative, technologycentred approach. In rolling-out the CONNECT School, South Dublin County Council has taken the lead in funding and implementing an innovative and pro-social measure within a learning environment. Whilst the roll-out of this project could not have been realised without the commitment of the Project Partners and the enthusiasm and willingness of both school management and teaching staff to embrace new ideas and give pro-actively of their time and energy, it is important to recognise that South Dublin County Council has played a lead role and has done so in a manner which goes beyond the traditional role of the local authority sector. Without this multi-agency approach it is extremely unlikely that the initiative would have advanced as far as it evidently has. Indeed, the approach taken represents an important step in meeting the need for innovative and prosocial public policy interventions articulated by the NESCs Developmental Welfare State report and as such, it can be said that South Dublin County Council and its Project Partners have embarked upon a pathway towards the mainstreaming of what NESC referred to as an Activist Measure throughout the South Dublin administrative area. In other words, the CONNECT School model represents a novel education-related intervention which meets the emergent learning needs of students in the 21st Century and is clearly focussed upon outcomes. The adopted approach is also a
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tangible manifestation of certain recommendations of the report of the Ministers ICT Strategy Group, Investing Effectively in Information and Communications Technology in Schools 2008-2013 that recommended frontloading investment in the areas of ICT equipment, adequate broadband, technical support services and pedagogical guidance. Consequently, it is the view of the authors that the Connect School Project is a unique model, combining an inter-agency approach, a significant investment in hardware and software provision and a commitment to the training and development of both staff and students in St Aidan's Community School. Moreover, the CONNECT Project has ensured that St Aidans Community School is uniquely funded and supported compared to other schools and has bestowed many important opportunities upon teachers, students and the community. Finally, the unique nature of this project is all the more apparent when one considers that this is taking place against a national backdrop of insufficient funding for ICT in schools. Indeed, the securing of the necessary funding streams and mechanisms for ICT has heretofore been problematic. For instance, a recent report 1 found that the available investment is in itself insufficient to provide the overall level of ICT that is required by schools nationally over the coming years. The fact that the funding for CONNECT is provided by a non-traditional source (i.e. a local authority) means that the project has been progressed at a time when funding for ICT in schools is being reduced. Student Learning Impacts A principal goal of the CONNECT initiative has been to develop student centred-technology that supports an innovative learning culture. It is clear to the authors that the initiative has had a positive learning impact upon the student body although we do note that a number of students have emphasised the need to increase student involvement in the use of ICT in the classroom setting. In general, teachers noted improved student engagement and in-class participation as a result of the VLE and ICT usage within the school. The interactive and multi-sensory nature of the project was judged to be useful to students, especially among the weaker and middle band students. It is also apparent that this environment has improved the ICT skills of the students and has fostered independent learning although unsurprisingly, the level of independent learning is variable across classes and individuals with the ACE students proving most capable of independent learning. The various interventions available to St Aidans Community School 2 including the CONNECT initiative have contributed to an impressive improvement in school performance metrics (i.e. attendance, discipline, etc) in line with two of the stated Intended Impacts of the initiative 3 . Moreover, the first cohort of students to receive a laptop sat the Junior Certificate in 2009 and according to School Management, the school has witnessed a significant improvement in results (particularly
The Report of the Ministers ICT Strategy Group Investing Effectively in Information and Communications Technology in Schools 2008-2013 (2008b) SCP, HSCL, CONNECT and so forth Higher school attendance and improved participation
2 3
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among weaker students). Indeed, the proportion of students opting for Higher and Further Education (i.e. University, Institute of Technology or a PLC) after their Leaving Certificate has increased significantly with a further 90 per cent choosing these routes (since 2007) and once again these indicate success vis--vis the stated Intended Impacts 4 . However, it should be borne in mind that the economic downturn will also have been important in this regard. As a direct result of these improvements, there is a perception that the school is increasingly becoming a school of choice and has begun receiving applications from outside of the schools traditional catchment area. Interestingly, about 1 in 6 students at St Aidans Community School this year are drawn from outside its traditional catchment area and School Management have noted how the schools reputation has spread: parents come to us and tell us that theyve heard about the laptops and what were doing here and they want their children to have those opportunities too 5 . However, despite these improvements it is clear that ensuring that laptops are collected by all students is a continuing challenge to the effectiveness of CONNECT. To this end, it is recommended that School Management examine the availability of options to effectively tackle this phenomenon in the short-term. Teaching Impacts A strong message emerging from this evaluation is that for teachers, using ICT has had a positive effect on their teaching and classroom practice generally and that they have experienced a change in the learning environment which is now multi-sensory and technology-rich. The new environment has provided them with the opportunity to develop interactive materials thereby expanding their mechanisms for delivering a high quality education. It has also added an enhanced level of motivation to the learning setting for the majority of the students concerned. These are subtle but significant developments. When used properly, the CONNECT technologies and supports have been shown to assist in both the productivity and enjoyment levels of classroom activity. However, we do note that the potential afforded by the initiative for the development of enhanced teaching tools and materials is not being optimised. For instance, a significant number of teachers do not fully avail of the opportunity to develop interactive teaching materials or to use the student assessment tools available through the VLE. Similarly, we recognise that the non-collection of laptops by students can undermine the efforts of teachers to teach through ICT and we note that a number of teachers view the in-class projectors, electronic blackboards and tablet laptops rather than the universal provision of laptops to students as being most beneficial. The continued use of the technology by former teachers of the school is welcomed by the authors and provides an insight into the sustainability of pedagogical outcomes and the continuing impact of the project on those it has touched. However, the lack of ICT infrastructure available to former teachers in
4 5
Better educational outcomes for students and more progression into Third Level Mr Frank Moran, School Principal
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their new teaching settings negatively impacts their ability to continue developing their expertise. This highlights both the quality and quantity of resources that have been allocated to St Aidans Community School and the paucity of these resources elsewhere in the education system. Pedagogical Developments It is understandable that the focus of the CONNECT project over the past 4 years has primarily been on embedding technology within St Aidans Community School and the associated efforts to improve awareness and to up-skill the teaching staff. Consequently, the project has essentially been a technology-driven rather than a pedagogically-led intervention to date. However, for the CONNECT project to be truly effective it must ultimately be grounded in an understanding that pedagogy is a highly principled, coherent, carefully structured approach to teaching and learning that is understood and consistently utilised throughout a school, and a realisation that technology alone is a mode of delivery and not a pedagogy. It is the view of the authors that the pedagogical assumptions underpinning the project as currently structured are under-developed but that the CONNECT Project is now well placed to take the next step in order to achieve improved educational outcomes on foot of the investments made to date. In other words, it will be necessary to move away from an over-focus on learning with ICT to a model that focuses more on teaching with ICT and which systematically develops ways of supporting teachers through this move (including improved training and CPD). We suggest that the CONNECT Project is not yet ready to be scaled-up (i.e. applied to other schools). Rather, it is imperative that the aforementioned re-focussing of the project must first be addressed. It is the view of the authors that the Project Partners should develop a considered, structured pathway towards achieving this end over the medium-term and that the project should be re-evaluated at a later date in order to determine whether the recommendations put forward in this study have been fully implemented. Only at that stage will the project be truly suitable for expansion into the wider education system. Development and Usage of the VLE The Virtual Learning Environment (or VLE) is a key part of the interface between the virtual and real school learning environments and as such provides a number of useful metrics around take-up, engagement and usage. For instance, it is interesting to note that measures such as VLE log-ins indicate a broadly upward trend in the level of usage over time. Moreover, the usage statistics for the academic year 2008/09 indicate that usage is broadly comparable to the lifecycle of the school. In this regard higher levels of VLE usage were recorded during busy school times such as September to late December and late January to early March before falling off by June. The teaching staff has developed a variety of interactive teaching materials for their classes using the VLE and the Core Group has led the way on this. Indeed, the cumulative body of teaching and learning material placed on the VLE (oft referred to as posts) is increasing over time, perhaps reflecting a greater willingness and/or capacity for teachers to avail of this function. For instance, the
number of posts during the academic year 2008/09 was more than 10 per cent higher than for the previous year. However, the quality and quantity of this material varies within and across subject areas on the VLE. It is particularly interesting to note the low usage of online assessment tools by the teaching body. Moreover, there are clearly issues around the comfort of the teaching body in general to develop more technically challenging materials. Some have invested heavily in terms of time and effort in this area of the project while others seem unwilling to do so. Notwithstanding this, there are several examples of good practice, notably in ESS, French and History and these provide a glimpse of the potential of the VLE. Indeed, although some staff will naturally be more ICT savvy than others, the development of the VLE since 2006 indicates that the entire teaching staff at St Aidans Community School has made progress vis--vis the development of on-line and interactive teaching materials. The scale of this achievement and the commitment underpinning it is particularly impressive when one considers that many teachers will have started from a low knowledge base and that teaching with and through ICT has not heretofore formed a central tenet of traditional teaching practice. Finally, the authors also recognise that over time the project will advance towards a critical mass of online teaching and assessment materials. In other words, over time it will become easier for teachers to access material already developed by colleagues and to re-use and improve past material (regardless of the originator). Staff Training and Development Training and upskilling has been central to the roll-out of CONNECT in St Aidans Community School since its inception and it is clear that this training has served to significantly upskill the teaching staff of the school and to advance the broader CONNECT project with recent internal research noting that the school showed significant improvements in skill and confidence in the majority of teachers in using ICT. Much of this training has been led by a Core Group of highly ICT literate teachers who plan and deliver the training to the remainder of the teaching body on a voluntary basis. Since the outset, this training has been delivered on an all-staff basis focusing on the VLE and improving ICT skills. However, due to capacity constraints, the Core Group has increasingly found it difficult to plan and deliver all-staff training days. The peer-to-peer approach to learning has generally proven to be an excellent model of good practice both for the development of technical ICT skills within the school and in achieving buy-in from all staff. Teachers have seen their colleagues being up-skilled and developing confidence and this has motivated staff. However, it is the view of the authors that the training offered to date is neither sufficiently comprehensive to generate the level of fluency necessary to power the pedagogical rationale behind the project nor appropriate to the developmental needs of teachers being asked to work in an ongoing way with technology in the classroom. In this context, the authors would question the value of further all-staff training days. Instead, these could usefully be replaced with training sessions delivered on a subject-by-subject basis to facilitate the use of ICT in the planning and teaching of their shared subject.
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To this end, St Aidans Community School should link in with existing subject-specific work from the NCTE or DWEC connections. Moreover, third level expertise could be leveraged (as required). It is suggested that a focus project approach as outlined later in this report be considered as a potential vehicle for this new development and that a more formalised approach be taken to the accreditation of 21st century skills being developed by both staff and students within the CONNECT School. The authors also recommend the development of a proposed Community of Practice to ensure teachers maximise utilisation of the interactive potential offered by MOODLE. This community, made up of other interested teachers and third level institutions, has the potential to allow the teaching community of St Aidans Community School to both learn and contribute to knowledge of technical and usage issues. Although training is currently unaccredited, this community has the potential to serve as the means of facilitating the accreditation of this important strand of the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of the staff. Finally, it is recommended that the planning of future training and development opportunities should seek to ensure that the development of teaching practice is cognisant of the requirements of teaching students through ICT and the needs of one-to-one computing. To this end, a structured training programme that allows participants to work through pedagogical as well as technical issues is seen as the most valuable way forward. The European Pedagogy ICT model (or EPICT) is one such programme. Alternatively, a CPD programme structured around a challenging but enjoyable approach such as Digital Creator could be used as the basic platform for a school-wide push in this direction. Both approaches have the potential to provide a structured training platform and both are award bearing and teacher-relevant. However, we note that at the time of writing arrangements are being put in place to facilitate a structured training programme for at least 10 staff members. This will be delivered through the European Pedagogy Model (or EPICT) in early 2010. School and Community Impacts Many of the anticipated in-school benefits forecast by the Project Partners on foot of the CONNECT School project have been realised over the past 4 years (i.e. improved attendance, increased engagement, staff retention, etc). However, it is important to be clear that these cannot be solely attributed to the CONNECT School project. Rather, it is important to note that many of the other interventions and programmes on-site will have contributed substantially to these outcomes. It is the view of the authors that the marked improvement in student engagement, discipline and attendance witnessed at the CONNECT School does appear to have had, or to have contributed to, further positive impacts upon the broader community of Brookfield (i.e. reduced incidence of anti-social behaviour, etc). One element of initiative the Bring IT Home Programme relates to the usage of the laptops in the evening time in the students own home. This policy is part of the Project Partners efforts to develop a
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deeper connection between the school, home and community and reflects the objective of developing a culture of lifelong learning within the community by means of fostering such a connection. Indeed, this connection is further underpinned by the schools own efforts to reach out to the local community. For instance, the school runs a number of programmes for students parents (including ICT training). The initiative has also been positively remarked upon by the Inspectorate with both the Whole School Evaluation and the Subject Evaluation for Mathematics praising the positive impact of the initiative particularly in terms of school and subject development planning. Moreover, the success of the initiative has been acknowledged through a number of fora including positive media coverage and the awarding of the following: Innovative Organisation of the Year for South Dublin County Council Eircom Innovation in Technology Awards (2007) Overall Winner Irish eGovernment Awards (2007) and in the (Local eGovernment Category) The role of the eChampion has been a key aspect in the success of the project in bringing important ICT knowledge into the school and playing a central role in the project management and roll-out of the project. However, in the context of any future project scale-up the authors would question the feasibility of this model (i.e. one eChampion per school) and would recommend that the Project Partners examine the feasibility of extant school resources delivering core technical, administrative and training functions under the supervision of an eChampion charged with oversight and project management of a suite of schools. The provision of laptops has been a central tenet of the initiative since its inception. To date, there have been few issues with the maintenance of the laptops. However, there is an important issue with regard to non-collection of laptops as several teachers have reported that students did not always bring their laptops to class. For example, an internal examination of laptop collections on a daily basis over a two month period found that almost 20 percent of students didnt collect their laptops 6 . Clearly, this will have had a negative effect upon the delivery of the lessons that had been prepared and as such, it is recommended that the Project Partners and other stakeholders consider ways to promote greater laptop collection. Whilst the authors recognise that the provision of laptops to students does demonstrate the ambition of the Project Partners, we believe that the changeability of the ICT backdrop against which the CONNECT School operates must be understood and taken into account going forward. Put simply, it is clear that First Year students in 2009 will have access to new and better software and hardware than their predecessors just three years before. This phenomenon is perhaps best summed-up by Moores Law 7 .
6
This will over-estimate the level of non-collection as it includes students who were sick or late for school
An observed and generally accepted trend in the developing of computer hardware since the 1960s that states (in general terms) that devices become twice as fast, half the size or half the price every 18-24 months.
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In line with the recommendations vis--vis refocusing the project and in light of the implications of this changing backdrop (in terms of cost, availability and functionality), it is the view of the authors that: a laptop be maintained for each teacher; a high-quality pipeline of broadband be assured for the school; high-quality ICT infrastructure (e.g. digital projectors) should be maintained in each classroom The authors understand that a fully-equipped computer room bookable by each class as required was put in place during late-2009 and we believe that this has been a positive development. In addition to this, we believe that consideration should be given to providing each student with an alternative, and perhaps more appropriate, device such as a netbook. Other Stakeholder Impacts While the CONNECT project is an extremely innovative and challenging initiative it is necessary to place it within the context of ICT in education policy in Ireland. The importance of developing ICT in education has been recognised by Government for almost 15 years with the first policy document on ICT in education (Schools IT 2000) being developed in 1997. The vision set out in public policy has been reinforced with significant current and capital expenditure under successive National Development Plans approaching 200m. However, the reality of ICT in education within individual schools is one of variable results that can depend upon accidents of interest among teachers and others with an enthusiasm for ICT in schools, and on geographical location. While there are other ICT educational initiatives in Ireland (e.g. Microsoft School of the Future in Dunshaughlin) these are not directly comparable to the CONNECT project. It is the view of the authors that the CONNECT project has the potential to be a beacon of hope and with the re-focusing recommended within this report has the potential to be a showcase project highlighting and mapping the potential of technology to support learning. Progress to date has been driven by the proactive and engaged multi-agency approach and it is imperative that this is continued to ensure the future success of the project. Value for Money 8 Over a two-year period commencing from Q1 2007, almost 0.5m has been spent by South Dublin County Council on the current and capital costs of the project in the school. This figure does not include labour costs (e.g. eChampion, etc). The largest single expenditure category was ICT infrastructure and support costs, such as the procurement of computers (418,000). The infrastructure acquired includes: over 300 standard laptops for use by students and teachers, 10 tablet laptops for Maths and Science teachers, two servers, 12 webcams, 12 microphone headsets, data projectors and
Issues relating to effectiveness, outcomes and impacts are dealt with throughout the report
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digital cameras. The remaining spend has been accounted for by costs such as consultancy, training and travel and subsistence. Since 2007, these costs have been driven by three spikes. These reflect the capital nature of the expenditure. Almost 40 per cent of the expenditure was incurred in 2007 with 54 per cent occurring in 2008 and the balance in the period up to April 2009. As has already been noted, the unique model underpinning the CONNECT School and the nontraditional source of funding has meant that the project has been progressed at a time when funding for ICT in schools is being reduced. Indeed, the evidence collated and reviewed during the course of this evaluation indicates that said funding and the systems and policies that have accompanied it have contributed to what has been a transformational period in the history of St Aidans Community School. In other words, this multiple award-winning project has undoubtedly made no small contribution to the many in-school improvements detailed throughout this report. Moreover, since its inception the project has been developed using open source software (including Mozilla, Firefox, and Audacity) which has proven both cost-effective and functional. To date, this software has been running on Windows XP although a move towards use of Linux as an operating system is scheduled for the academic year 2009/10. The authors support the adoption of a platform agnostic stance by the project partners and consider that open source software can provide similar levels of functionality as competing proprietary packages with considerable benefits in terms of value for money and the ultimate scalability of the overall project. However, there is a clear need to ensure staff members support this roll-out and to monitor its impact to capture the success rates of the venture. Beyond representing an innovative and cost-effective intervention, the evidence collated and reviewed by the authors clearly indicates that St Aidans Community School has achieved significant progress across a range of in-school performance metrics and in doing so, the Intended Impacts specified by the Project Partners are being realised.
Intended Impacts
Does the available evidence indicate that these are being realised?
higher school attendance rates improved participation levels in class reduced incidence of early school leaving better educational outcomes for students more progression into third level
It should be noted that a robust examination of what are colloquially referred to as the 3 Es (economy, efficiency and effectiveness) plus factors such as sustainability and equity goes to the heart of any evaluation and that an evaluation should consider a range of potential ultimate options up to, and including, discontinuation. However, although the authors did examine a range of indicators from expenditure trends to internal policies and controls and from take-up rates to perceived impacts we believe that it is simply too early to conclude definitively on the CONNECT School and the issue
of scalability. To this end, we have recommended a number of changes to the manner in which the project operates. Finally, we understand that the Steering Group intends to pursue a programme of rolling evaluations (see Figure 1.1). However, following implementation of the recommendations within this report and in the medium term context of the decisions around the scalability of the project arrangements the authors would recommend that a full value for money analysis of the project should be put in place and that the results of such a study should inform decisions around scalability. It is acknowledged that the current absence of such arrangements reflects the pace and school-centred nature of the project and in no way reflects on either the school or the steering partnership. However, if the CONNECT Project is to achieve its potential and be rolled out further as a ground-breaking intervention into teaching and learning in this country, it needs to be contextualised with the type of VFM analysis that, for instance, BECTA (UK) or Teaching and Learning Scotland regularly conduct. One model we would recommend for consideration is that being developed by an international consortium led by Prof Kathryn Moyle (Canberra University) which is actively researching data-driven decision-making issues for school leaders concerning the measurement of the value of educational technologies in schools. 9 The principal attribute of this model is that it concerns itself with value in a pedagogical sense (as well as financial) and seeks to factor in issues such as usage levels, learning outcomes and teacher facilities as opposed to simply addressing cost and budget.
it would make you want to come to school if you are doing something exciting instead of coming in to write all of the time. Senior Student
See http://ijl.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.30/prod.1904
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1
1.1
INTRODUCTION
Overview of Project
The CONNECT School Project, based at St Aidans Community School in Tallaght, is an innovative approach which commenced in 2006 with the aim of improving the educational outcomes of students through investment in ICT in the delivery of education. The approach is delivered in collaboration with South Dublin County Council, the Institute of Technology, Tallaght and the Department of Education and Science and its associated bodies, particularly the National Centre for Technology in Education, the Dublin West Education Centre and the Departments South Dublin County Regional Office. The CONNECT School Project is one strand of the broader CONNECT Project. The various CONNECT interventions are grounded in a pro-social philosophy which seeks to target the root causes of anti-social behaviour and community disengagement by means of an innovative, technology-centred approach. The CONNECT initiative seeks to harness the power of community via a virtual model of participation and engagement in order to improve quality of life in South Dublin across a variety of spheres. These include improved educational participation and attainment in addition to the realisation of safer communities and the delivery of enhanced economic competitiveness. Ultimately, the initiative will enable communities to move up the economic value chain and to attract investment from the industries of the future. To this end, the CONNECT School seeks to contribute to this vision by means of enhancing community engagement and improving educational outcomes for students and their families. It has done so by providing technologies and supports to St Aidans Community School not available to the vast majority of schools throughout the State. For instance, the CONNECT School confers an opportunity of access to both hardware and software including laptops, projectors and advanced learning tools upon the students and teachers of St Aidans Community School In so doing, this initiative also provides a range of enhanced teaching and learning supports, including the following: High quality connectivity and the development of an online community. The capacity to share and access data. Enhanced computing power. Underpinning the development and direction of the project are the following three objectives: To develop student centred technology that supports an innovative learning culture in the school. To deliver a high standard and range of technologies that enables the development of a Virtual Learning Environment for the students and teachers. To develop awareness and ownership of the project within the local community, the education sector, and other stakeholders, creating leverage of and disseminating project achievements.
(Taken from Request for Tender Document, July 2008). In carrying out this initiative the project focuses on a number of key outcomes. The achievement of these outcomes is based on the enhanced school environment at St Aidans Community School which includes ICT-enabled classrooms and the daily use of ICT by students and teachers. The targeted outcomes to be delivered include the following: An improvement in school attendance; An improvement in classroom participation; An improvement in the educational outcomes of the students.
1.2
Purpose of the Evaluation
In July 2008 a request for tender in relation to development of an evaluation framework and the carrying out of an evaluation of the CONNECT project was issued by South Dublin County Council. The purpose of the request for tender was to invite proposals from suitably qualified individuals or organisations to design and deliver an Evaluation Framework and the First Report for the CONNECT School project (or this report) that: Measures and assesses the effectiveness of the project in achieving its stated goals and the outcomes over the duration of the project lifetime; Makes recommendations to inform the future planning of the project and other ICT in education initiatives over the duration of the project lifetime. FGS Consulting was awarded the contract to carry out this work following a competitive tendering process. The work programme for the assignment included the design and development of an Evaluation Framework. This first phase included the establishment of agreed research methodologies and benchmarks and the identification and retrieval of required datasets. This assisted with establishing a pathway and workplan to guide subsequent reporting in addition to the identification of timelines, deliverables and key evaluative questions. Following on from the completion of the framework, the next phase of the assignment was the application of this framework in order to complete this First Evaluation Report on the project (or this report). This included the measurement of progress, an assessment of the extent to which the aims and objectives have been achieved, the identification of gaps and potential improvements and finally, the dissemination of lessons learned.
Figure 1.1: Overview of the Evaluation Report
1.3
Outline of Report
Section 2: Methodological Approach. Section 3: Contextualising the Evaluation. Section 4: Review of Key Milestones. Section 5: Learning Impacts and Student Engagement. Section 6: Teaching Impacts and Pedagogy Section 7: Training and Development. Section 8: Inter-agency Perspectives. Section 9: ICT Infrastructure and Management. Section 10: Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations.
This rest of this first evaluation report is set as follows:
METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH
1.4 Introduction
As per the terms of reference for this study, the key objectives and purpose of the evaluation of the CONNECT School project were to: Measure and assess the effectiveness of the project in achieving its stated goals and the outcomes over the duration of the project lifetime; Make recommendations to inform the future planning of the project and other ICT in education initiatives over the duration of the project lifetime. In order to fulfil these two objectives, the research team employed a mixed methods approach to conducting this evaluation of the CONNECT School project at St Aidans Community School, including: Desk-based research including a literature review and analysis of VLE data and school administrative statistics; Focus groups with students and teachers at St Aidans Community School; Semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders identified by the Steering Committee. Data and findings collated through each of these methodologies were used to produce the Framework and this Evaluation Report. At all times our research was guided by a set of key evaluation criteria agreed upon with the Steering Group namely: Placing the evaluation in context with the wider CONNECT project, the socio-economic demography of the St Aidans Community School catchment area; examining policy concerning ICT in education and schools nationally and internationally; Reviewing the key milestones and development of the project so far; Measuring the key impacts and effectiveness of the policy, including student learning impacts and teaching impacts, VLE usage, and wider community impacts; Examining training and development of ICT skills of teaching staff; Detailing the ICT infrastructure and management; Examining the partnership process and the inter-agency perspectives of the CONNECT Project partners.
1.5
Desk-based Research
A substantial part of our analysis was based on a review of available documentation and literature, both on the CONNECT project at St Aidans Community School specifically, the wider CONNECT project, as well as on ICT in education more generally.
A wide range of data and material was made available to us by the project partners and the school on the CONNECT project including: School administration statistics; Past CONNECT School reviews; Previous teacher surveys. With the assistance of the eChampion and the ICT Co-ordinator, the research team also had access to VLE usage statistics, and statistics around lap-top usage in St Aidans Community School With regard to the wider context of the evaluation, the research team also carried out a library-based and web-based search of relevant books and journal articles. This involved a search of Trinity College Dublin library (i.e. journals, reports, etc) as well as the websites of relevant organisations such as the OECD, the European Commission, the Department of Education and Science. Relevant Census SAPS and DED statistics were also analysed for the purposes of the evaluation. A full bibliography and list of documentation reviewed is presented in Appendix 1 of this report. .
1.6
Qualitative Research and Focus Groups
In addition to the aforementioned quantitative data, it was originally envisaged that the research team would undertake a survey of teachers and students. Following consultation with the Steering Group it was decided not to proceed with this option. However, it was the view of the authors that the schools own Teacher Online Survey was not appropriate as it did not adequately address issues pertaining to teaching practice and pedagogy. Consequently, we supplemented this data source by undertaking a programme of focus groups with students and teachers for the purposes of this evaluation. With regard to future evaluations, we have developed a draft Student Survey and Teacher Survey (referred to as Waystage Questionnaires); these are presented in the appendices to this report. A focus group is a key qualitative research tool which provides data from a group of people much more quickly and cost-effectively than would be the case if each individual were interviewed separately. The focus group allows the researcher to interact directly with respondents. This provides opportunities for the clarification of responses, for follow-up questions, and for the probing of responses. Respondents can qualify responses or give contingent answers to questions. In addition, it is possible for the researcher to observe non-verbal responses such as gestures, smiles, frowns, and so forth, which may carry information that supplements (and, on occasion, even contradicts) the verbal response. The open response format of a focus group provides an opportunity to obtain large and rich amounts of data in the respondents own words. The researcher can obtain deeper levels of meaning, make important connections, and identify subtle nuances in expression and meaning.
Two sets of focus groups were held as part of this evaluation one set of five focus groups with students; and one set of two focus groups with teachers in St Aidans Community School.
if you go into Science you can go in and do a quiz. It helps you for your mocks Third year Student Student Focus Groups Student focus groups were held over one day, in February 2009. Students at Junior Cycle were grouped according to year; and senior cycle students were grouped into ACE and non-ACE students. The school selected the participants, and set up the student groupings. Figure 2.1 below shows the student groups, and key discussion points, which were common across all groups. Figure 2.1: Student Group and Discussion Points Student Group First Year Students Second Year Students Third Year Students Senior Students Senior ACE Students Discussion Points Q1: Is having all this technology in your school a good thing Q2: Is ICT used much in your lessons Q3: Does using ICT mean you are always working on your own in Class Q4: Is there anything else you think we should know
The student focus groups were facilitated by two members of the research team, both of whom were present at all times. The discussions were electronically recorded with consent of the school principal and students and later transcribed for completeness. However, comments cannot be traced back to the individuals who made them as anonymity of participants was guaranteed. Students were also given a one-page sheet with the key discussion questions, and other supplementary information (i.e.
asked to name favourite websites, and to give age and gender). Filling out these forms was not compulsory, but simply a research aid, and allowed students who may be reluctant to speak out in groups a chance to give their ideas and input.
its effective in that way for project work and for presentation. For their self esteem as well, that theyre proud of this and again it feeds into the independent learning, theyre going off and producing things themselves. Teacher Teacher Focus Groups In order to examine themes relating to teaching pedagogy and practice, the authors used a range of tools. In the first instance, the authors reviewed and analysed the data available on foot of the most recent Teacher Online Survey (October 2008). However, the authors were of the view that the questions contained therein were very much focussed upon issues pertaining to the usage of ICT (i.e. whether it was time consuming, easy-to-use and so forth) and its impacts upon the students in terms of participation and punctuality. In other words, it was the view of the authors that this data source alone was insufficient to allow us to fully explore issues pertaining to the impact of the project upon teaching practice. Consequently, the authors developed a schema of questions focussing upon teaching pedagogy and practice (including positive impacts within the classroom) which was used to guide the various focus groups undertaken with teachers.
Two teacher focus groups were held, one with Non-Core Group Teachers, and one with the Core Group Teachers 10 . At the outset of this evaluation, the authors had to consider the optimal composition of each focus group (i.e. whether discrete groups consisting of Non-Core Group Teachers and Core Group Teachers, respectively, or focus groups consisting of a mixture of both categories). However, after much deliberation it was decided to opt for the former option on the basis that a mixture of teachers along various points of the knowledge spectrum might not be conducive to a full and frank discussion. However, this is not to preclude the adoption of the latter for the purposes of future evaluations. The key objectives of the Teacher Focus Groups were: To build upon evidence gathered through the CONNECT Online Teacher Survey; To draw out insights vis--vis how the new ICT infrastructure, resources and VLE impact upon teaching styles and enable teachers to be innovative. The key discussion points in both focus groups were centred on: Class Planning and Delivery; Student Engagement; Training and Professional Development; Obstacles and barriers encountered; Any other issues on VLE and ICT usage. The discussions were electronically recorded with consent of the participants of the focus group and later transcribed for completeness. However, once again, comments cannot be traced back to the individuals who made them. In-Class Observations One in-class observation session was also held allowing the authors to see how the CONNECT project and the related resources impact upon the classroom environment. Ethical Considerations It was agreed with the Steering Group that all focus groups with students would be conducted with two (adult) members of the research team in attendance at all times. Dr Conor Galvin was the lead facilitator on the student focus groups, and has extensive experience in conducting research with school-going students and young people.
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These are teachers with the most ICT skills the role of the Core Group is to develop and deliver training to other teachers within the school
1.7
Semi-Structured Interviews
Focused (semi-structured) interviews are used to collect qualitative data by setting up a situation (the interview) that allows a respondent the time and scope to talk about their opinions on a particular subject. The objective is to understand the respondent's point of view using open-ended questions, some suggested by the researcher and some arise naturally during the interview. The researcher tries to build a rapport with the respondent and the interview is like a conversation. Questions are asked when the interviewer feels it is appropriate to ask them. They may be prepared questions or questions that occur to the researcher during the interview. For the purposes of this assignment these interviews took place with: School Management Representatives; The eChampion; Representatives from each of the Project Partners; The ICT Co-Coordinator 11 . The full list of those consulted and interviewed for this assignment is given in Appendix B of this report.
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The ICT Co-ordinator was unavailable for face-to-face interview but completed an interview schedule via email, and this has been included in our analysis
CONTEXTUALISING THE EVALUATION

1.8 Introduction
This section provides a context for the evaluation of the CONNECT school project setting it within the wider CONNECT project and provides an overview of St Aidans Community School and profiles the community it serves. The national policy framework within which the project operates, key developments in education and ICT are also examined along with comparable initiatives to the CONNECT School project (at home and abroad).
1.9
The CONNECT Project
The CONNECT Project is an initiative of South Dublin County Council and comprises a range of projects and strategies that are being implemented in South Dublin to achieve a vision where everyone in the County uses the internet as an everyday tool to improve their quality of life. CONNECTs mission is to deliver a free and easy to use service that enables local communities to use technology in innovative ways to achieve their goals and to put local content on the world wide web. Four complementary projects and strategies are being used to achieve this vision: CONNECT Me: CONNECT Me is a web-based facility that aims to store, retrieve and display extensive information about South Dublin with the aim of creating a location where people can easily find accurate information about a range of business, community and public services available in the area; CONNECT Web: This project enables local community and voluntary groups to have a web presence by providing website development training and hosting whilst also supporting the ongoing maintenance of developed websites; CONNECT Centres: CONNECT Centres is the creation of a network of Digital Learning Hubs across local community centres and libraries with the aim of improving access and learning about technologies within communities; CONNECT School: The focus of this evaluation, the CONNECT school project is based in St Aidans Community School, Brookfield and is concerned with developing student centred technology through an innovative learning culture in order to improve school attendance, participation in class and educational outcomes for the students. In rolling-out the CONNECT School, South Dublin County Council has taken the lead in implementing an innovative and pro-social measure within a learning environment. Whilst the roll-out of this project could not have been realised without the commitment of the Project Partners and the enthusiasm and willingness of both school management and teaching staff to embrace new ideas and give of their time and energy, it is important to recognise that South Dublin County Council has played the lead role and has done so in a manner which goes beyond the traditional role of the local authority sector. For instance, the steps taken by South Dublin County Council include, but are not limited to, the following:
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The provision of approximately 500,000 to fund the procurement of laptops and tablet laptops for all teachers and more than 300 students and to co-fund the procurement of data projectors (alongside St Aidans Community School); The provision of an e-Champion within St Aidans Community School the e-Champion is a local authority official who works on-site throughout the school year to project manage the roll-out of the CONNECT School and to provide administrative and technical support to both school management and the teaching staff (i.e. webpage management, ICT maintenance, procurement, etc); The design and delivery of training programmes including the establishment of a Community of Practice through the work of the e-Champion; and Working with the Project Partners to ensure the availability of a high-quality internet pipeline into St Aidans Community School. By means of this significant ICT investment and related support, South Dublin County Council and its Project Partners have sought to embed student-centred learning technologies within St Aidans Community School in a manner which affords both students and teachers an opportunity to access high-quality hardware and software of a kind not generally available in the majority of post-primary schools. Moreover, the approach taken also provides school management and teachers with a unique tool to tackle educational disadvantage by means of supporting greater student engagement, improving attendance and discipline and encouraging staff retention (see Sections 5 and 6). Indeed, the approach taken represents an important step in meeting the need for innovative and prosocial public policy interventions articulated in The Developmental Welfare State, a report by the NESC (National Economic and Social Council; see Figure 3.1). That report endeavoured to chart a course for Irelands welfare state and advocated progress across three overlapping areas of welfare state activity services, income supports and activist (or innovative) measures where integration across these areas are developmental for individuals, families, communities and the economy. With regard to the proposed activist measures, the NESC noted that such innovative measures are akin to the R&D sphere of the developmental welfare state whereby service providers community, voluntary, public and private sector organisations can take steps to respond to emerging or unmet social needs and where key features of successful interventions can be adopted into mainstream service provision.
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Case Study 1: Original decision-making, rationale and background to the development of CONNECT at St Aidans Community School
One of the first decisions with regard to the CONNECT School was that the project would involve one-to-one computing on a large scale and that laptops would be rolled out to all incoming first years year-on-year until the entire student body was covered. The rationale for this decision was that research had shown that the "digital divide" was more apparent in disadvantaged areas than elsewhere. In order to address this, the Project Partners sought to put technology into the hands of the students. In order to make ICT in Education part of the "everyday" school experience, it was believed that students should have constant exposure to the technology. This was at a time when wireless technology was maturing and the laptop's connection to the internet could be "always on" - internet connectivity could be ubiquitous. In addition it was also felt to be of great importance that the students of St Aidan's Community School (a DEIS school) should feel in a very real way that they were being invested in. One-to-One computing in a second level school could only be meaningful if the other pieces of the ICT Infrastructure were also put in place. The Project Partners cognisant of the changes in Third Level Education through the involvement of the IT Tallaght came up with a model which also required ubiquitous internet access and the development of a Virtual Learning Environment (or VLE). Access to information and the means to manipulate and share information in the creation of knowledge was seen as the overriding guiding principle of the Connect School Project: Students and Teachers would be issued with Laptops, Wireless Internet Access would be available throughout the School, and a Virtual Learning Environment would be developed using Moodle. It was also decided at the outset that the development of this model should not however place a further IT maintenance burden on the school and that an eChampion would be employed to develop, support and streamline the development of this model.
Consequently, it can be said that South Dublin County Council and its Project Partners have embarked upon a pathway towards the mainstreaming of what NESC referred to as an Activist Measure throughout the South Dublin administrative area. In other words, the CONNECT School model represents a novel education-related intervention which meets the emergent learning needs of students in the 21st Century and is clearly focussed upon outcomes as can be seen in Figure 3.1.
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Figure 3.1: The Developmental Welfare State
The Developmental Welfare State

Services Education Health Childcare Eldercare Housing Transport Employment Services Activist Measures Novel\contestatory approaches Particular community\group projects Emerging new needs Outcome focused Evaluation and mainstreaming Income supports Progressive child income supports Working age transfers for Participation Minimum pension guarantee Capped tax expenditures
Source: National Economic and Social Council, The Developmental Welfare State, 2005
Since May 2006, CONNECT School project has been developing as an inter-agency initiative with the school, South Dublin County Council, the Institute of Technology, Tallaght and the Department of Education and Science and its associated bodies. The latter include the National Centre for Technology in Education, the Dublin West Education Centre and the South Dublin County Regional Office. The project has three main goals, each of which has a number of associated priorities or outputs, descriptions of which are given in Table 3.1.
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Table 3.1: Goals and Actions for the CONNECT School Project
Goal 1: To develop student centred technology and create a virtual learning environment for the students and teachers Priorities to achieve this are: to develop the leadership, skills and confidence of the teachers enabling innovative use of information and communication technologies in the school curriculum; to develop a culture of innovation in learning among the students; to create a virtual learning environment for use in the school by students and teachers; to support the teachers to create and develop interactive curriculum content integrated across the subjects and classroom learning; to provide each student with a personal online learning space where they can store their own course materials and assignments in digital form and record their assignments Goal 2: To deliver a high standard and range of technologies available to the school Delivered through: employment of an ICT coordinator to support the project in the school on an ongoing basis; sourcing, developing and distributing laptops for all teachers and First Year students for personal use of technology in the classroom; identifying and providing other digital technologies for use by the students and teachers; ensuring fast wireless connectivity throughout the school; providing the technical capacity required to support the development of a Virtual Learning Environment through the Moodle site; ensuring ongoing communication/feedback with the teachers in the technical development Goal 3: To develop awareness of the project within the local community, the education sector and other stakeholders, creating leverage of and disseminating project achievements Efforts will be focused on: encouraging the involvement and support of the parents and local community through awarenessraising activity and IT skills development; developing a sound reporting structure and cross-organisational information channels; developing working relationships and partnerships with other key educational institutions establishing an evaluation framework to ensure full identification and articulation of outcomes.
Source: CONNECT Project Outline
These goals and actions have been translated into a number of intended outcomes and impacts for the project as shown in Table 3.2.
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Table 3.2: Intended Outcomes and Impacts of the CONNECT School Project
Intended Outcomes access to shared ideas and lesson plans for teachers; development of e-learning resources; adaptation of the curriculum to learners needs and interests; students receiving better feedback on their progress; support being given to teachers in managing marking and assessment; lessons becoming more exciting; better engagement with hard to reach students with more motivating ways of learning; development of new teaching methodologies; increased awareness and application of information and communication technologies; integration between home, school and the community. Intended Impacts higher school attendance rates; improved participation levels in class; reduced incidence of early school leaving; better educational outcomes for students; more progression on to third level.
Source: CONNECT Project Outline
1.10 St Aidans Community School: Serving Brookfield

St Aidans Community School At the time of writing, the available ICT supports are provided to students in First, Second and Third year (or approximately 300 plus students) at St Aidans Community School 12 under the CONNECT School project. Founded in 1984, St Aidans Community School is a co-educational post-primary school under the trusteeship of the Loreto Sisters and County Dublin Vocational Educational Committee. St Aidans Community School principally serves the Brookfield community 13 . In 2008/09 there were 445 registered students in the school supported by 60 teachers and seven Special Needs Assistants. St Aidans Community School also has a significant body of Traveller and international students, according to the 2006 DES report (7 per cent in each case). St Aidans Community School provides the Junior Certificate and Junior Certificate Schools Programme in addition to the Leaving Certificate syllabus and the Leaving Cert Applied (LCA). The
12 13
Along with 12 students in the Access to College Education (ACE) programme in Sixth year St Aidans Community School also serves Fettercairn in West Tallaght alongside St Marks Community School
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school also offers a post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) course in Computer Applications, leading to a FETAC Level 5 accreditation in Business Studies. In terms of the student body, classes are banded into three groups according to their abilities, with those in most need of support being placed in small class groups. In senior cycle, the Access to College Education (ACE) programme exists for those students who have been identified as most likely to go on to further education. In addition to participating in the CONNECT Project, St Aidans Community School also provides a suite of complementary programmes and interventions to tackle educational disadvantage and to provide equality of opportunity. For instance, St Aidans Community School has a Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) Coordinator (under the aegis of DEIS). The HSCL programme provides resources for liaison between the school, parents and the community. Moreover, under the HSCL programme, parents and adult members of the community can attend classes during the day. Attendance and completion are key challenges facing St Aidans Community School 14 . To address this issue the school participates in 1 of the more than 80 School Completion Programme (SCP) clusters across the State (again under DEIS). The co-ordinator post for this programme is shared between several schools in the area. The SCP co-ordinator, the HSCL and the Traveller co-ordinators liaise with school management and class heads and as part of the SCP cluster, St Aidans Community School provides a number of initiatives such as the Breakfast caf, the lunch club and the friendship Club alongside the provision of guitar lessons at lunchtime. In terms of support for disadvantaged and minority students, St Aidans Community School has a coordinator for the Traveller students in the school and avails of a visiting Traveller teacher. Both the coordinator and visiting teacher liaise directly with parents. Traveller students have their own room in the school, and access to learning support, a resource teacher and ICT support. With regard to minority students, two St Aidans Community School teachers are involved in teaching English as a second language for those students, once grammar and proficiency tests have been undertaken. Moreover, St Aidans Community School also provides additional support for students with potential to go on to 3rd level education. The ACE programme is undertaken in three schools and provides additional support to selected students. The support includes additional revision classes along with financial support for students. The recent Whole School Evaluation of St Aidans Community School was very complimentary of the pastoral care provided. The care team comprises the principal and/or deputy principal, guidance personnel, the HSCL officer, the teen counsellor, the Tallaght Youth Service worker, an art therapist, the SCP co-ordinator and the school chaplain. The care team has been in place since 2001 and its aims are as follows: To ensure students are supported in and outside school To ensure an integrated and co-ordinated service
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Whole School Evaluation: Report Issued for School Response, Department of Education and Science, 2006
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To support all staff involved in the delivery of care Indeed, at an overall level the Whole School Evaluation was extremely positive in its summary of findings regarding the school noting in particular the caring and inclusive ethos that characterises the school, the dedicated and generous teaching staff and the students affection for and loyalty to St Aidans Community School. Profile of Fettercairn and Brookfield The electoral district (ED) of Tallaght-Fettercairn comprises the catchment area of St Aidans According to the 2006 Census the ED has a population of 6,600, an increase of 1.7 per cent since 2002 although this is lower than the increase noted either in South Dublin as a whole (3.4 per cent) or of the State (8.1 per cent). The age profile in the ED is markedly younger than elsewhere with 53 per cent of the population being younger than 25 as compared to 38 per cent in South Dublin and 35 per cent nationally. The areas of Brookfield and Fettercairn are disadvantaged areas and make up one of four designated RAPID areas in South Dublin. There are issues in the area in terms of educational retention as demonstrated by the 28 per cent of the population in the ED who ceased education prior to the age of 16. This compares to 17 per cent in both South Dublin and the State as a whole as shown in Table 3.3. At the opposite end of the spectrum only 5 per cent of those in the ED cease education at 21 or over (compared to 20 per cent nationwide). Table 3.3: Age Education Ceased for Persons Aged 15 and Over
Age Under 15 years 15 years 16 years 17 years 18 years 19 years 20 years 21 years and over Not stated
Source: CSO, Census 2006
Fettercairn ED 16.91% 10.96% 16.74% 13.64% 11.30% 3.10% 1.85% 5.07% 20.44%
South Dublin 10.30% 6.94% 12.22% 11.58% 15.49% 4.89% 4.04% 18.74% 15.79%
State 11.31% 6.67% 11.94% 10.38% 15.51% 5.08% 4.34% 20.07% 14.70%
As shown in Table 3.4 the socio-economic profile of the area is also radically different from the rest of the county and the country as a whole with only 9 per cent of the ED population in the A-C socioeconomic groupings. This is considerably lower than the 33 per cent in South Dublin and 31 per cent across the State.
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Table 3.4: Population by Socio-Economic Group of Reference Person

Socio-Economic Group A. Employers and Managers B. Higher Professional C. Lower Professional D. Non-manual E. Manual skilled F. Semi skilled G. Unskilled H. Own account workers I. Farmers J. Agricultural workers Z. All others gainfully employed & others
Fettercairn ED 5.70% 0.98% 2.77% 18.51% 10.30% 13.04% 7.20% 4.06% 0.03% 0.08% 37.33%
South Dublin 17.70% 5.86% 9.46% 19.97% 11.71% 8.77% 3.30% 6.16% 0.17% 0.06% 16.86%
State 16.02% 5.87% 9.47% 15.99% 11.65% 9.16% 4.19% 5.84% 5.82% 0.72% 15.28%
In terms of family units the ED has a higher percentage of units headed by lone parents, which at 46 per cent is over double that of South Dublin and the national figures (21.2 per cent and 18 per cent respectively). Of these family units the vast majority 93 per cent are headed by women which is again higher than the averages for the county (88 per cent) and the State (86 per cent). Tallaght-Fettercairn has a slightly lower proportion of non-nationals resident than either South County Dublin or nationwide although it has a higher proportion of people from ethnic minorities (particularly the Traveller Community and the Black/Black Irish Community). The nationality and ethnicity make-up of the population of the ED is shown in Table 3.5.
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Table 3.5: Nationality and Ethnicity of Population of Fettercain ED (includes Brookfield)

Nationality Irish UK Polish Lithuanian Other EU 25 Rest of World Not Stated Ethnicity White Irish White Irish Traveller Other White Black and Black Irish Asian and Asian Irish Other Not Stated
Fettercairn ED (%) 90.5 2 0.6 0.4 0.6 3.5 2.3 Fettercairn ED (%) 84.5 2.7 3 3.3 2.2 1.2 3.2
South County Dublin (%) 88.5 1.4 1.5 0.8 1.3 5.1 1.3 South County Dublin (%) 85.3 0.7 5.9 2.6 2.2 1.3 2
State (%) 88.8 2.7 1.5 0.6 1.8 3.5 1.1 State (%) 87.4 0.5 6.9 1.1 1.3 1.1 1.7
3.1
ICT in Schools Policy and Investment
For almost 15 years the importance of developing ICT in education and responding to the opportunities provided by the introduction of ICT has been recognised by Government. The 1995 White Paper on Education Charting Our Education Future stated that all students.will have achieved.competence and understanding in practical skills including computer literacy and information technology within the junior cycle curriculum. By 1997, the first dedicated policy document on ICT in education entitled Schools IT 2000 was published by Government and established the basis for the development of ICT within the education system. Responsibility for the implementation of the policy was given to the National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE) whose brief also included the development of ICT policy proposals and the provisions of ICT policy advice to the Department of Education and Science. The Schools IT 2000 initiative had three separate strands: The Technology Integration Initiative: Supported schools in developing their ICT infrastructure and aimed to have 60,000 computers in schools by 2001, a goal that was achieved with a 2002 NCTE census recording 84,000 computers in Irish schools; The Teaching Skills Initiative: Recognising that the provision of hardware was only useful if teachers were trained in its use, this initiative provided for teacher training in three distinct
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areas namely, ICT skills and awareness, professional skills development in ICT and pedagogical skills development The Schools Support Initiative: This initiative investigated a range of teaching and learning topics with regard to ICT integration and established approximately 90 pilot projects with a number of lead schools working in partnership with various education centres, industry and the local community. A subsequent report on the implementation of the Schools IT initiative revealed a high level of satisfaction with the initiatives implemented although three areas of concern were noted in terms of the need for more training for teachers, the need for more funding for equipment and computers and the need for more support in areas such as technical support and encouragement to use IT.
youve got visual, youve got text, youve got colour. Thats what theyre used to; television, computer games. It brings it to life as opposed to writing it on the board Teacher The second Government policy document on ICT in education was launched in 2001. Entitled A Blueprint for the Future of ICT in Irish Education it was a three year strategic plan designed to build on the progress of the IT 2000 policy. The major objectives of the policy were to: Expand ICT provision to schools; Increase access to, and the use of, internet technologies;
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Further integrate ICT in teaching and learning; Enhance professional development opportunities for teachers. Two other initiatives, Networking Schools and the Schools Broadband Programme have also been put in place with the goals of providing broadband access for every school in the State and to provide inter-school connectivity. Taken together over 183m has been allocated to ICT education policy initiatives to date. The breakdown of funding to date is shown in Table 3.6. Table 3.6: Funding of ICT in Education Policy Initiatives
Initiative Schools IT 2000 Blueprint for the Future of ICT in Irish Schools Networking Schools Schools Broadband Programme Total
Source: ICT in Schools, Inspectorate Evaluation Studies, Department of Education, 2008a
Year Commenced 1998 2001 2004 2005
Funding () 52m 78m 23m 15 30m 16 183m
A commitment to further funding is contained within the 2007-2013 National Development Plan (NDP). Under the sub-programme for ICT in Schools 252m was allocated for ICT in schools. This investment was to be set within the context of a Departmental ICT strategy and was to be used to develop an e-learning culture within schools, further teacher professional development, maintain a national broadband network for schools, upgrade and renew hardware, provide software and digital content and to address support and maintenance requirements. This goal is also referenced within the Programme for Government 2007-12 which provides for a comprehensive Schools ICT strategy supported by a dedicated capital investment programme that also addresses schools needs for technical support/maintenance and the training needs of teachers in leveraging the new technology. The report of the Ministers ICT Strategy Group, Investing Effectively in Information and Communications Technology in Schools 2008-2013 (2008b) was commissioned to advise on the prioritisation of measures within the NDP funding envelope. The group recommended frontloading investment in the areas of new ICT equipment, adequate broadband, technical support services and pedagogical guidance into the first three years of the NDP period. However, although the report notes that the NDP investment will allow schools to update equipment and facilities, the group deemed that the investment is in itself insufficient to provide the overall level of ICT that is required by schools during the period of the NDP. This report will help underpin ICT policy for schools for the period up to 2013.
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Expenditure to August 2007 Estimated cost of set-up and continuing costs to June 2008
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The development of ICT in education is also referenced within the strategy statement for the Department of Education and Science 2008-2012 which contains a number of ICT related actions including the provision of financial supports to schools to develop their ICT infrastructure and working with the NCTE to promote the integration of ICT in teaching and learning. The financial situation within which the Government now finds itself is, however, impacting heavily on both NDP funding and the agenda of the DES. These are explored in more detail in the next section of this report. Finally, the National Council for Curriculum Assessment (NCCA) issued the ICT Framework: A structured Approach to ICT in Curriculum and Assessment 17 in November 2007. The framework offers schools a structured approach to using ICT in the curriculum and assessment by identifying the types of learning for ICT (including knowledge, skills and attitudes) appropriate for students during the period of compulsory education particularly the primary phases. The NCCA points out however, that the ICT Framework is not a curriculum area or a syllabus, but rather is a tool to help teachers to integrate ICT in teaching and learning recognising that use of the Framework will vary from school to school depending upon a range of school factors including access to ICT equipment and resources; teacher competence and confidence with ICT and a schools level and stage of planning for ICT in curriculum and assessment. The ICT Framework is organised in four inter-related areas of learning with ICT across three levels of progression (lower primary to completion of the Junior Cycle). Key components of the Framework include: Objectives: describing the four aims of the Framework; Learning Outcomes: identifying the knowledge, skills and attitudes which it is expected students will be able to demonstrate for the four objectives; Learning Opportunities: illustrating the kinds of activities students engage in across the learning outcomes at each level; Sample activities: showing how teachers and students are using the ICT Framework in Schools Figure 3.1 provides an example of the linkage and flow between the objectives and outcomes at Level 3, the level seen as appropriate to post-primary institutions such as St Aidans Community School. Figure 3.1: Overview of NCCA ICT Framework Objectives and Outcomes
NCCA ICT Framework Objectives and Outcomes Objective One: Exploring the potential of ICT to create, communicate and collaborate to organise and produce information Learning Outcomes: draft, format and revise text using ICT create, manipulate and insert information in a variety of different formats (images, sound, video) using ICT gather, organise, manipulate and analyse data using ICT
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NCCA (2007) ICT Framework: A Structured Approach to ICT in Curriculum and Assessment
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NCCA ICT Framework Objectives and Outcomes communicate and collaborate locally and globally using ICT plan, design, create and present information using ICT Objective Two: Understanding and applying knowledge of the functions of ICT including safe practice, maintenance and ergonomics Learning Outcomes demonstrate and apply functional knowledge and understanding of ICT develop skills for maintaining and optimising ICT understand and practice healthy and safe uses of ICT Objective Three: Developing a critical appreciation of the role of ICT in society and habits which reflect ethical and responsible use of ICT Learning Outcomes demonstrate understanding and critical awareness of the contribution of ICT to the individual and to our society develop independent and collaborative learning and language skills using ICT demonstrate an awareness of, and comply with, responsible and ethical use of ICT Objective Four: Using ICT for thinking and learning including managing enquiry, assessing information, solving problems and expressing ideas across a range of curriculum areas Learning Outcomes research, access and retrieve information using ICT evaluate, organise, and synthesise information using ICT express creativity and construct new knowledge and artefacts using ICT explore and develop problem-solving strategies using ICT Source: http://www.action.ncca.ie/en/ict-framework/intro
In the Framework, each Learning Outcome has a number of Learning Opportunities, to support teachers in planning upward continuity and progression in students' use of ICT to support learning and assessment. These are essentially short statements of what learning would involve and are seen as flexible rather than prescriptive. The framework was supplemented with the launch of an Action Website (http://www.action.ncca.ie/en/ict-framework/intro) that provides an overview of the Framework as well as providing sample activities showing classroom applications of learning outcomes in the ICT Framework. It should be noted however that even recognising the partial and incomplete nature of the framework for lower secondary level the NCCA ICT Framework does not appear to be known to the teaching staff at St Aidans. Specifically, it was neither referenced nor in any way evident from any of the responses during the Focus Group elements of our research.
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3.2
Key Developments in Education and ICT
We live in a world that is changing rapidly. Digital technology plays a central role in driving this change and much of the impetus behind the digital turn can be attributed to strategic decisions around conceptions of the knowledge economy at national and supra-national level. More than twenty years ago the then US administration initiated a series of initiatives that were visionary in placing education and training at the centre of preparing citizens for future employment through the mastery of digital technologies. This has remained among the top federal policy and funding priorities. Since 1990 alone over $40 billion of public and private investment has been made in US school infrastructure, teacher professional development and technical support (Dickard, 2003).This has facilitated the emergence of a generation of Millennials which is confident and competent in its control of digital technology both in their personal and economic spheres (Pedr 2006). Similarly, an EU-wide approach to address the challenge of improving economy and lifestyle was outlined in the Europe of Knowledge (or Lisbon) Strategy (2000) 18 . However, subsequent progress towards embracing digital technologies by educators, policy-makers and governments was slow and disjointed and far less effective than its US equivalent. This led to a re-evaluation and a re-launch of the original Europe of Knowledge agenda as i2010 (2005) 19 . This was significant for its affirmation of the pivotal role of education in delivering the Europe of Knowledge goals. Education was effectively catapulted to the centre of the debate on securing the digital future. For the first time, EU policymakers and leaders specifically highlighted the role of the classroom teacher in facilitating children to appropriately utilise digital technology as a key element in their preparation for life in the knowledge society. However, where ICT in education is concerned policy and school level practice does not always converge. Key OECD and UNESCO publications confirm the scale of the task remaining and the difficulties in securing progress in this area 20 , and indeed a landmark OECD publication on progress globally towards the knowledge society raised some disquieting questions about cost /benefit, lack of vision, and a lack of purposeful funding of crucial aspects of the project 21 . The global nature of the shift is seen as its most defining aspect and the degree to which governments have underestimated the mutability of school cultures in support of a quintessentially economic repositioning is seen as its major failing to date. It is not surprising therefore that the policy/practice relationship has been a particularly difficult one in Ireland over this past decade. We are, after all, among the most globalised, small, open economies in the world (McCarthy, 2006). Difficulties in integrating ICT into classroom instruction, problems in scheduling enough computer time for classes, and teachers lack of ICT skills and knowledge are widely viewed as significant, unresolved issues (OECD 2004). These issues have also had an impact
18 19 20
http://ec.europa.eu/growthandjobs/index_en.htm http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/index_en.htm
See UNESCO (2005). Towards Knowledge Societies. Paris: UNESCO and OECD (2002). ICT: Policy challenges for education. Paris: OECD. OECD (2004). Are students ready for a technology rich world? What PISA studies tell us, Paris: OECD.
21
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on how we envision and approach ICT in education policy here in Ireland, but they are not the principal difficulty. Irelands key difficulty where schools ICT is concerned has been the problem of finding the funding streams and mechanisms to underwrite plans and intentions in the area. Nevertheless, there has been a certain amount of funded ICT activity in Irish schools since the early 1970s particularly since the arrival of the Apple and BBC microcomputers in the later part of that decade and while the 1980s saw a considerable flurry of ICT activity, this was essentially the work of dedicated, individual teachers who were enthusiastic about the possibilities that they perceived schools' computing could offer. In this they were supported by a handful of DES Inspectors and other officials and a small number of University and College Lecturers who shared this vision and also by like-minded colleagues from across the teaching spectrum who banded together to form self-support groups like the Computer Education Society of Ireland (CESI).
I like the way you can type it all out and do your work and send it to the teachers when youre not in the class Second Year Student More than anything else it was this degree of individual interest and enthusiasm rather than any official policy which drove the development and direction of ICT in Irish schools until the early- to mid-1990s. This started to change with the establishment of the Information Society Commission and the allocation of funding from within the first of the ongoing series of National Development Plans to the ICT dimension of our schools. The key catalyst in all of this, however, was the Schools IT 2000 initiative which radically altered the ICT situation in Irish education. While there was a substantial
25
amount of ICT equipment in the second level schools before the start of the initiative, 22 and evidence suggests that these schools had been acquiring computers at an increasing rate even before the initiative, the increase in the number of PCs in second level schools may have been as high as threefold between 1988 and 1998 23 . In particular, the gap between the best and least equipped schools narrowed during the year from April 1998 to May 1999, suggesting that the least ICT engaged schools had started to develop their ICT facilities. There was also a considerable change in the level of Internet access over the same period. Fewer than half the sample schools had internet access in 1998; by 1999 all had internet access. In addition one third had networked access as opposed to a single machine link-up. By comparison, primary schools were much more poorly equipped at the start of the Schools IT 2000 initiative than their second level counterparts. The Telecom Eireann survey of 1998 suggests that as many as one in five primary schools had no computers at all. The transformation which accompanied Schools IT 2000 is all the more striking then: between April 1998 and May 1999 the number of computers more than doubled in many primary schools. For instance, in a sample of schools used by Mulkeen (2004) to benchmark his national study, the average number of computers per school moved from 3.3 to 8.2 per school. This brought the pupil: computer ratio from 1:46 to 1:16 across the sample and most notably, the primary schools having no computers in 1998 all reached pupil to computers ratios of less than 1:24 by May 1999. Since IT 2000 there has been a pattern of NCTE-led or NCTE-supported development in the schools ICT area, including: DES/NCTE has continued to date to find interesting and valuable ways to support the piloting and development of innovative ICT activity. This would include, for example: the Discover Sensors project (a joint venture with Discover Science and Engineering); the Empowering Minds project (a joint venture with St Patricks College Drumcondra); the Dissolving Boundaries project (in many ways a showcase of both north/south cooperation and smart technology usage; the Fis initiative (a joint venture with IADT which now reaches out to primary schools nationwide), the FN Project (2007-09; a joint venture with the NCCA and Foras na Gaeilge) and most pertinently, perhaps the funding annually of up to 11,000 teacher places on ICT related continuing professional development programmes. Local and regional Broadband initiatives have been supported mostly through the Department for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, and inter-departmental committee work led by officials of the DES (in particular, the ICT Policy Unit); Scoilnet.ie (DES education portal, managed by NCTE, containing over 10,000 curriculum specific resources for teachers in the Irish system);
However, as Mulkeen (2004) notes there is little definitive data to support this view although separate studies based on samples of the school population show a consistent and increasing number of computers per school.; cf. BSTAI 1988, ITIP 1995.
23
22
Mulkeen (2004), p.2.
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Small-scale but important initiatives have been struck up between the NCTE and media providers such as RTE which have resulted in some useful schools ICT resources such as the Sci Spy resource pack, the Ways of Knowing DVD and the I Am An Artist resources; An annual, national level Computers in Education Society of Ireland conference has been supported by the NCTE to the extent that funding allows. In this way, the NCTE and the DES have contributed to a history of innovation and success where the use of ICT in our schools is concerned. Individual beacons of excellence have regularly emerged to do interesting educational work through technology. Examples of this would include Spin A Web winners from the 1990s, several of the Schools Integration Projects (SIPs) that ran between 1999 to 2001 or thereabouts. Additionally, there are award winning schools dotted around the country which have gained recognition under EU schemes such as eTwinning 24 , via Cable& Wireless awards 25 , or indeed national schemes such as the Formula 1 Challenge, Ireland 26 . Ireland also hosts one of only twelve Microsoft Schools of the Future worldwide 27 . This is the de facto situation within which the CONNECT School project was conceived and has had to operate. Two issues in particular deserve note here: the role expected of the teacher in leading and responding to change; and the role of the State in pursuing an ever-shifting, knowledge economy agenda. The CONNECT School project is interesting for how it reflects deep engagement with both issues in a localised and successful manner.
3.3
Comparable Irish Initiatives to CONNECT Initiative
There are no ICT initiatives in this country which are directly comparable to the CONNECT School project. However, there are a number of features of recent and/or ongoing schools ICT initiatives which offer some opportunity usefully to compare and contrast approach, content and impact with the CONNECT School project. Two in particular are outlined here: Microsoft School of the Future, Dunshaughlin Community College, Co Meath; and The Dell Coliste Chiarin, Technology-for-All Programme, Croom, Co Limerick.
Microsoft School of the Future, Dunshaughlin Community College, Co Meath The Microsoft School of the Future, Dunshaughlin Community College (DCC) is a 1,000 pupils and 77 teachers school in Co Meath. It is one of the original twelve schools worldwide selected for funding by Microsoft as a School of the Future. Every classroom in the school is equipped with at least one PC and a data projector and the teachers use this technology in numerous, creative ways. The school has over 200 networked PCs, wireless connectivity through the school, and three dedicated computer rooms as well as a
24 25 26 27
See http://blog.teachnet.ie/?p=855 See http://www.thinkquest.org/pls/html/think.site?p_site_id=C002926 See http://www.f1inschools.ie/public/index.html See http://microsoftireland.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!1024FF975ACC773B!212.entry
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work room for teachers. DCC shares the services of a full-time technician with two other schools to support its ICT infrastructure. Every student and member of staff has a unique email address and students get access to PCs at least once a week. In addition, 97 percent of first year students have a PC at home. At DCC, students can view their academic results and performance reports online using their personal password; they can e-mail their homework to a teacher and receive corrections by return e-mail; and they can present their class work and projects on-screen to their classmates. The school receives a range of supports from Microsoft Ireland including the right to install and use numerous software products. Its network is based around SharePoint VLE running as part of the Microsoft Windows Server family of products. This enables Dunshaughlin to provide a range of innovative information services that are said to have streamlined the running of the school for all partners; staff, students and parents. The software and services have been provided free of charge under Microsoft Irelands Partner Schools Programme. The Partner Schools Programme is part of Microsofts wider Partners in Learning Programme (PiL), which aims to empower schools to raise the level of ICT literacy among their staff and to support partner schools in developing an internal culture of innovation and lifelong learning. In addition to the provision of software at a significantly reduced cost, the programme also aims to facilitate the use of refurbished PCs in schools and focuses on the provision of teacher training, through the Innovative Teachers initiative. DCC offers the full range of Leaving Certificate programmes to its pupils as well as a selection of adult education classes to the wider community. The School of the Future model centres on Microsoft working with partners to use research-inspired learning principles and best-in-class technology, integrated and adapted for local community needs. The Innovative Schools Programme is a two-year commitment from Microsoft to partner with a school and its teachers in order to establish a sustainable foundation for ongoing advances in education and learning. Microsoft sees itself as providing guidance and expertise in the process of holistic school reform and offering a roadmap for technology integration that can help accomplish local education objectives. The programme has been developed out of collaborations with Singapores BackPack.Net Technology programme, the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme in the UK, and School of the Future projects in Philadelphia and Taipeis Zhong Lun High School, as well as Microsofts Partners in Learning initiative implemented in 101 countries around the world. As part of the School of the Future programme DCC has been assigned John West-Burnham, a UK-based writer and consultant in leadership development as its educational mentor. DCC teachers have ICT objectives they are expected to meet each year in order to improve the quality of learning. Additionally, the school does its own research every year to learn from their work. The continuing support and professional development of its teachers and the generation for the Irish curriculum of suitable learning resources that can take full advantage of the possibilities of new learning methodologies is seen by DCC as its major challenges within the Schools of the Future framework. See the School website: http://www.duncc.ie/
The Dell Coliste Chiarin, Technology-for-All Programme

The stated focus of the project is to enrich the learning of the students through the experience of placing technology at the centre of all aspects of school life. However, ICT training is also provided for the parents and extended families of the students. The new programme builds on the preceding Dell Coliste Chiarin e-Learning Notebook Initiative which,
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since 2001, has seen Dell donate over 130 notebook computers for student use at the school. Dell has also equipped the school with extensive wireless capability and provided server technology for the development of a unique management software. Additionally, the company provided notebook computers to all teachers on staff and assisted in piloting the use of handheld PDAs to assist management mobility. To complement the Dell donation, a special Dell discounted purchasing scheme was established for the school and for parents of incoming pupils. Using this scheme, the school and the parents have contributed additional funds to the project and helped ensure that every student has his or her own dedicated notebook computer for use in the classroom and at home. Coliste Chiarin runs a network of 800 desktops and laptops for roughly the same number of students and a staff of about 70. The school fully embraces new technology. Current practice includes using YouTube to access video clips and bring lessons to life, while science teachers film lab experiments so students can watch them later on their laptops for revision. Technical support comes from Dell, while the school pays for its own IT technician to maintain all 800 computers. The Dell Coliste Chiarin, Technology-for-All Programme attracts no Government funding. Along with technical support and special pricing plans from Dell, it relies on fundraising from parents and the school itself. Last year, Coliste Chiarin also established a formal link with a US school, Spring-Ford Senior High School, in Limerick, Pennsylvania. This will involve the further development of the technological partnership with Dell and is expected to include a reciprocal student exchange. The school population has grown from 86 students in 1999 to over 800 students in 2008. The school runs its own YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/cchiarain and maintains an active website and VLE; http://www.cco.ie/
3.4
Comparable International Initiatives to CONNECT Initiative
There are a number of interesting and broadly comparable international initiatives and presented below are two such international examples of comparable laptop roll out projects for second level students from Australia and the US, as follows: Digital Education Revolution, NSW, Australia; and New York Middle School Apple Science Laptop Study, US. Digital Education Revolution, Australia
The NSW Department of Education and Training policy on Digital Education Revolution-NSW enables the provision (by June 2012) of a wireless-enabled specialist educational laptop, connected within the school via managed wireless infrastructure, to every student in years 9 to 12. The project began rollout this year (2009). At the core of the policy are four key principles: The aim of the program is to contribute sustainable and meaningful change to teaching and learning in NSW schools that will engage students in rigorous and stimulating programs of learning and prepare them for success in the 21st century. The student has sole use of the laptop and therefore becomes accountable for it. Ownership of laptops will be formally transferred to students who have completed year 12.
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Digital Education Revolution, Australia

Student use of laptops will be governed by school developed policies and processes directed at encouraging responsible learning and based on the Digital Education Revolution-NSW Policy and Procedures. More than 200,000 devices will be distributed to NSW government school students over the life of this $386 million program. The NSW programme is part of the wider $2.2 billion overall investment in the DER provided by the Australian Government to: provide for new information and communication technology (ICT) equipment for all secondary schools with students in years 9 to 12 through the National Secondary School Computer Fund support the deployment of high speed broadband connections to Australian schools collaborate with states and territories and Deans of Education to ensure new and continuing teachers have access to training in the use of ICT that enables them to enrich student learning provide for online curriculum tools and resources that support the national curriculum and specialist subjects such as languages enable parents to participate in their childs education through online learning and access support mechanisms to provide vital assistance for schools in the deployment of ICT. The other elements of the initiative include: $32.6 million over two years to supply students and teachers across Australia with online curriculum tools and resources to support the national curriculum, and conferencing facilities for specialist subjects such as languages. Working with States and Territories and the Deans of Education to ensure that new and continuing teachers have access to training in the use of ICT that enables them to enrich student learning. The development of online learning and access which will enable parents to participate in their childs education. $10 million over three years to develop support mechanisms to provide vital assistance for schools in the deployment of ICT provided through the National Secondary School Computer Fund. Programme Roll-out and Key Actors: Regional Directors are responsible for leading the implementation of the program in their regions and the collection of information to inform the Deputy Director General Schools regarding the implementation of the Digital Education Revolution-NSW Policy and Implementation Procedures in their regions. School Education Directors are responsible for the monitoring of the implementation of Digital Education Revolution-NSW Policy and Implementation Procedures in their networks. School Principals are responsible for the implementation of Digital Education Revolution-NSW Policy and Implementation Procedures in their schools. Principals are responsible for establishing good management and accountability practices for the laptops allocated to the school. Head Teachers are responsible for supporting the implementation of Digital Education Revolution-NSW Policy and Implementation Procedures into their area of responsibility. Teachers are responsible for Quality Teaching in their classrooms enhanced by the Digital Education Revolution-NSW Program.
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Digital Education Revolution, Australia

Students are responsible for the care of their laptops, for using them appropriately to enhance their learning and saving their work securely. See www.digitaleducationrevolution.gov.au and www.http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/gotoschool/highschool/dernsw/index.php
New York Middle School Apple Science Laptop Study

The Science Laptop Study was conducted by two researchers, Patrick Yerrick and Joseph Johnson, based in the State University of New York. Researchers sought to examine the effects of introducing laptops (MacBooks) and other science technology tools (including Probeware, The ProscopeHR, iPhoto, Macbooks, Datastudio software, Garageband, and other tools) into the science classroom. The researchers wanted to examine: Which educational technology do students perceive as helpful in learning science? How do students see themselves as learners in juxtaposition to the technology they are using? To what degree do students perceive that their needs are met as learners by addressing their individual styles of learning through the use of technology? This study was conducted at a suburban middle school located in the State of New York. This school was selected for the study because of its involvement with ongoing teacher education, the strength and experience of its teachers, and the fact that there was little planning for technology integration. This gave rise to the opportunity to invite teachers into the study but be able to monitor precisely how laptops were used in science instruction. Teachers within the middle school have relatively little access to classroom technology for their classrooms as there was one PC on every teacher's desk and an outdated PC laboratory with fewer than two dozen machines for over four hundred students. Those teachers who self-selected out of the study allowed for a quasi-control group for students who did and who did not have access to technology. This context also provided an excellent opportunity to gather data regarding this implementation from the students perspective contrasted with past experiences learning science without technology in the classroom. Fifteen MacBooks were provided to two of the teachers of the study along with a complete station of probeware and software for each. For the 2007/08 academic year the middle school offered the opportunity for teachers to learn the tools, associated pedagogical strategies, and curriculum throughout the year as student engagement, achievement, and perceptions were studied in collaboration with the local university. Working together with University at Buffalo faculty, science teachers wrote and aligned curricula, explored science education literature, tested lessons with summer school students, and prepared evaluation measures for their 2007/08 implementation of laptops, probeware, and a host of other scientific hardware and software. Student Perceptions: Over four hundred students were surveyed for their use of technology at home and in class, for their selfassessed learning style, and for their observation of teaching styles. To supplement field notes and
31

interviews with teachers, students were interviewed in individual debriefing interviews and focus groups were also conducted. Of the students surveyed, less than 15 per cent identified themselves as logical-mathematical or verballinguistic kinds of learners. This is significant in that traditional science instruction using lectures, notes, and textbooks will meet only a small percentage of students surveyed. More than 40 per cent identified themselves as either visual or kinesthetic learners, who could be left out where the traditional teaching approaches are utilised. In general, students felt that technology helped facilitate their learning in ways that they had not experienced in previous years, and that the technology helped meet their individual needs. In terms of how the students felt teachers were "preparing them for the future", 70 per cent of the science students reported that the teachers using MacBooks in the classroom were preparing them for the future while only 38 per cent of students of other science teachers at the middle school thought they were being prepared. There was a disparity between the kinds of tools and resources middle school science students used outside the classroom versus in the class. When teachers in this project changed their routines, students noticed. Students in the project science classrooms were twice as likely to report that their teachers incorporated enough technology in their teaching. In addition, a significantly greater number of students strongly agreed that their teacher used methods that matched my learning style and used a good balance of teaching strategies during science instruction. More than 80 per cent of the students were satisfied or very satisfied with the choice of technology tools teachers chose to integrate in their lessons. During student interviews, without prompting, each student mentioned lessons featuring educational technology as both their favourite lesson and the lesson they felt was most effective. Students identified the value of the technological tools recognising that they inherently allow important repetition and activation of visual learning styles. While there were many other, non-technologically enhanced labs throughout the school year, students identified the technology specifically and without prompting. While labs may have been done without technology, the students recognised that the technology improved their ability to learn. No students reported technology to be a hindrance to their learning and none mentioned any difficulties in learning or implementing technology. Learning and using the new equipment was never viewed as a hindrance to learning, but rather was viewed as an opportunity. Students collaborated to teach and learn the technology, without interfering in their learning. The collaboration, developed through the science class, allowed the students to act as experts. The full report, from where these abstracts are taken is available from Academic Intersections, No. 3: April 2009. Academic Intersections is an on-line peer reviewed journal publishing accounts of research or creative works that embrace multimedia as a fundamental aspect of higher education in the 21st century. Source: Yerrick, P. and Johnson, J.; Science Laptop Study: How Laptops, Probeware, and Digital Media Transformed Middle School Science Students' Learning, Academic Intersections, No. 3: April 2009
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retrieved from http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=19075 October 2009.
3.5
Concluding Comments
The CONNECT School project is one of four complementary interventions which form part of the overall CONNECT initiative in South Dublin County Council. These interventions are being implemented in South Dublin to achieve a vision where everyone in the County uses the internet as an everyday tool to improve their quality of life. The School Project is based at St Aidans Post Primary School which serves the communities of Brookfield and Fettercairn in West Tallaght. These are disadvantaged areas which make up one of four designated RAPID areas on South Dublin. Moreover, the age profile of these areas is markedly younger than elsewhere in South Dublin and difficulties have been encountered vis--vis educational retention as demonstrated by the 28 per cent of the population who ceased education prior to the age of 16 (compared to 17 per cent in both South Dublin and the State as a whole). However, the background against which the CONNECT School Project was conceived and operates is quite multi-faceted. On the one hand, the importance of developing ICT in education and responding to the opportunities provided by the introduction of ICT has been recognised by Government since the mid-1990s and a firm basis for the development of ICT within the education system was articulated in the first dedicated policy document on ICT in education (Schools IT 2000, 1997). The vision set out in public policy has been reinforced with significant current and capital expenditure under successive NDPs. Indeed, at the time of writing it is estimated that total expenditure in this field is nearing 200m. However, the practical reality of ICT in education within individual schools is one of mixed results with variable experiences that can depend on accidents of interest among teachers and others with an enthusiasm for ICT in schools. Nevertheless, there are many instances of ambitious and successful innovation across the Irish educational landscape whereby individual beacons of excellence have emerged to do interesting and educational work with technology. It is the view of the authors that the CONNECT School Project is one such beacon and the following section shall endeavour to set out an overview of the key milestones in the roll-out of this project.
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4 REVIEW OF KEY MILESTONES

4.1 Introduction
This section provides the reader with a succinct overview of the roll-out of the CONNECT School Project by means of a diagrammatic representation of key milestones since the establishment of the Steering Committee in early 2006 through to the commencement of Linux trials during the academic year 2008/09. Moreover, the principal recommendations arising from the original internal review of the CONNECT School Project are summarised here alongside a brief discussion of progress made vis-vis each recommendation.
4.2
Overview of Developments
Although formally launched by the then Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin TD in April 2007, the CONNECT School project had a 12-month plus lead-in period. During this twelve month lead in time a number of tasks were undertaken. Firstly the laptops were rolled out to teachers in May 2006 followed by the employment of an eChampion in August 2006. The first year of the project began in September 2006 with the formal launch of the project coming seven months later. During the lead-in period, a significant body of planning and related-work was undertaken by the various Project Partners. This included the establishment of key structures and procedures, reviewing the available skills sets and putting in place the necessary capital infrastructure. Over the intervening period, the project has been rolled-out to approximately 300 students including three consecutive intakes of First Year students 28 . In addition to this 5th and 6th Year students participating in the Access to College Education (ACE) programme also participate in the CONNECT project. Moreover, the functionality and reach of the project has continued to expand with the introduction of new applications and programmes such as Google Apps and literacy classes. The ambition and success of this project has been recognised by honours such as the Open Source Project of the Year Award and the Excellence in Local Government Award in addition to continuing interest from the national media. Finally, Linux trials commenced during the academic year 2008/09 and by mid-2009 it had been agreed by all stakeholders that Linux would be introduced into the CONNECT School project alongside a new e-Portal at the commencement of the forthcoming academic year.
28
2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10
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Figure 4.1 CONNECT School Timeline, 2006 to 2009
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4.3
CONNECT Review 2006/07: Implementing Recommendations
The initiative was the subject of a comprehensive internal review for the academic year 2006/07 (known as the first review). This review set out 28 recommendations addressing a wide range of topics including the need for more collaborative learning, the need to discuss goals and objectives with students, teachers and the community and the need to collate these recommendations into an agreed Action Plan. In line with the latter recommendation, an Action Plan was instituted for the academic year 2007/08 in order to allow the Project Partners to track progress over time. By late-2008, this Action Plan was set aside as it was deemed that approximately 80 per cent of the issues contained therein had been actioned. At the time of writing, a revised Action Plan was being developed drawing upon the midterm review for the academic year 2008/09. It is envisaged that this plan will also incorporate learning arising from this evaluation. Figure 4.2 sets out a summary of the aforementioned 28 recommendations underpinning the original Action Plan and a note as to the degree of implementation achieved to date (i.e. full or partial). At the time of writing, it was believed that 21 (or 75 per cent) of these recommendations had been fully implemented whilst the remaining seven recommendations had been partially implemented. Indeed, it is the view of the authors that there is evidence of substantial progress having been made vis--vis the recommendations made in the 2006/07 review. For instance, recommendation # 25 the Evaluation Framework should incorporate assessment of the differing learning experiences of both students with laptops and those without was a central requirement of the Terms of Reference for this evaluation and is addressed in later sections of this report. However, although recommendation # 19 was implemented the Core Group should receive further training in the interactive resources on the VLE and support/develop their usage among all teachers, along with the eChampion and further training was provided, this does not appear to have been sufficient given that teachers do not appear to fully utilize the interactive capabilities of the VLE (see Section 6).
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Figure 4.2: Implementation of Recommendations Recommendation The school should install data points in the 3 Art Rooms, 2 Home Economics Rooms, and 4 Lecture Rooms where they are currently missing to ensure Wireless connectivity in these rooms and network cabling should be terminated at the 4 Comms Rooms. SDCC monitor the performance of the Wireless Network and track it on an ongoing basis throughout the school. The bandwidth is extended to 8Mb by the NCTE. This is required before any extended roll-out beyond the current phase can be considered. The teachers laptops to be recalled and have a secure common build, with limited usage status (i.e. not administrator), and standard software suite installed. Redundancy and replacement policy for laptops to be developed and implemented. Policy for return of teachers laptops and provision for new teachers to be developed and implemented. In future only tall Lapcabbys holding 16 laptops should be used for storing and transporting laptops in the school. There are insufficient electrical points in the Strongroom which has led to frequent tripping and consequentially laptops not being sufficiently charged for the school day. More sockets to be installed in the Strongroom. This is a requirement for any future extension of the project roll-out. The logistics of the daily laptop roll-out should be redesigned by the school and should include consideration of either creating a new Strongroom on the First Floor or moving the tutorials to classrooms on the ground floor. Has this been implemented before the FGS review commenced? Yes
2 3 4 5 6 7
Yes Yes Partially Yes Partially Yes
Yes
Yes
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Recommendation Software to synchronize the displays on student laptops with the projector to be installed to facilitate the development of greater student collaboration in a new learning environment. The Core Group should receive further advanced training and have arranged time to plan and prepare for their training of the Middle Skills Group. The Core Group are developing an invaluable leadership role in the development of the initiative as a whole within the school. A schedule of workshops should be arranged for 2007/08 to provide specific time to plan for developments and communicate and establish buy-in of the vision. The eChampion should not be responsible for the supervision of the Connect Reps but they do require supervision in distributing the Lapcabbys and laptops and returning them. The Role should also be formalised and if suitable linked with the role of class captain. Moodle Administration should be a rotating team responsibility for the first line of contact and coordinated by the eChampion. Current areas of work inappropriate to the role of eChampion should be reallocated across the school by the school management and the eChampion role should focus more on teacher training and support, developing community and parental links and networking with other initiatives and developments. The membership and Terms of Reference of the Steering Group should be reviewed and formalised in the 2007/08 period. A calendar of meeting dates for the coming school year should be agreed. The approach of establishing sub-groups to address specific issues or carry out specific pieces of work is considered to be very successful and should be continued when necessary. All interactive material developed and/or used in the classroom is required to be linked to the VLE.
Has this been implemented before the FGS review commenced? Partially Yes
10 11
12
Partially
13
Yes
14
Yes
15
Yes
16
Yes
17
Yes 38
Recommendation The Core Group should agree a standard course structure and naming conventions and ensure its implementation on a consistent basis. This is a requirement for the ongoing development of the project. The Core Group should receive further training in the interactive resources on the VLE and support and develop their usage among all teachers, along with the eChampion. A further dedicated online support facility should be investigated and established for teachers use. All students should be enrolled in every subject they study as a priority. Teachers who find difficulty in applying interactive learning technologies to the teaching of their subjects should seek additional support and training in how technology could be applied from the Core Group and eChampion. There is also an excellent programme of subject specific training available through the Dublin West Education Centre from which all feedback has been very positive. The VLE should be used for all school information and notifications and integrated with school planning administration and communications. It would be very beneficial for the administrative staff to be given specific training in using the available tools on the VLE and supported to use them. Classwork using the VLE and ICT should incorporate more collaborative work either in pairs or small groups to aid their communication and problem solving skills. The Evaluation Framework should incorporate assessment of the differing learning experiences of both students with laptops and those without and thereby be inclusive of all students whether directly in receipt of the laptops or not. There should be a review of the possibility of students (or a pilot number of them) taking the laptops home to truly benefit from the potential of ICT in their learning both in school and home work.
Has this been implemented before the FGS review commenced? Partially Yes Yes Yes
18 19 20 21
22
Partially
23
Yes
24
Partially
25
Yes
26
Yes 39
Recommendation More efforts should be made to promote and discuss the project goals and objectives with teachers, students and parents. The recommendations identified throughout this Review should be considered and prioritised into an agreed Action Plan by all partners for implementation in the coming year. Issues identified as Required need to be in place before any extended roll-out beyond last years First Years can be planned.
Has this been implemented before the FGS review commenced? Yes
27
28
Yes
40
4.4
Concluding Comments
Although formally launched by the then Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin TD in April 2007, a number of key actions underpinning the CONNECT School Project were completed during the 12 months prior to the launch. During this time, a significant body of planning and related-work was undertaken by the various Project Partners. This included the establishment of key structures and procedures, reviewing the available skills sets and putting in place the necessary capital infrastructure. Over the intervening period, the project has been rolled-out to approximately 300 students including three consecutive intakes of 1st Year students 29 and 5th and 6th Year students participating in the ACE programme. Moreover, the functionality and reach of the project has continued to expand with the introduction of new applications and programmes such as Google Apps, Numeracy Workout and literacy classes. The ambition and success of this project has been recognised by honours such as the Open Source Project of the Year Award and the Excellence in Local Government Award in addition to garnering continuing interest from the national media. The Project Partners have instituted an ongoing programme of internal reviews and the CONNECT School Project had been subject to two such reviews prior to this evaluation. As part of that process, the recommendations flowing from each review are incorporated into an Action Plan against which progress is tracked over time. With regard to the first review, it is the view of the authors that substantial progress has been made in ensuring that each recommendation has been addressed. The following section sets out an overview of the impacts and effectiveness of the CONNECT School Project.
29
2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10
41
it is used a lot in the school to help with research and extra information. Some of the teachers use the projectors for pictures to help us understand what we are talking about or we have some websites to go onto to help. Senior Student
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5
5.1
LEARNING IMPACTS AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

Introduction
The overarching vision of the CONNECT initiative is to create a platform for improving quality of life and access to opportunities for the communities of South Dublin vis--vis a series of diverse and complementary interventions including the CONNECT School at St Aidans Community School. These interventions are grounded in a pro-social philosophy which seeks to target the root causes of antisocial behaviour and to enhance community engagement by means of an innovative, technologycentred approach. The CONNECT initiative seeks to harness the power of community via a virtual model of participation and engagement in order to improve quality of life in South Dublin across a variety of spheres. These include improved educational participation and attainment in addition to the realisation of safer communities and the delivery of enhanced economic competitiveness. Ultimately, the initiative will enable communities to move up the economic value chain and to attract investment from the industries of the future.
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We can source material and we can find what is relevant and we can put it on Moodle and create really good pages and repositories of information Teacher
To this end, the CONNECT School seeks to contribute to this vision by means of reaching out to citizens including students and their families. It has done by providing technologies and supports to St Aidans Community School not available to the vast majority of schools throughout the State. In doing so, the CONNECT School confers an opportunity of access to both hardware and software including laptops, projectors and advanced learning tools upon the students and teachers of St Aidans Community School. Consequently, the primary objective of this section is to examine the impacts and effectiveness of these supports in terms of student engagement and learning outcomes and the impact of the CONNECT School upon the broader community of Brookfield.
5.2
Interface between the VLE and the School Learning Environment
At the outset, it is important to understand that the CONNECT School has had a beneficial impact upon the real school environment of St Aidan's Community School (i.e. teaching and learning within a classroom setting). Specifically, the efforts of the various Project Partners including South Dublin County Council and the management and staff of St Aidans Community School have seen substantial progress made towards the development of a new model of 21st Century education which harnesses the power of ICT hardware and software to the needs of the school environment. This progress is characterised by the development of student-centred technology and the growth of an innovative learning culture which seeks to improve school attendance, participation in class and educational outcomes for the students. To this end, the traditional classroom has been supplemented with a range of supports which facilitate teaching and learning. These include the provision of high-quality internet access and the development of a growing Virtual Learning Environment (or VLE) for use by both students and teachers and allowing all parties to access a world of information. These supports allow both teachers and students to avail of an ever expanding range of on-line learning-support materials and data sources such as audio-visual materials, primary source material and so forth. An example of the screens facing users of the VLE is shown in Figure 5.1. Note that this view will change depending on whether one is logged in as a student, teacher or administrator.
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Figure 5.1: View of VLE in St Aidans Community School
Virtual Learning Environment
45
In seeking to further integrate learning with ICT the CONNECT project is not just providing new and innovative ways of delivering the curriculum but is supporting the development of the digital literacy skills required in the 21st Century (i.e. data collection and interrogation). The requirement for the development of digital literacy skills is in line with the recent All-Island Skills Study (EGSFN, 2008) which noted, there is now a greater emphasis upon those generic skills which are the hallmark of a flexible and responsive workforce including literacy, numeracy and the use of ICT. Moreover, the changing nature of the modern workplace and the associated skills requirements means that it has become ever more important for employees to acquire a range of generic and transferable skills and attitudes (EGFSN, 2007). To this end, the aforementioned report concluded that certain skills have become essential to any generic skills portfolio (see Table 5.1). Table 5.1: Key Generic Skills
Generic Skills Literacy Fundamental Skills Numeracy ICT Literacy Inter-personal Skills Communication Team-working Collecting Information Conceptual Skills Organising Information Learning-to-learn Innovation
Source: EGSFN, 2007
Skill Types
Indeed, emerging thought within the international research community emphasises the need for initiatives such as CONNECT. For instance, Burger (LILAC, 2009) has outlined the importance of information literacy in the 21st Century and the need to adhere to certain key principles such as making learning fun and investing in technology. Moreover, Highton (University of Oxford) has similarly emphasised the need for greater e-literacy: learners need to acquire an increasingly complex range of skills for effective lifelong learning, including information literacy and e-learning skills an urgent need for higher e-literacy skills among a generation for whom access and interaction are taken for granted Figure 5.2 provides a useful template around the various strands of literacy in the 21st Century and many of the themes presented here (i.e. adaptability, improved technological literacy) are key strengths of CONNECT in St Aidans Community School.
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Figure 5.2: What does it mean to learn in the 21st Century?
Source: enGuage; The NCREL / Meteri Report
The enGauge schemata outlined above is one of many such articulations of the task that is now seen to face schools in tooling-up to provide the type of education increasingly viewed as necessary for survival and effective citizenship in the years to come. These almost invariably are described in terms such as 21st century skills or core life skills. The learning and teaching concepts embedded in such presentations are essentially aspirational at present. What is needed in this country and elsewhere is the systematic, real-world working through of the challenges and opportunities that taking an education system in this direction will involve. The CONNECT School project has taken up this challenge in Ireland and started the process of linking life-skills to the student experience in a meaningful, multi-agency context. Through use of the VLE St Aidans Community School has opened up new possibilities for the use of interactive lessons, on-line quizzes and advanced learning supports including software such as Numeracy Workout. Moreover, these opportunities are underpinned by the provision of Data Projectors in every classroom and the provision of a laptop to more than half of all students (300 plus at the time of writing) and to all teachers.
5.3
Review of the VLE Usage Statistics
As part of the aforementioned interface between the virtual and real school learning environments, the Virtual Learning Environment (or VLE) is embedded within the school at many levels enabling
47
teachers to develop and share lessons, ideas and teaching materials and allowing students to access said material in addition to providing access to data gathering and organising opportunities, both from the classroom and the home. The VLE is a key portal for the CONNECT Initiative in St Aidans Community School which allows the digital literacy of both students and teachers to evolve and deepen over time. To this end, the MidTerm Review of the CONNECT School Project (2007/08) found that the VLE and the laptop work in tandem as core features in the creation of the student centred-technology and that the VLE provides a consistent learning experience and that its value will develop exponentially as the resources and activities develop within it.
Id have some students that would access notes and that would come back to me and say Are you putting stuff up? - Teacher VLE Usage Consequently, measures such as VLE log-ins and views provide important performance metrics around the usage of the VLE. In the first instance, the volume of VLE log-ins indicates a broadly upward trend in the level of usage over time. Over the 24-month period commencing April-2007, a cumulative total of 31,885 log-ins were recorded including 3,337 unique log-ins 30 .
30
Refers to individual students or teachers who have accessed the VLE
48
With regard to the latter figure, 51 per cent of these log-ins (n=1,693) were recorded during the academic year 2008/09 31 with 35 per cent (n=1,178) recorded during the previous academic year 32 . This equates to a rise of 44 per cent indicating an increase in usage over time. Interestingly, this is corroborated by the fact that the volume of log-ins recorded during the final quarter 2008 (689) was 56 per cent higher than for the comparable period in 2007 (441). Figure 5.3 provides an overview of log-ins for the period September 2008 and April 2009 (the most recent available data) and this indicates a propensity for the highest usage to occur between October and December and January and April, an understandable trend which reflects the academic year and holiday periods. Indeed, the interviews and analysis undertaken at the outset of this evaluation did indicate that there is a widespread perception amongst stakeholders including School Management, Teachers, the eChampion and members of the Steering Group that usage amongst students tends to fall over the course of each academic year. However, the usage statistics for the academic year 2008/09 indicate that usage is broadly comparable to the phases of the school year. In this regard, higher levels of usage were recorded during busy school times such as September to late December and late January to early March.
31 32
September 2008 to April 2009 (latest date at which data was extracted) For comparative purposes, this was taken as September to April
49
Figure 5.3: VLE Log-ins, Academic Year 2008/09
3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 Sep-08 Oct-08 Nov-08 Dec-08 Jan-09 Feb-09 Mar-09 Apr-09
Source: St Aidans Community School CONNECT VLE
Similar trends can also be seen with regard to VLE views and posts (see Figures 5.4 and 5.5). With regard to the former, approximately 66,000 views were recorded between September 2008 and May 2009. These included 25,616 (or 39 per cent) views by students. The balance consisted of views by views by members of the teaching staff (35 per cent) and views by the Administrator (25 per cent). The significant proportion of views attributed to Administrator arises as there are 12 administrative users in total (including 6 Core Group members). In the case of posts a total of almost 10,000 were recorded over the same period. The teaching staff accounted for almost half of these followed by Administrator (33 per cent) and students (19 per cent). Interestingly, the trend in the distribution of posts differs slightly from that pertaining to log-ins and views in that significantly more posts occurred between September and December than between January and May. Interestingly, the cumulative body of teaching and learning material placed on the VLE (or posts) is increasing over time, perhaps reflecting a greater willingness and/or capacity for teachers to avail of this function. For instance, the number of posts during the academic year 2008/09 was more than 10 per cent higher than for the previous year (n=8,900). Indeed, the authors also recognize that as teachers become more comfortable with ICT whether due to improved training or a greater willingness to engage the project will advance towards a critical mass of online teaching and assessment materials. In other words, over time it will become
50
easier for teachers to access material already developed by colleagues and to re-use and improve past material (regardless of the originator). Figure 5.4: VLE Views, Academic Year 2008/09
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0 Sep-08 Oct-08 Nov-08 Dec-08 Jan-09 Feb-09 Mar-09 Apr-09 May-09
Figure 5.5: VLE Posts, Academic Year 2008/09

3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0 Sep-08 Oct-08 Nov-08 Dec-08 Jan-09 Feb-09 Mar-09 Apr-09 May-09
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VLE and Student Assessment The capacity to view or post material on the VLE is not the entire picture. One key element of the functionality underpinning the VLE is the interactive nature of the platform. This includes the capacity for teachers to conduct online student assessments through the VLE rather than the traditional paperbased testing. The interactive nature of the assessment works at three levels. Firstly, the Moodle Grading System enables teachers to track student progress and record test results based upon interactive testing through the VLE and non-interactive in-class tests (i.e. off-line assignments). Secondly, teachers can develop and deliver interactive tests and in a number of cases teachers have done so using applications such as Hot Potatoes. This application enables teachers to create their own interactive tests and quizzes and these, in turn, can be easily uploaded to Moodle. However, applications such as Hot Potatoes are not used extensively by the teaching staff at St Aidans Community School at the time of writing. Thirdly, St Aidans Community School has invested in software which provides interactive testing options and which can be uploaded to Moodle. For instance, Numeracy Workout was introduced in the academic year 2008/09 and it is planned to introduce similar software packages as and when these become available across other subject groups. However, these options are not currently integrated into the Moodle Grading System. In addition to the obvious benefits associated with allowing teachers to monitor trends in student performance and so forth, these forms of student assessment also confer benefits to students by means of allowing them to work and re-work problems. Indeed, during the course of the Focus Groups undertaken by the authors, a number of teachers working with weaker streams within St Aidans Community School expressed the view that software such as Numeracy Workout provided a positive and private learning experience for students which contrasted favourably with the experience of more open examination processes. However, the available statistics drawn from the most recent Teacher Online Survey (see Section 5.6) indicate that the take-up of this option is relatively low. For instance, 4.4 per cent of respondents indicated that they used the VLE to conduct online assessment either occasionally or very often whilst 71.7 per cent never use this option. Nevertheless, in interpreting these responses it is important to take cognisance of the following considerations: Certain subjects (i.e. content-heavy areas such as mathematics, chemistry, etc) will lend themselves more easily than others to interactive testing through the VLE. The value of interactive testing may fall as students approach the State examinations (i.e. those in 3rd and 6th Year) due to the perceived need to focus upon answering mock (or past) questions in the standard format.
52
Some teachers will be further along the ICT-learning curve than others and so the propensity to use newer applications such as Hot Potatoes will never be uniform across the teaching staff at any given point in time. Although it is clear that the potential of the VLE is not being fully exploited, there is no clear evidence as to why usage is so low. However, it is likely that it is linked to a lack of confidence and knowledge in the development and use of such tools. This issue is discussed further in Section 7.
5.4
Review of School Administrative Statistics
Although the foregoing VLE usage statistics do offer interesting insights into the impacts of the CONNECT initiative in terms of student engagement and take-up with the associated potential for increased ICT-literacy, on-line data collecting and so forth it should be noted that the initiative does have a number of important whole-school impacts. A review of a number of important metrics (i.e. attendance, suspensions, etc) indicates that impressive progress has been made across the whole-school environment. Although such improvements cannot be attributed solely to the CONNECT initiative, the authors do believe that this has played an important role given that it reflects the ambitions of school management, a willingness to invest in staff training and up-skilling and a capacity to consider new and innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Indeed, although many of the anticipated benefits forecast by the Project Partners on foot of the CONNECT School project have been realised over the past 4 years (i.e. improved attendance, increased engagement, etc), it is important to be clear that the authors are not solely attributing causality to the CONNECT Project. Rather, it is important to note that many of the other interventions and programmes on-site will have also contributed substantially to these outcomes. For instance, the focus of the School Completion Programme (SCP) is on those who are at risk of leaving school early and to this end, the SCP will have provided significant funding for initiatives aimed at improving attendance and retention (i.e. Breakfast Clubs, etc). Moreover, an evaluation of the HSCL by the Education Research Centre (2003) found that this scheme had a number of important impacts, including the following: Improved behaviour, attendance and scholastic achievement Greater care in the pupils school work A more positive attitude from pupils to school, teachers and their parents An increased number of parents visiting the school and becoming involved in school activities
53
Discipline and Attendance In the first instance, rates of attendance have improved significantly over the 4-year period 2004/05 to 2008/09 with the total number of student days lost through absence falling by more than 50 per cent. This is shown in Table 5.2. Table 5.2: School Attendance Statistics, 2004 to 2008
Year Total # Days Lost through Absence 9,310 na 11,496 5,419 3,875 Total # Students Absent for 20 Days plus 197 na 154 137 97
2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09

Source: NEWB Statistics
Moreover, a central message emerging from our interviews with both the teaching staff and school management is that the ICT infrastructure put in place has enhanced in-class management (see Sections 5 and 6) by enabling teachers to better monitor student activity during each lesson. This is reflected in the school discipline statistics for the period 2004/05 to 2007/08 which show that the cumulative number of student suspensions had fallen by the time of writing. Tables 5.3: School Discipline Statistics, 2004 to 2008
Year 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09
Source: NEWB Statistics
Expulsions 0 na 0 0 0
Suspensions 68 na 91 65 42
Finally, the enhanced attendance and discipline witnessed in the school has been matched by improved examination performance. The first cohort of students to receive a laptop sat the Junior Certificate in 2009 and according to School Management, the school had witnessed a significant improvement in results (particularly among weaker students).
54
Staff Retention The ambitious nature of the initiative and the investment made in terms of both ICT infrastructure and staff training send a number of important signals in terms of the direction of the school and the potential to improve the working environment for the teaching staff. This is reflected in the available statistics around teacher turnover since the inception of the CONNECT initiative. Pre-2004, teacher turnover averaged 4 teachers per annum. However, only 4 teachers have left St Aidans Community School in the 3 years since 2005 (or a reduced turnover of approximately 67 per cent). Moreover, follow-up analysis by the authors indicate that those teachers who have left St Aidans Community School in recent years have found the skills and knowledge garnered through participation in the project to be invaluable in their new posts and to have had a sustained impact upon the way they develop and deliver their subjects. Further details of this are given in Section 6.2. Progression to Higher and Further Education Finally, the authors also sought to examine the issue of students from St Aidans Community School progressing to Third level (or Further Education) as it was envisaged that the combination of the CONNECT project and the provision of laptops to ACE students would ultimately lead to more progression to Third level for students at St Aidans Community School. The proportion of students opting for Higher and Further Education (i.e. University, Institute of Technology or a PLC) after their Leaving Certificate has increased significantly (see Table 5.4). The proportion of students opting to pursue these courses increased from 33 per cent to 51 per cent over two years (or by 90 per cent in absolute terms). Although the numbers entering University have stayed stable, the numbers opting for an Institute of Technology or a PLC (Post-Leaving Certificate course) increased by 75 per cent and 100 per cent, respectively. In addition to these, a further 25 students (or 34 per cent in 2009) are classified as Others. This category includes those students who opted to repeat the Leaving Certificate or take up an Apprenticeship. However, it should be borne in mind that the recent economic downturn may also have been important in this regard.
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Table 5.4 Progression to Third Level Education, 2007-2009 2007 Route University Institute of Technology FETAC/PLC Filte Ireland Others Unknown Total Number of Students N 1 4 15 1 18 20 59 % 1.7 6.8 25.4 1.7 30.5 33.9 100 N 0 5 23 1 28 12 69 2008 % 0.0 7.2 33.3 1.4 40.6 17.4 100 N 1 7 30 4 25 7 74 2009 % 1.4 9.5 40.5 5.4 33.8 9.5 100
Note: Others Category includes FAS, Apprenticeship, Repeating Leaving, Employed (FT & PT) or Unemployed
5.5
Community Impacts
One of the most noteworthy impacts brought to the authors attention during this evaluation was the growing perception that the school is increasingly becoming a school of choice and has begun receiving applications from outside of the schools traditional catchment area. Interestingly, at the time of writing about 1 in 6 students at St Aidans Community School are drawn from outside its catchment area (i.e. St Aidans Primary School or St Annes Primary School). Tables 5.5: Enrolled Students from outside traditional catchment area Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 5th year 6th Year PLC Total
rd nd st
Students 12 10 7 20 14 5 68
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Indeed, School Management have noted how the schools reputation has spread: parents come to us and tell us that theyve heard about the laptops and what were doing here and they want their children to have those opportunities too 33 . Initiatives such as CONNECT in St Aidans Community School will always require community support in order to ensure that outcomes are optimised and to this end, it is interesting to note that the original review of the initiatives found that parents were fully involved in the project with ongoing Information Workshops on CONNECT and Awareness Raising Seminars on issues of concern such as Child Safety on the Internet. One element of initiative the Bring IT Home Programme relates to the usage of the laptops in the evening time in the students own home. This policy is part of the Project Partners efforts to develop a deeper connection between the school, home and community and reflects the objective of developing a culture of lifelong learning within the community by means of fostering such a connection. Indeed, this connection is further underpinned by the schools own efforts to reach out to the local community. For instance, the school runs a number of programmes for students parents (including ICT training). When considering the impacts of the CONNECT School it is important to place these within the context of the broader community in order to fully understand the multi-faceted nature of its potential benefits. In the first instance, the CONNECT School is an effective mechanism for reaching out to the community through the involvement of students and their families. Principally, the project achieves this by creating a platform for the delivery of improved student engagement and attainment and by ensuring greater familiarity with and understanding of ICT and its possibilities in the local school. However, it should be noted at this point that although students were keenly aware of the benefits associated with the investment being made in their classrooms, several students did express the view that they already had access to ICT at home and in some cases, that what was available at home was better than at school. This may be attributable to the fact that social networking sites such as BEBO are easier to access at home and are blocked on the CONNECT network and/or that technology in the home setting for the students we interviewed at least, are more about gaming or entertainment than learning. Secondly, the marked improvement in student engagement and attendance brought about on foot of interventions such as the CONNECT School does appear to have had or to have contributed to further positive impacts upon the broader community of Brookfield. For instance, statistical profiles and maps seen by the authors do show quite clearly that the incidence of reported anti-social behaviour (i.e. drug abuse, violence and nuisance behaviour) in the areas in proximity to St Aidans Community School have fallen significantly over the period 2005 to 2008.
33
Mr Frank Moran, School Principal
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This will have been due to a broad range of factors. However, it is the view of the authors that the greater propensity for students to attend school regularly and the reduced incidence of suspensions (see Tables 5.1 and 5.2) has likely played an important role. Beyond the impacts of the CONNECT initiative, the school has a long-standing relationship with the broader community. St Aidans Community School has seen itself as a community school in its fullest sense 34 and has worked to be active in the community in a number of different levels, not least through the Home School Community Liaison Programme (HSCL). Through this scheme St Aidans Community School co-operates with other groups providing an adult education programme for parents and other adults in the community. St Aidans Community School offers lessons to parents in Computers (FETAC Levels 1 and 2), the Driving Theory Test and courses to help parents to support students homework e.g. Maths for Fun. The school also communicates frequently with the parent body through a number of mechanisms such as a newsletter, parent-teacher meetings, direct individual contact, personal calls to home, the student journal and the HSCL programme. Further linkages to the wider community include the involvement of the School in the Brookfield/Fettercairn Local Committee involving principals and HSCL co-ordinators from local schools and a variety of other local interests. There is also involvement with the West Tallaght cluster group that brings together a very broad spectrum of local agencies and interests. Also, the school has worked to engage with the business community. Through the Schools Business Partnership Initiative, companies bring the world of work into the classroom, and St Aidans Community School has organised trips and mock interviews for students through this scheme. Junior and Senior Cycle students also participate in the Junior Achievement Enterprise Scheme and are encouraged to engage in community-based activities supported by the school. For example, funding was provided for students to participate in the Junior Chef Academy in the Institute of Technology, Tallaght. Aside from these dedicated schemes, the school also acts as a focal point in the community, with the hall being leased out to local interests; a spacious room in the school is provided for parents use; and a local football club has sited changing rooms on the campus.
5.6
Student Learning Impacts
Given that a principal goal of the broader CONNECT initiative has been to develop student-centred technology that supports an innovative learning culture, it is important to note that the initial internal review (School Year 2006/07) 35 found that the initiative had had many positive impacts upon the
34
Department of Education and Science St Aidans Whole School Evaluation October 2006 Source: Summary of 2006-07 Review
35
58
student body and that both teachers and students identified that using ICT has had a positive effect on students class attendance, participation in class, engagement in their own learning and punctuality in the morning. Indeed, the most recent Teacher Online Survey conducted in 2008 provides useful insights into the teachers experience of the VLE and how the teaching staff views the impact of the initiative upon their students. As shown in Table 5.6, 37 per cent of respondents indicated that the VLE improved student engagement (agree or agree strongly) whilst 39.2 per cent indicated that it encouraged greater in-class participation. In terms of attendance, 28.2 per cent indicated that it did not necessarily improve attendance (disagree or disagree strongly) compared to 23.9 per cent who felt that the project had positively impacted upon attendance. The survey also found that 41.3 per cent of staff did not feel that the VLE provided a safety net for students who dont and/or cant attend class. One of the interesting findings in the survey was the relatively high proportion of respondents, generally around 30 percent, who neither agreed nor disagreed with statements. This would seem to indicate a lack of confidence in giving definitive pronouncements on the statements regarding the impact of the VLE upon students to date. Focus groups were held with each of the student years. In the instance of those students in Senior Cycle, the focus groups combined both fifth and sixth years but disaggregated them by ACE and nonACE students. As previously outlined in the Section 4 the discussion focused on the students assessment of the use of technology in the school and the level of usage of ICT in lessons. The focus groups also discussed whether students were always working on their own and any additional relevant points. An examination of the transcripts of the focus groups provides an insight into a number of relevant issues for the students. Table 5.6: Selection of Responses (%) to Online Teacher Survey (2008) Student Impactspecific variables
Neither Statement Strongly Disagree 6.5 Disagree agree nor disagree 34.5 Agree Strongly Agree Missing
The VLE is user-friendly for the student accessing it The introduction of the VLE has considerably improved Students the ability to engage with their programme outside class times The VLE encourages students engagement by offering dynamic teaching tools The VLE provides a safety net to students who dont and/or cant attend classes Using ICT has a positive effect on
17.4
26.1
2.2
13.0
13.0
19.6
30.4
19.6
4.3
13.0
4.3
19.6
26.1
34.8
2.2
13.0
15.2
26.1
30.4
13.0
2.2
13.0
6.5
21.7
34.8
23.9
13.0
59
Neither Statement students class attendance Using ICT has a positive effect on students participation in class Source: Teacher Online Survey (2008) 2.2 13.0 32.6 37.0 Strongly Disagree Disagree agree nor disagree Agree
Strongly Agree
Missing
2.2
13.0
Intended Outcomes for Students: Student Perspectives on CONNECT The level to which the intended outcomes (see Table 3.2) were being met was explored in the focus groups with students. In the paragraphs below, we present the key findings from those focus groups in relation to a number of those outcomes, and the student perspectives on the CONNECT project and use of ICT in the school.
Most of the time it is used to show notes with the projector to show videos concerning the lesson. I would like to see technology involving the student more rather than the teacher. Senior Ace Student
Increased awareness and application of information and communication technologies:
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Across all of the student groups interviewed as part of the evaluation, the overwhelming majority believed that having the technology that is available to the student body is important: I think it is very good because it helps you know more about technology so if we grew up and got a job it won't be hard. Even amongst younger classes (the non-exam first and second year students), there is a keen awareness of the importance of ICT and use of computer technology for learning and for its application outside of the school setting as evidenced by the comment: You have experience if you want to get a job in computers or go to college. Along with an appreciation of the importance of having technology available a key feature of the discussion was in relation to skills and additional skills that the students gained from the use of ICT in the school. Across all of the focus groups the pupils spoke about the fact that they type a lot. This was in relation to both project and home work and also in relation to the computer class that they attend. The computer class tends to focus on typing as one first year noted: every single time in computers Mr. X makes us type a lot and I got faster. Some students had the advantage of having a computer at home and were able to continue their typing there as well. This is an important skill for the students to have particularly given the high reliance on computers in the skilled workforce. While teachers in other schools probably focus on this in their computer class, in the CONNECT School project typing is also a feature of the students project and home work. For example, students noted that they did typing projects in their ESS and History classes as well. In St Aidans Community School this was a part of the lesson as opposed to other schools were pupils would write during lesson time. A primary advantage to typing was noted by one student who described how they can type their work out and send it to the teacher: if you have any free class you get your work done all before you go home and then you have the day to. Another skill that the students acquired was in relation to making videos or movies. In some instances students make films on their phones and upload them to their laptops. While there appears to be limited usage within the lesson time of video production, the availability of ICT equipment within the school enables video production after school time. For example, during the third year focus group it was noted that: we made movies it was after school we sent it away [and] they gave us forms last week saying they wanted to put it in some film festival and they were going to put it up on the Connect site and all. While they acknowledged that these skills may not be useful in terms of going in to a lot of careers, the fifth and sixth years considered that undertaking projects such as this may be useful for certain careers: If you want to do something in technology with computers and all and video cameras. Like a photographer, if you want to be a photographer you have to learn all about that.
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Lessons becoming more exciting The use of ICT in the classroom presents the opportunity for an enhanced learning environment for the students. In the first instance, it is interesting to note that the potential of the project in this regard was captured succinctly by the School Principal: You can imagine teaching art or classical studies and not just reading boring text, but being able to go on a virtual tour of an art gallery or visit a classical city like Ephesus 36 The fifth and sixth years noted that both the religion and history teacher used technology to enhance the lesson through showing movies and using slides to show visual examples during the lesson. These students also noted the use of the internet was important for their projects as there were many such projects to complete for the Leaving Certificate. An additional benefit to lessons was in relation to the use of typing and the teachers use of the projector to show the notes for the class. The fifth and sixth year students noted that while they didnt have laptops they still had the benefit of taking down notes from the screen I think it is better on them because you can see it better than writing on the board with chalk. Students also noted that the use of ICT enabled the teacher to be more prepared. The fifth and sixth year focus group also thought that the use of laptops was good in terms of the students being organised. They noted that: they have all of their notes and theyll always be on the laptopwhereas if its in copies you just lose them. The students also noted that there was a greater variety of resources available through ICT to support learning we can use the internet to look up things although the restrictions imposed by the school (e.g. the firewall) were seen as a barrier to this if you look up something for history you cant get pictures on them. A greater efficiency in the delivery of lessons by teachers was raised by students as a benefit of the ICT investment - its quicker as well because they have something prepared as well. Interestingly ACE students noted that they were sometimes distracted when using the internet during class time cause if youre on a computer youre just going to go off looking at the internet. Adaptation of the curriculum to learners needs and interests; The junior students that participated in our focus groups reported in the main that they used ICT regularly during lessons, highlighting especially Maths and ESS as the key subjects where it was employed, and to a lesser extent, History, French and Home Economics. In some cases using ICT was interpreted as solely using the laptops, but in some cases students also referred to the use of the projector and the Moodle blackboard:
36
Mr Frank Moran, Irish Independent (18 November 2009)
th
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Yes it is because most the teachers use projectors for us to take down notes. Sometimes we use the laptops, but the teachers use all the ICT in the class We only use projectors Most times. ESS we type and look up picture of what we are writing on. Yes we use our laptops a lot in Maths English for our stories. ESS for all things The benefit of using ICT was also highlighted by a number of students at both junior and senior levels: It helps you for your mocks as well because some of the papers do be on your mocks as well. So you can just go over everything on it When it is used it is more helpful and you can see it more The projector is mostly used by the teachers to help put essays and videos to help us understand the topics in each lesson better A number of senior students also expressed the need for the student to be more involved in the use of ICT in the classroom as they felt it was more about what the teacher could do rather than what the student was capable of: Most of the time it is used to show notes with the projector to show videos concerning the lesson. I would like to see technology involving the student more rather than the teacher I think it would be better if laptops were allowed to be used in lessons as it would be more efficient rather than teachers reading messy writing.
5.7
Additional Student Perspectives: Day-to-day Factors
Independent Learning During the focus groups, students from each of the participating classes were asked if using technology meant always working on your own in class. There were mixed responses from all the classes on this point. The majority of students indicated that they did not work much on their own in class - they were either in groups, or under constant supervision from teachers when working in class. Older students however saw that there were advantages to working independently, and saw the teacher as being there to help rather to instruct, when given work to do independently: you always tend to work in a group if you get stuck or if you just get bored. Teachers are a great help though and teach you to work on your own because as you get older you won't be able to rely on your friends for help A small number of students from the junior classes (who each have laptop) stated they work on their own; but get help when needed from a friend or the teacher -"Sometimes you are but sometimes you are not, as we would have class discussions or the teacher would be there to help you". Senior
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students dont have personal laptops but use communal laptops in computer labs and so they perceive that the opportunity for independent working is not there. Web Searches and Accessing On-line Material Given the high level of usage of the internet during both class and home time students were asked about the websites they use most frequently. The main activities the students carried out on the internet had to do with communication such as the use of email, MSN and social networking sites. However, many of these sites were blocked in school and students were only able to access them outside of school time. While students like to use MSN in many instances this site was blocked and only some individuals had found a way around this. While there was difficulty downloading MSN to chat, students were able to chat by using the CONNECT chat. While students were able to access this function on their laptops they were not supposed to do this while in class although some admitted that you can sneak it in. However, the students noted one major drawback to this was that their messages could be read: And all the teachers can see what youre doing as well (fifth and sixth year group). In many cases the students noted that their favourite website was Bebo. The main issue with this was that this site was blocked in school although students noted that the things on Bebo related to your life outside of school. When asked about the possible dangers relating to Bebo the students seemed to be aware of the issues relating to strangers possibly trying to contact them. When asked about this issue, the students noted that you can block them. Students didnt feel that they needed training on this issue and that a lot of keeping safe on the internet was just common sense really with most noting that they blocked any strangers that they didnt know. The junior students noted that one of their favourite sites was Google, this was useful for searching for information about projects, etc. Another website that students frequently looked at was YouTube, while this website was blocked in the school the teachers were sometimes able to get it unblocked to show videos to the class. The students noted that they mainly looked at videos on YouTube as opposed to uploading videos.
5.8
Concluding Comments
The foregoing section has dealt with a number of themes including the impacts and effectiveness of the CONNECT initiative in terms of student engagement and learning outcomes and the impact of CONNECT school upon the broader community of Brookfield. There is no doubt that the CONNECT project has had an impact upon the real school environment within St Aidans Community School. It has augmented the traditional classroom with a range of supports to develop digital literacy among both students and teachers. The VLE is a core aspect of
64
this and it is the view of the authors that its value will grow exponentially as resources and activities are developed within it. There is clearly a positive impact of the project with teachers noting an increase in student engagement and in-class participation. Students themselves noted a number of benefits including greater engagement in their own learning, the acquisition of additional skills and an enhanced learning environment. Impressive progress has been made within the school across a number of metrics such as attendance and suspensions and the authors do believe that the role of the CONNECT project in this regard should also be recognised, albeit as part of a suite of interventions within St Aidans Community School. It should also be recognised that the project appears to have had a positive impact upon the wider community of Brookfield with increased student attendance at school and a reduced rate of suspension likely to have contributed to the recorded reduction in anti-social behaviour in areas in proximity to St Aidans Community School. Finally, although the authors do recognise that the CONNECT project has led to lessons becoming more exciting and has facilitated greater independent learning for some students (particularly, those on the ACE programme), it is also clear that the full potential of the VLE is not being realised. In particular, a significant number of teachers do not fully avail of the opportunity to develop interactive teaching materials or to use the student assessment tools available through the VLE. We also note that a number of students emphasised the need to ensure that students are more centrally involved in the use of ICT in the classroom.
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6 TEACHING IMPACTS AND PEDAGOGY

6.1 Introduction
Whilst the foregoing section examined issues pertaining to learning impacts and student engagement, it is important to note that the development of teaching and pedagogy within St Aidans Community School are further important metrics around the effectiveness and impact of the CONNECT School. Indeed, the importance of these factors is clear when one considers that the development of improved teaching methodologies was a key anticipated outcome of the project.
When we were starting off we were catching up, we were using things that were already there. But now weve passed people out, so when we are looking at resources for the curriculum unless we develop it ourselves it doesnt exist. Teacher
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6.2
Teaching Impacts
In order to understand the extent to which the CONNECT School Project has succeeded in embedding an innovative learning culture within St Aidans Community School, it is important to examine the extent to which the project has impacted upon the teaching staff across a number of spheres ranging from perceptions of ICT to lesson development and delivery. In order to draw out these themes, the authors used a range of tools. In the first instance, the authors reviewed and analysed the data available on foot of the most recent Teacher Survey (2008). However, the authors were of the view that the questions contained therein were very much focussed upon issues pertaining to the usage of ICT (i.e. whether it time consuming, easy-to-use and so forth) and its impacts upon the students in terms of participation and punctuality. In other words, it was the view of the authors that this data source alone was insufficient to allow us to fully explore issues pertaining to the impact of the project upon teaching practice. Consequently, the authors developed a schema of questions focussing upon teaching pedagogy and practice (including positive impacts within the classroom) which was used to guide the various focus groups undertaken with teachers as part of this evaluation. These questions are set out in the Appendices to this report. It is recommended that such questions or some variant thereon be incorporated into future versions of the Teacher Survey. To this end, we have produced a draft survey and this is also presented in the Appendices to this report. Indeed, it is important to note that a strong message emerging from this evaluation is that for the teachers, using ICT has had a positive effect on their teaching pedagogy and practice and that they have experienced a change in the learning environment which is now multi-sensory. Moreover, the peer learning approach has proven to be an excellent model of good practice both for the development of skills in the school and in achieving the buy-in of all staff. Teachers saw their colleagues being up-skilled and confidence developing which was a motivating factor for all. Meeting the Intended Outcomes: Teachers perspectives on CONNECT The level to which the intended outcomes (see Table 3.2) were being met was discussed in the focus groups with the Core Group and non-Core Group teachers. Their perspectives on these outcomes are presented below. Better engagement with hard to reach students with more motivating ways of learning: In terms of how the introduction of the CONNECT project has positively impacted upon the learning environment, teachers in the focus groups indicated that there had been improvements in student discipline and focus amongst many students:
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There is one overwhelming thing. I think it has definitely calmed the students down. I dont think that was the deliberate intent of the programme but the kids that have laptops; near the end of the class theyre much calmer than years past "focuses attention...in that sense its very positive for enforcing discipline" Amongst non-Core Group teachers, one positive benefit arising from the CONNECT School project, was that the interactive and multi sensory approach was judged to be useful and helpful to students learning, especially amongst the weaker and middle band students. This applied both to the provision of laptops to students but also to the technology being used in the classroom environment; the electronic blackboard in particular was viewed very positively. Especially with the middle band weaker classes its kind of a more multi-sensory approach and thats very helpful in the teaching... [The electronic blackboard] is easier to see, its bigger, its clear for the students to look at and it has colour so its more interesting With regard to how independent learning has grown or resulted from the CONNECT project, the views of teachers who participated in the focus groups were mixed. ACE students were viewed as being more independent learners, but there was recognition, that even among the weaker or middle band classes there were examples of students who were using their initiative with regard to completing specific tasks, especially for the ESS class: In ESS, like, its fantastic what they can produceits a third year group, and they know what they want to produce and they do it on a word document and theyre finding images to put in. theyre going off and producing this themselves "Id have some [ACE] students that would access notes and that would come back to me and say 'are you putting stuff up?'. Theyre more independent, more in tune to using it" However, teachers reported that independent learning was not necessarily always an outcome and is variable both across classes and between individuals. Students often tended to focus purely on getting the interactive task done as quickly as possible in class, rather than take any learning from the exercise, so they are then free to go on the internet, or browse sites outside of the teachers direction or subject area: "...so I put together a Webquest and went to the trouble to come up with websites to direct them and everything and it was like a rush, they werent really interested in doing it. It was a rush to get this sheet filled in to go somewhere else. Not really interested in what it was about and learning .. They were just trying to fill it in. And as soon as they have it filled in its 'can I go on the internet?'. Youre constantly fighting that...." Development of new teaching methodologies: The projectors were seen to be central in the delivery of successful lessons the best thing for our side is the projector, thats a massive teaching tool. However, the teachers made the point that use of the projector is not dependent on the students having laptops: I mean we could have the projector without the kids having any laptops.
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However teachers raised the point that the delivery of lessons through the use of ICT is dependent on a number of factors. Principally, it is necessary that students have all brought their laptops to school (for those who are using the Bring IT Home Programme) or that they have collected their laptop from the Lapcabby at the designated time. During both the Core Group and non-Core Group teachers focus groups, the teachers note that there is a tendency for not all students to have their laptops in class with them (see Section 9 for further data). For instance, one teacher noted the following: today I had 3 students out of the whole class with the laptop. Its a small class, 3 out of 15 students had the laptop. The lack of laptops was a particular problem with the third year classes and one teacher noted that this could in some way be attributed to the Bring IT Home Programme: I think the Bring IT home initiative with the Third Years didnt work (teacher core group). The lack of success with this initiative is partly attributed to the fact that some of the laptops are heavy and cumbersome to carry in with a bag of books they were saying they were too heavy to carry. The teachers go on to explain that in many instances they agree in advance with the students what day they will use the laptops however, they get discouraged from using the laptops at all as even with notice there will still be students without laptops: I decided on a Friday I would use them and gave them a warning and reminded them throughout the week so, when youre dealing with that youre just not going to bother. While this was one of the factors which led to the students not having their laptop in class, other factors included the students coming in late to school (and therefore not being able to collect their laptop) and the expiry of the lifetime in the laptop battery. Access to shared ideas and lesson plans for teachers and Development of e-learning resources; Although every course can be delivered via the VLE there is evidence to suggest that both the level of usage amongst the teaching staff and the quality of the VLE teaching materials they develop vary considerably both within and across subject areas. Specifically, it appears that some teachers are reluctant to invest the initial time required to develop such materials in spite of the obvious payback period accruing to such an investment: yes that is a big problem in that if you put two hours in you might only get ten minutes out of it or five minutes depending on what youre doing. Similarly, where these materials are developed it appears that other teachers are simply posting presentations on the file storage system. In other words, the latter group does not avail of the interactive functionality inherent to the Moodle software in the manner originally envisaged. The more interactive elements (e.g. developing a quiz, tracking student progress over time, etc.) were seen by some teachers are being either too technically advanced or too time consuming for the value obtained. This has led to some teachers focusing upon the more common aspects: Id tend to have a lot of PowerPoints that I came up with myself with visual images and notes thats what I tend to do more often.
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This would suggest that while the application and awareness of ICT among teachers has improved, the depth of this knowledge and level of usage remains variable. Support being given to teachers in managing marking and assessment: All the teachers interviewed as part of the evaluation of CONNECT School project specifically mentioned and praised the system of peer learning in place in the school, as well as the availability and support of the eChampion. The Core Group and eChampion are described as supportive, very approachable, and note that time is made to assist teachers. This peer-to-peer training is carried both formally from the Core Group to non-Core Group teachers as described above, and informally, through a principle of collaboration that exists between teachers in St Aidans Community School. Teachers work together to create resources that can be used by others in the department, and across the school: "Yeahcollaborating with resources. When I put something up there its up there for everyone to use the same for other teachers. There is that sense of working together" We divide the work up between us within a subject and then its up there for everybody to use "I do find it for sharing resources fantastic. Its like a library, to take resources and put resources up and creating within it I find it very useful" The Core Group teachers are also using the VLE as a training tool for other teachers by putting up how-tos for using Moodle and overcoming or troubleshooting commonly experienced difficulties. rather than ten teachers coming up and asking me the same question, weve now put up how to resolve Moodle so were trying to use the VLE in another way for the teachers A number of teachers noted that in this current academic year (2008/2009) there has not been as much training as in the past. A key difficulty or issue around the provision of training was emphasised by a member of then Core Group the ICT skills level across the teaching faculty and even the Core Group itself is so varied, that it can be difficult to cater for a group of teachers as a whole: "one of the issues now that has come out of training is that even within this group the IT levels and the skill levels of everyone now. At the start we were all bunched up together but now its all drawn out. Theres training for the rest of the group and theres training for the core staff but even now within those two groups theres massive differences, its a sliding scale. One of the issues I found in the last few training days is its an issue that we find in class, its the differentiation. If you have ten people in the class theres a massive difference between the first and the last. Its just impossible to cater for both. So I think weve reached a stage now in training where we have to specialise and I think thats the next step because what would be very good for me would be pointless for other people and vice versa" It was also mentioned by a number of teachers that many of the training days are repetitive, and often are not always applicable to the subject area they teach. Amongst the non-Core Group teachers in particular it was stated that the preferred training approach would be to group teachers together on the basis of the subject they teach and to decide what training was needed as a department:
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"If we were grouped in subject areas as opposed to the normal 'if you want to do PowerPoint go to this room'. But I prefer to be the whole of our department and then we all sit down and we decide what we are going to achieve....Learning to use technology in a way thats very specific to your subject" There is also a limit to what teachers can do, or the level to which they can train other teachers in the school, because, as described by one teacher: we are not programmers. This sentiment is, to a certain extent, reflective of the demand for training. The reader should bear in mind that these respondents are teachers who have to complete a curriculum in order to prepare students for state examinations, and as such there is a natural level to where a particular teacher can go. You get to a certain level and you have to make a choice: computer geek or stay where you are I think thats probably happening with staff.
6.3
Additional Teacher Perspectives
Impact Continuity and Sustainability: While the initiative took place within St Aidans Community School it is interesting to analyse the sustained nature of the impact of the initiative in terms of teaching methods and practice. In this context an interview was conducted with a teacher who had previously taught in St Aidans Community School. The teacher was asked about his experience of teaching in the school and the delivery of lessons through the use of ICT. In addition to this the teacher was asked about how he uses the skills he gained while teaching at the CONNECT school in his new teaching post. Overall the teacher described a positive experience while teaching at St Aidans Community School. The use of ICT in the delivery of lessons made the teacher more organised as a whole. In addition to this the availability of the internet in the school was extremely beneficial. For example, the teacher noted that staff members often accessed the internet in the staff-room and can find websites with useful information for other teachers. This proved useful in the identification of resources for delivering lessons. When asked about the training undertaken, the teacher indicated that their knowledge of ICT increased significantly while teaching at St Aidans Community School. When the issue of continued use of the skills developed was explored the teacher noted that it had changed the way he now delivers lessons. Upon starting his new appointment the teacher immediately bought his own laptop and now uses this to both develop lesson plans and to deliver lessons. His ability to utilise his skills and ICT is limited by the ICT resources of the current school and individual classroom which are considerably inferior to St Aidans Community School. In such cases he returns to the traditional teaching methods. On a wider note, the lack of ICT infrastructure available for former teachers to continue developing their expertise highlights both the quality and quantity of resources that have been allocated to St Aidans Community School and the paucity of these resources elsewhere in the system.
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6.4
Developing Good Practice in Teaching Methodologies
Quality of Interactive Lessons Developed Moreover, although every course can be delivered via the VLE there is evidence to suggest that both the level of usage amongst the teaching staff and the quality of the VLE teaching materials they develop vary considerably both within and across subject areas. Specifically, it appears that some teachers are reluctant to invest the initial time required to develop such materials in spite of the obvious payback period accruing to such an investment: yes that is a big problem in that if you put two hours in you might only get ten minutes out of it or five minutes depending on what youre doing. Similarly, where these materials are developed it appears that other teachers are simply posting presentations on the file storage system. In other words, the latter group does not avail of the interactive functionality inherent to the Moodle software in the manner originally envisaged. The more interactive elements (e.g. developing a quiz, tracking student progress over time, etc.) were seen by some teachers are being either too technically advanced or too time consuming for the value obtained. This has led to some teachers focusing upon the more common aspects: Id tend to have a lot of PowerPoints that I came up with myself with visual images and notes thats what I tend to do more often. This would suggest that while the application and awareness of ICT among teachers has improved, the depth of this knowledge and level of usage remains variable. Identifying and Mainstreaming Good Practice The CONNECT VLE does contain a number of examples of good practice whereby the optimal potential of the system is availed of in order to generate informative, interesting and above all interactive sites for specific subject courses and which facilitate students in accessing relevant information from across the worldwide web. Specifically, materials developed for subjects such as History, French and ESS display these attributes. For instance, the webpage for Leaving Certificate students of History contains study notes and internet links for a wide range of topics including Home Rule, Cultural Nationalism and the Labour Movement. This webpage also contains a link to the ScoilNet site for History students which provide a range of multi-sensory materials including archived video and radio extracts. Moreover, students can also visit the site of the week or access research material from primary sources such as the 1911 Census.
Case Study 2: History Section of CONNECT VLE
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Similarly, the webpage for the ESS classes (Case Study 3) also contains a wide range of learning support materials for different parts of syllabus including notes and internet links to websites of interest. In addition to these, this webpage also contains a link to Hot Potatoes exercises on a variety of topics.
Case Study 3: ESS Section of CONNECT VLE
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Finally, the Junior Certificate French section of website (Case Study 4) includes a link to a Video Grammar Section which contains a number of videos on issues relating to grammar. The site also includes a number of interactive exercises (i.e. how to introduce yourself in French) and quizzes to test knowledge of topics. An innovative aspect is the development of a hangman style game to test the use of French adjectives. Links are also provided to a number of useful websites and to the Junior Certificate syllabus for the subject.
Case Study 4: French Section of CONNECT VLE
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However, although we have presented the foregoing in order to highlight a selection of current examples of good practice, we do recognize that the entire teaching staff at St Aidans Community School has made progress vis--vis the development of on-line and interactive teaching materials. Indeed, it is the view of the authors that progress to date and the commitment underpinning it is particularly impressive when one considers that some teachers will always be more tech savvy than others and that many teachers will have started from a low knowledge base. Notwithstanding the progress made, there is still a way to go and there is a need for a consistent and ongoing push to deliver the type of structured training that will enable all teachers to make full use of the resources that have been made available. Teacher Perceptions Teacher Online Survey Since the inception of the CONNECT initiative, a number of online surveys have been run with both students and teachers through the VLE. This survey instrument was adapted from a similar survey developed by Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) to measure the take-up and efficiency of WebCT (a proprietary Virtual Learning Environment). This was run in 2007 (for students) at the school. In the case of the teaching staff, this survey was run in January 2007 and October 2008 before being retired. The reader should note that the Project Partners intend to re-design the survey instrument on foot of this evaluation. The most recent survey of teachers was conducted in 2008 and had 46 respondents. Table 6.1 outlines the key characteristics of these respondents. The majority of respondents teach first year students (n=36) while only 13 of the teachers teach sixth year ACE students. A large proportion of the respondents use the VLE with second year to Leaving Certificate students (n=26) although 17 of the
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respondents indicated that they did not use the VLE with this student cohort. A further 19 of the respondents use the VLE with first year students. Table 6.1: Key Characteristics of Respondents
Question Do you teach first year students? Do you teach sixth year Ace students? Do you use VLE with first year students? Do you use VLE with second year to leaving cert students? Do you use the VLE with learning support classes? Do you use the VLE with other student groups? Yes 36 13 19 26 20 No 9 31 22 17 22 Missing 1 2 5 3 4 -
Table 6.2 below outlines the responses to the Teacher Online Survey in relation to a number of statements relating to usage of the VLE 37 . The results indicate that in many instances the activities outlined are never or rarely used by the respondents given that, generally speaking, the majority of respondents reported a rating of 1 (for never) or 2 (for rarely) across the various statements. The results from this element of the survey indicate that there is a low level of VLE usage by the respondents. For instance, a cumulative 69 per cent and 80 per cent of respondents gave a negative response 38 to the statements I use the VLE to distribute readings and I use the VLE to distribute class notes prior to class, respectively. The most frequent usage of the VLE was for the following: I use the VLE in the classroom for audio and visual and or video presentations (average 2.4). I use the VLE in the classroom for class presentations without audio and/or video (average 2.6). I use the VLE to distribute links to information resources on the web (average 2.3). I use the VLE interactive learning tools e.g. quizzes, crosswords (average 2.3).
Table 6.2: Selection of Responses (%) to Teacher Online Survey (2008)
Where the average marking column gives an indication of the average answer given by respondents in relation to how often they use the VLE for various activities
38
37
Never or rarely
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Statement
Never 58.7 65.2
Rarely 10.9 15.2
Occasionally 15.2 6.5
Very Often 2.2 2.2
Always 2.2 -
Average marking* 1.6 1.3 1.2 1.4 1.2 1.3 2.3 1.2 1.2 1.5
Missing 10.9 10.9
I use the VLE to distribute readings I use the VLE to distribute class notes prior to class I use the VLE to disseminate assessment briefs I use the VLE for one-to-one communications with students I use the VLE to inform students of assessment results I use the VLE for group communications with students I use the VLE interactive learning tools e.g. quizzes, crosswords I use the VLE to conduct online assessments I use the VLE to conduct online surveys I use the VLE to distribute class notes after class I use the VLE in the classroom for audio and visual and or video presentations I use the VLE in the classroom for class presentations without audio and / or video I use the VLE to distribute links to information resources on the web I use the VLE as a class discussion forum I use the VLE to collect written assessments from students I track my students level engagement with the VLE of
73.9
6.5
8.7
10.9
69.9
8.7
10.9
10.9
76.1
4.3
8.7
10.9
69.6
8.7
10.9
10.9
30.4
10.9
30.4
17.4
10.9
71.7
13.0
2.2
2.2
10.9
73.9
10.9
4.3
10.9
63.0
8.7
15.2
2.2
34.8
4.3
28.3
19.6
2.2
2.4
10.9
34.8
4.3
19.6
21.7
8.7
2.6
10.9
37.0
8.7
21.7
15.2
6.5
2.3 1.4 1.2 1.3 1.2
10.9
67.4
8.7
8.7
4.3
10.9
71.7
8.7
8.7
10.9
73.9
4.3
6.5
4.3
10.9
I track my students level of academic progress with the VLE The students work collaboratively in pairs or in groups using ICT resources * Absolute result
76.1
6.5
2.2
4.3
10.9
56.5
13.0
13.0
6.5
1.6
10.9
77
6.5
Pedagogical Developments
Whilst the foregoing material provides useful insights into the impact of the CONNECT School project upon the classroom experience of both teachers and students such as the development of a multisensory environment, the potential to introduce interactive materials and so forth it is important to recognise that the relationship between pedagogy and technology is not as simple as it first appears. To some degree this is because pedagogy is a term that is increasingly misused. Put simply, pedagogy is a highly principled, coherent, carefully structured approach to teaching and learning that is understood and consistently utilised throughout a school from the level of individual practitioner to the school management with learning as the key objective. It is essentially an active realisation of the shared vision and associated practices of the institution. Designing for learning within the school and the pursuit of education takes place within the context of this preferred pedagogical approach. In other words, technology is a mode of delivery; not a pedagogy. A major challenge to using technology effectively in an educational setting is to understand the difference between using technology and using technology to enhance learning. Pedagogy rather than technology should drive decision-making around the teaching and learning acts whether the process takes place at the level of the individual teachers devising activities or sessions or involves the work of a wider team seeking to remodel a curriculum on the lines of the Connect School project. It is not correct to assume that the application of technology alone is an exercise in such decision making. Part of the difficulty in evaluating the Connect School project is that the project is essentially a technology-driven rather than a pedagogically-led intervention. This manifests in two ways in particular: Teachers are being asked to move (in what is essentially a very short timeframe) from practice based around making and seeing-through individualised decisions about what to teach and how as these emerge in a live teaching environment, to a much more regimented and pre-planned model of practice that is heavily dependent on a number of practical and methodological constraints around using the schools managed learning environment (MLE) and organising class activity around laptop technology that facilitates access to that MLE. The attention and effort put into making and sustaining decisions around the schools technology platform and its utilisation outweigh to a damaging extent attention to the experience of the users particularly those teachers outside the Core Group. Moreover, although the CONNECT School project has undoubtedly delivered substantial training and up-skilling opportunities for the staff of St Aidans Community School (see Section 7) it is the view of the authors that the training offered to date is neither comprehensive enough to generate the level of fluency necessary to power the pedagogical rationale behind the project nor appropriate to the developmental needs of teachers being asked to work in an ongoing way with technology in the classroom.
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Consequently, it is the view of the authors that the Project Partners should develop a considered, structured pathway towards re-casting the project as a pedagogically-led intervention and one which is focussed upon teaching with ICT. Moreover, this must be underpinned by a more comprehensive and targeted approach to training. The use of focus projects which are targeted by subject area (i.e. English, History, Science, etc) would be valuable in developing this pathway. A focus project is a short- to medium-term intervention made by a group of teachers working together, beginning with a teaching and learning objective and working out from there to include the technology usages most likely to benefit the project. It is pedagogical in the sense that it has a valid educational objective, runs a pre-determined life-course, and is teacher-led not technology driven.
You learn more on computers. You can communicate with other people. Second Year Student
6.6
Concluding Comments
The foregoing section has shown that the CONNECT School project has had a range of positive impacts in terms of the teaching and pedagogy practice within St Aidans. At an overall level teachers reported a dramatic change in their teaching environment which is now multi-sensory. Teachers also reported increased classroom participation and engagement from their students. These are extremely positive findings and are in line with the aims of the CONNECT initiative. The continued use of technology by former teaching staff is a positive feature and suggests that the initiative has a continuing influence upon the teaching methods of the staff that it touches.
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However, it does not appear that the potential of the initiative is being fully attained. For example, issues raised in terms of the provision of laptops are interesting and point to a need to re-think their universal provision. For instance, we recognise that the non-collection of laptops by students can undermine the efforts of teachers to teach through ICT and we note that a number of teachers view the in-class projectors, electronic blackboards and tablet laptops rather than the universal provision of laptops to students as being most beneficial. Moreover, the relatively low use of the VLE by teachers for more complicated activities and the relative lack of quality materials suggest that there are still gaps in the confidence or competence of teachers to fully utilise the materials at their disposal. However, we understand that at the time of writing arrangements are being put in place to facilitate a structured training programme for at least 10 staff members. This will be delivered through the European Pedagogy Model (or EPICT) in early 2010. Finally, the authors are also pleased to note the CONNECT VLE does include examples of good practice and these highlight the potential of the environment. However, the technology-led (as opposed to pedagogically-led) nature of the intervention to date has created challenges for teachers in terms of changing models of practice and has also drawn effort away from the experience of users towards decisions on technological choices. As a result, the authors consider that the project should be re-focused away from learning with ICT to teaching with ICT via a structured pathway. This changing focus must be underpinned by a more comprehensive and targeted approach to training of staff. Such a move is likely to ensure greater embedding of ICT as a teaching methodology and will contribute to an even deeper feeling of ownership and comfort among the teaching staff. The use of focus projects which are targeted by subject area (i.e. English, History, Science, etc) would be valuable in developing this pathway. As part of this change further consideration should be given to how soft skills (i.e. CSPE, SPHE, etc) can be taught through ICT. This type of project would lend itself to one of the focus projects suggested earlier. In addition, further consideration should be given as to how education for students with Special Needs can be enhanced and embedded through ICT usage.
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7 TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

7.1 Introduction
Training and upskilling has been central to the roll-out of CONNECT in St Aidans Community School since its inception. Indeed, a number of milestones have previously been documented for the academic year 2006/07, including the following: An initial Skills Audit of Teachers carried out in May 2006 and thorough analysis and discussion with School Management, three groups of different skill levels were identified the Basic IT Skills group, Intermediate Skills group, and Advanced Skills group. This latter group became the Core Group (the most ICT literate teachers working on a voluntary basis) and lead the Peer Learning Programme in the school. Laptops were presented to all Teachers in May 2006 to aid their use of them over the summer along with basic Moodle (Education Content Management System) Training delivered by the ITT. The eChampion was recruited and in position by the end of August 06, in time for the start of the School Year. The Teacher Training Programme was initiated on the first week of the school year with the Core Group leading the training for the Intermediate Group, and those in the Basic Skills group receiving one-to-one tuition provided by South Dublin Libraries. Through this programme a total of 12 Teacher Training Workshops were delivered over the school year in various venues. Indeed the aforementioned Skill Audit was repeated in January 2007 and the most recent review of the initiative in St Aidans Community School noted that this showed significant improvements in skill and confidence in the majority of teachers in using ICT.
7.2
Training Provision and Participation
Background The IT Skills Audit of St Aidans Community School carried out in May 2006 identified ICT skills levels among the teaching staff for the purposes of training. It was found that eight teachers were in the high-skills category. In many cases, these teachers were already implementing the use of ICT in the classroom or had worked in other schools using ICT or had recently graduated college and had wide experience of ICT both in their personal and professional lives. This finding was seen as an important resource to the initiative and an opportunity to implement a Peer-to-Peer Learning approach. The Core Group believe that the majority of staff is now at a level where it is difficult for them to develop and deliver further training until they themselves receive further more specialised training.
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The first training day of the 2006/07 academic year was held in September 2006. The training programme for the day was devised and planned by the Core Group in a workshop jointly facilitated by the CONNECT Project Manager and the eChampion. The Core Group led training workshops, covering Internet Research, Digital Photography, and PowerPoint Presentations, for the Middle Skill Level group. This approach was successful as the teacher trainees researched a chosen topic in their subject and presented it using technology, a simple example of how they could lead the students to take on a research project for themselves and present their findings to the classroom. The success of this Training Day gave the Core Group great confidence in their ability and was a validation of the Peer-to-Peer learning approach by the other teachers. The Basic Skills group received one-to-one tuition from South Dublin Libraries Trainers which brought them up to the standard of the Middle Skill Level Group which they then joined in future training events. Over a two month period the Core Group met collectively on three occasions as an opportunity to agree their vision and priorities for the ongoing development of the Training Programme and to identify the key factors for consideration in the roll-out of laptops to the students. These group workshops were facilitated by the Connect Project Manager as the participation of the eChampion in the discussions was important and the Project Manager is an experienced facilitator which was an additional resource. An Action Plan was agreed as part of these sessions and its implementation was a key determinant in the smooth delivery of the student laptop roll-out. This approach was useful in the outcomes it produced i.e. the development of the core group; the opportunity to individually and collectively vision the school of the future; the leadership of the core group in the roll-out of the student laptops; and taking a planned approach identifying needs from the school, the Connect project office and other project partners. The ICT Skills Audit was repeated in January 2007, showing a significant level of up-skilling across the majority of teachers. As the overall ICT Skills of the teaching staff has improved, the role of the Core Group has become more demanding. The Core Group continues to provide training to colleagues who are quickly becoming as proficient in the use of ICT as they are. Initially, during the 06/07 academic year, the Core Group needed more time to prepare for Training Sessions and in response to this the school committed a half day per month in school to the Core Group for this purpose. This however did not always happen given the difficulties it poses in finding substitute teachers for the timetabled classes, which led to the Core Group feeling under pressure and unprepared for the upcoming training session. In the CONNECT Mid-Term Review for 2008/2009, it was reported that the half-day per month for training preparation no longer takes place since it is very difficult to release this number of teachers with limited resources. Instead, the Core Group is released for the last class in the run up to a Training Day and remain on in School until 4.00pm or so.
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Early on, the Core Group received advanced Moodle Training from Enovation which was hugely beneficial in their up-skilling. Half of the Core Group received Moodle Administration Training and the other half received advanced Moodle Training in Course Development. The Core Group functions as a fluid grouping reflecting the skill, confidence and enthusiasm levels developing amongst the teachers. In the academic year 2007/2008 a further member joined the group bringing the Core Group to a total of 9. The Core Group meet on a weekly basis at 8.30 each Friday morning. These meetings are useful for planning and developing the Project but, according to the MidTerm Review, do not provide enough time for preparing for All Staff Training Days. The All-Staff Training days delivered in 2007/2008 were mostly focused on the use of Moodle but also covered a range of material including: Moodle Crash Courses for New Teachers; Moodle Revision Workshops; Organising Subject Pages; Uploading Material to Moodle; Hot Potatoes Workshops (Interactive Material); Moodle Quiz Workshops; School Administration and Moodle; PC Maintenance and Housekeeping; PowerPoint and Data Projectors; Smartboard Software and Data Projectors.
7.3
Current Teacher Perspectives on Training and Training Provision
A number of teachers noted that now, in this current academic year (2008/2009) there has not been as much training as in the past. A key difficulty or issue around the provision of training was emphasised by a member of then Core Group the ICT skills level across the teaching faculty, and even the Core Group itself, is so varied that it can be difficult to cater for a group of teachers as a whole: "One of the issues now that has come out of training is that even within this group the IT levels and the skill levels of everyone now. At the start we were all bunched up together but now its all drawn out. Theres training for the rest of the group and theres training for the core staff but even now within those two groups theres massive differences, its a sliding scale. One of the issues I found in the last few training days is its an issue that we find in class, its the differentiation. If you have ten people in the class theres a massive difference between the first and the last. Its just impossible to cater for both. So I think weve reached a stage now in
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training where we have to specialise and I think thats the next step because what would be very good for me would be pointless for other people and vice versa" It was also mentioned by a number of teachers that many of the training days are repetitive, and often are not always applicable to the subject area they teach. Amongst the non-Core Group teachers in particular it was stated that the preferred training approach would be to group teachers together on the basis of the subject they teach and, as a department, decide what training was needed: "If we were grouped in subject areas as opposed to the normal 'if you want to do PowerPoint go to this room'. But I prefer to be the whole of our department and then we all sit down and we decide what we are going to achieve....Learning to use technology in a way thats very specific to your subject" There is also a limit to what teachers can do, or the level to which they can train other teachers in the school because, as one teacher noted: we are not programmers. This sentiment is to a certain extent in terms of the demand for training. Ultimately they are teachers, who have to complete a curriculum, in order to prepare students for state examinations, and as such there is a natural level to where a particular teacher can go You get to a certain level and you have to make a choice: computer geek or stay where you are I think thats probably happening with staff.
7.4
Impact of Peer Learning and Whole School Training
All the teachers interviewed as part of the evaluation of CONNECT School project specifically mentioned and praised the system of peer learning in place in the school, as well as the availability and support of the eChampion. The core group and eChampion are described as supportive and very approachable. This peer-to-peer training is carried both formally from the Core Group to non-Core Group teachers as described above, and informally, through a principle of collaboration that exists between teachers in St Aidans Community School. Teachers work together to create resources that can be used by others in the department, and across the school: "Yeah, collaborating with resources. When I put something up there its up there for everyone to use the same for other teachers. There is that sense of working together" We divide the work up between us within a subject and then its up there for everybody to use "I do find it for sharing resources fantastic. Its like a library, to take resources and put resources up and creating within it I find it very useful" The Core Group teachers are also using the VLE as a training tool for other teachers by putting up how-tos for using Moodle and overcoming or troubleshooting commonly experienced difficulties:
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rather than ten teachers coming up and asking me the same question, weve now put up how to resolve Moodle so were trying to use the VLE in another way for the teachers
7.5
CPD: Accreditation and Certification
The foregoing sections demonstrate that a substantial body of structured and peer-to-peer training has been delivered over the lifetime of the CONNECT School project and it is the view of the authors that this has served to significantly up-skill the teaching staff at St Aidans Community School and in so doing, to advance the objectives of the broader project. Moreover, this provides a very important strand to the Continuing Professional Development (or CPD) of the teaching staff. However, although the training provided is not currently accredited the eChampion and South Dublin County Council are currently working with the Institute of Technology, Tallaght (or ITT) to develop a Community of Practice which will provide a forum for the sharing of ideas and training amongst those working in the education sphere. It is envisaged that this Community of Practice will initially focus upon the teaching of Maths and Science subjects although there is scope for this to expand over time. Moreover, there is also scope for ITT to introduce some form of accreditation into this programme as it advances.
7.6
Role of the On-site Supports
The eChampion The eChampion is employed by South Dublin County Council to support the achievement of the goals of the Connect School. The provision of an eChampion within St Aidans Community School has been one of the most important supports provided by South Dublin County Council given that the eChampion has worked intensively on-site to support school management and the teaching staff and to project manage the roll-out of the project. With regard to the former, the e-Champion provides administrative and technical support to both school management and the teaching staff (i.e. webpage management, ICT maintenance, procurement, etc) and is a key driver behind the delivery of training and ICT planning. To this end, he is working in an outreach capacity in St Aidans Community School to motivate, support and develop the confidence of the teachers and participating students. This includes: Co-ordinating and developing the teacher training programme Providing technical support to the project Developing a community approach involving the parents and local community Networking with similar initiatives in other schools Establishing working relationships with key education and ICT organisations Maintaining CONNECT-sponsored hardware
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The Moodle Administrator function was initially carried out by the eChampion. It was envisaged that the role of Moodle Administrator should develop as a Moodle Administration Team with rota membership, in reality this has not been the case with the eChampion carrying out the majority of Moodle Administration tasks. The majority of the Core Group have administrative privileges on Moodle and carry out many day to day administrative functions. In addition an administrative user with limited rights has been set up for use by the Roll out Logistics Team, and this user has the ability to reset passwords and create new users on the system. However, although the eChampion is viewed very positively by the teaching staff at the CONNECT School this is still a very challenging role. The current eChampion comes from a local authority background and the cultures of the two organisations are very different. This has necessitated a period of learning for all sides to understand the needs and concerns of the other stakeholders within the school. At the time of the advertisement of the position the Project Partners discussed the requirements of the post and whether the position should be filled by a trained teacher. It was felt that there was a need for the appointed person to have strong ICT skills, project management experience and to act as a change agent. Moreover, the partners felt that since there was a strong organisational change element to the job the eChampion should not necessarily be a qualified teacher as someone from outside the teaching sphere may be more successful in bringing about the required change (although this did not preclude a qualified teacher from applying for the post). From a pedagogical perspective, the Core Group would be leading on the development and delivery of training and the role of the eChampion in this regard would be to facilitate, support and develop the Peer-to-Peer Training Programme. Finally, although the authors do accept that the eChampion has been an integral support during the roll-out and bedding-down of the CONNECT School at St Aidans Community School and has worked intensively in this role over the past 4 years, it is clear that this model (i.e. one eChampion per school) will not be feasible if and when the project is scaled-up to include other schools. Rather, it is recommended that the Project Partners examine the feasibility of extant school resources for instance, the ICT Coordinator or a Core Group delivering core technical, administrative and training functions under the supervision of an eChampion charged with oversight and project management of a suite of schools. The ICT Coordinator An ICT Coordinator can be NCTE-nominated in each school. The nominee usually a teacher has responsibility for leading and managing the integration of ICT into teaching and learning within each school. The role of the ICT Coordinator is to be involved in all aspects of IT within the school. This is an expansive work programme and includes planning, research, implementation, training and support elements.
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In addition the ICT Coordinator maintains ICT hardware and software and offers troubleshooting advice for any issues which arise. The ICT Coordinator is a member of the Core Group. The Core Group The Core Group was set up at the start of the Connect School project and is made up of teachers with the most ICT skills and who participate on a voluntary basis. The role of the Core Group is to develop and deliver training to other teachers within the school. The members of this group deliver training through a Peer-to-Peer Training model and the Group meets on a weekly basis. The Roll Out Logistics Team The daily rollout and collection of laptops in St Aidans places a significant logistical burden on the day to day running of the school. The key process by which the roll-out and collection takes place every day is through the work of the Roll-Out Logistics Team (ROLT). The ROLT comprises the seven Special Needs Assistants, and was set up to supervise the distribution and collection of laptops in the mornings and afternoons. Role of School Management The School Management are involved in the project in terms of their participation in the overall project steering group as well as being involved at the beginning of the project in terms of identifying the ICT skills of the teachers.
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In most of the classes where projects and studies are being done the teachers use the technology because it's much easier. Senior Student
7.7
Concluding Comments
The foregoing section has demonstrated that a robust programme of staff training and upskilling has been rolled-out over recent years and that this has been supplemented with a range of on-site supports including the eChampion and the ICT Coordinator. However, it is the view of the authors that consideration should be given to a move away from all staff training days. Rather, this could be replaced with training sessions conducted on a subject-bysubject basis. In other words, each staff member delivering a specific subject (i.e. English) would be trained together in terms of how best to teach their shared subject through ICT. Such an approach would facilitate shared learning amongst teachers within each subject department and would supplement the adoption of focus projects (as discussed in Section 6.4). It is also recommended that, as part of the move towards re-focusing the project, further training be introduced vis--vis the development and delivery of interactive lessons which make the most of the potential offered by Moodle. To this end, the development of the Community of Practice offers a good opportunity to achieve this goal and as such, should be pursued during the academic year 2009/10.
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Finally, it is recommended that the planning of future training and development opportunities should seek to ensure that the future development of teaching practice is cognisant of the requirements of teaching students through ICT and the needs of one-to-one computing. To this end, a structured training programme that allows participants to work through pedagogical as well as technical issues is seen as the most valuable way forward. The European Pedagogy ICT model (or EPICT) is one such programme. Alternatively, a CPD programme structured around a challenging but enjoyable approach such as Digital Creator could be used as the basic platform for a school-wide push in this direction. Both approaches have the potential to provide a structured training platform and both are award bearing and teacher-relevant. Indeed, we note that at the time of writing arrangements are being put in place to facilitate a structured training programme for at least 10 staff members. This will be delivered through the European Pedagogy Model (or EPICT) in early 2010.
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8 INTER-AGENCY PERSPECTIVES
8.1 Introduction
The partnership approach is a particular strength of the project which should be continued. This approach worked at both a horizontal level on the ground between the agencies involved and at a vertical level with communication taking place from the local to the national bodies. Partnership between the project and a variety of key state bodies has been a core principle of CONNECT since its genesis in mid-2005. This partnership approach aims to leverage the impact of the project and to ensure that the objectives of the project are met in a more expeditious manner than if the project was to travel the road on its own.
8.2
Role of the Project Partners
Reporting and Data Sharing Representatives of the six key partners in the CONNECT project meet on a quarterly basis, as agreed in the Terms of Reference of the Partners Steering Group (adopted in early 2007). The partners do meet more regularly, as and when required (i.e. when urgent work needs to be progressed). Although there are no formalised systems or procedures in place to support information sharing across the participating agencies, these quarterly meetings do provide a forum for the exchange of information and ideas and for the initiation of discussion and debate. Project Partners Structure There are six key partners in the CONNECT project (including the school itself) and the role of each has developed and emerged over the years. In order to provide structure to the partnership approach the roles of the partners have been formalised in the document CONNECT School Partners, Steering Group Terms of Reference. The Steering Group meets on a quarterly basis (and more frequently if required) to ensure that the roles of the various agencies are developed on an integrated and co-ordinated basis reflecting the development needs of the project. The Steering Group also includes representatives of St Aidans Community School (the Principal and Deputy-Principal along with the Chair of the Board of Management). The Steering Group consists of: Department of Education and Science: The Department initiated the contacts between the various agencies under its aegis. It co-ordinates the input and participation of the government agencies across its aegis (i.e. the National Centre for Technology in Education, the Dublin West Education Centre and the Evaluation Support Research Unit).
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The then Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin launched the CONNECT School project in April 2007. The Department is represented on the Steering Group by the Regional Manager of the South Dublin Office; Dublin West Education Centre (DWEC): The Centre provides training, development and support for teachers and the wider school community in the local area and supports national in-service programme. In its role on the Steering Group, the Centre provides ongoing support and advice to the project, part-resourcing the Teacher Training Programme and championing the peer-to-peer learning approach of the Core Group. DWEC is represented on the Steering Group by its Chairman; Institute of Technology, Tallaght (ITT): The higher education institute in the area (ITT) provides both undergraduate and postgraduate education across a range of disciplines. The Department of Computing in ITT supports the development of the Moodle VLE and is facilitating the process of embedding the technology in the school. ITT is represented on the Steering Group by the Head of Computing; National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE): The NCTE is an Irish Government agency established to provide advice, support and information on the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in education. The NCTE finances the delivery of ICT related in-service training in St Aidans through the Dublin West Education Centre. It delivers the broadband programme to all second-level schools nationally and firewalls the internet pipe through the HEAnet. The NCTE has upgraded St Aidans from a 2MB/second broadband connection to 8 MB/second to allow for faster connectivity. It is represented by the National Coordinator of the Continuing Professional Development Initiative, a programme which delivers a comprehensive ICT training programme for teachers ranging from basic ICT skills to pedagogical skills and integration; South Dublin County Council (SDCC): As the local authority for the county SDCC engages in activities that it considers necessary or desirable to promote the interests of the local community. SDCC is the lead partner and project sponsor. It played a key role in the establishment of the project through ongoing discussion with the Principal of St Aidans and the local community. The role of SDCC includes investment in the required hardware and VLE and the resourcing of an eChampion in the school as well as providing co-ordination and administrative support to the overall CONNECT project. The County Manager is the Chair of the CONNECT School Project. In Autumn/Winter 2008, the Steering Group established two sub-groups to explore and report back to the Steering Group on two specific issues teacher training requirements and the possible use of eBooks. The 2006/7 review of the project found that this approach of establishing sub-groups to be very successful and recommended that it should be continued as required.
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8.3
Success of the Inter-Agency Approach
The 2006/7 review of the CONNECT school project found that the partnership approach of the project was working well noting that it was a particular strength of the project that worked at both a horizontal level on the ground between the agencies involved and at a vertical level with communication taking place from the local to the national bodies. Indeed, a presentation by the County Manager and School Principal to the National Economic and Social Forum (NESF) was cited as an excellent example of this upstream communication although the most recent Mid-Term Review of the CONNECT School did note that greater input from all partners would be very much welcomed in the provision of training, content and resources for the VLE. Finally, having considered the management structures in place and the manner in which these have evolved since 2006, it is the view of the authors that this multi-agency model and the commitment of the Project Partners has been essential to the success achieved by the CONNECT School project to date.
.you can talk to your friends and email your homework to teachers. - Second Year Student
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9 ICT INFRASTRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT

9.1 Introduction
The CONNECT School project is underpinned by an extensive range of hardware and software provision which has been rolled out over the period since 2006. The objective of this section is to set out a discussion around the aims and objectives of this provision and the various policies and strategies that have been instituted.
9.2
Infrastructural Framework
The ICT infrastructural provision underpinning the CONNECT School consists of a series of interrelated and mutually-reinforcing tiers of provision including the following: High quality broadband connectivity allowing the school community to access on-line learning-support materials and data sources including the NCTEs ScoilNet.ie webpage for each subject on the national curriculum An evolving VLE based upon the usage of Open Source Software. This has the capacity for future scalability and the creation of a county-wide on-line educational campus whereby both educators and students can develop and post interactive lessons and learning supports. The in-class provision of suite of ICT hardware including a laptop for each teacher and for more than half of all students in addition to data projectors in every classroom High Quality Broadband Connectivity The provision of a high-quality broadband pipeline into the CONNECT School at St Aidans Community School is a key aspect of this project. At its inception, the CONNECT School had a connection of 2 Mbps @ 20:1 Contention 39 . This was subsequently upgraded to 4 Mbps @ 4:1 contention. Although this upgrade delivered a real-time speed increase of a factor of 10, the pipeline had begun to become insufficient in recent months as many teachers have moved to creating multimedia resources using video and audio. Consequently, St Aidans Community School has been selected as one of nearly 80 schools to get a broadband upgrade to 100 Mbps. This upgrade is being provided by the DES, the NCTE, and the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. This latest upgrade represents a further increase of a factor of 25 (depending on contention) thereby removing any barrier to utilising multimedia resources in the classroom.
39
Contention refers to the number of clients (other customers) you are sharing your connection with and the smaller the contention the better. For example, 4 Mbps @ 4;1 contention with equal upload and download meant that St Aidans had a guaranteed 1Mbps at all times.
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Usage of Open Source Software The VLE for the CONNECT school is hosted at http://connect.learnonline.ie and is based upon Moodle, (an open-source application) in line with the policy of South Dublin County Council to apply such software throughout the broader CONNECT Initiative. By contrast with proprietary software such as Windows where the source code is hidden and can only be maintained by buying upgrades open-source Software uses a source code which is open. Consequently, the open nature of this software means that it is free and will always be up-to-date. International standards with regard to VLEs are evolving with IMS being the most significant of these. IMS content packages are supported by Moodle and all of the other leading VLEs such as Blackboards, WebCT etc. However learning content can be deployed to any VLE once it is compliant with the relevant standards.. A number of similarities exist between Moodle and WebCT (Blackboard) including: Discussion forum; Synchronous chat; Quizzes, tests; Drop box; Course calendar; Student enrolment in courses; Restricted access; Customisation; Uploading files (e.g. Word docs, PowerPoint, audio files). (taken from Differences between Moodle and WebCT (Blackboard)) Notwithstanding these similarities a number of differences also exist with regard to these two VLEs which are detailed in Table 9.1.
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Table 9.1: Overview of Differences across VLE Types Feature Bandwidth Learning Curve Moodle All features work on dial-up Can use w/o manual or training. Provides excellent, easy to use help website. Photos, nested threads Blog, wiki, journal, glossary, workshop Free Open Source, so can change locally Chart Comparing students; number of visit per page WebCT Bandwidth hog, may time out Not as intuitive, many components need to configure initially. Help website complicated. See posts at one time, not nested Whiteboard Cost Need to request change from WebCT (may not happen) Time student spent on each page
Discussion Tools Cost Customization User Statistics
Although widely used in Higher Level Educational Institutions, Open Source Software is presently used in only a small number of schools within the Post-Primary sector. However, the usage of Open Source Software does carry a number of benefits. In the first instance, the experience of both teachers and students alike indicates quite clearly that the Moodle-based VLE can and does function efficiently and effectively allowing all parties to develop, post and use a range of learning materials. Moodle offers the same functionality as comparable proprietary software and has allowed the teaching staff at St Aidans Community School to test and develop interactive lessons through other open-source software such as Hot Potatoes and has facilitated the usage of new teaching supports including Numeracy Workout (see Section 6). Indeed, a number of key lessons have emerged from this evaluation, as follows: Ongoing training and on-site support can help Post-Primary teachers and students to overcome any initial lack of familiarity with open-source software Although the CONNECT School and the VLE are still evolving, it is clear that there is a real potential to for the participating educators (i.e. teaching staff at St Aidans Community School and beyond) to develop a critical mass of on-line lessons and interactive learning supports over time which can be accessed by any school in the South Dublin County Council administrative area. Secondly, open-source software offers an efficient and value for money opportunity for scaling-up the CONNECT School (i.e. replicating the model developed in St Aidans Community School in other Post-Primary schools). The low cost, open and collaborative nature of open-source software (including Moodle) means that scalability of this initiative is feasible over time. By contrast, any substitution towards comparable proprietary software would likely incur substantive costs. In other
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words, the cost of replicating the CONNECT School in multiple schools in South Dublin would likely be prohibitive. Finally, Linux trials commenced during the academic year 2008/09 and by mid-2009 it had been agreed by all stakeholders that Linux would be introduced into the CONNECT School project alongside a new e-Portal at the commencement of the forthcoming academic year. Consequently, Linux will be rolled out to First Year students in Year 4 of the CONNECT School (or academic year 2009/10) and this software will run on Netbooks rather than laptops (as at present) following on from a recommendation of the Technology Sub-group of the Connect School Partners Steering Group established to review the overall technology provision to St Aidans Community School. Similar to Moodle, Linux is a free, open-source operating system developed by an online community of programmers in the mid-1990s. This software is widely recognised as a viable alternative to proprietary mainstream proprietary software such as Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X and is currently used by a number of other post-primary schools in the State including Clongowes Wood and Mount Temple Comprehensive. This software is compatible for the devices currently used in St Aidans Community School such as Data Projectors, Digital Cameras and USB Drives. In addition to meeting the operating needs of the CONNECT School, the introduction of Linux will also go some way to ensuring that students are exposed to a range of alternative operating systems (whether proprietary or non-proprietary), an important consideration in the workplaces of the new century. In-class Provision of ICT Hardware Since the inception of the CONNECT School in 2006, a concerted effort has been made to embed a high standard of ICT Hardware within the St Aidans Community School (see Table 9.2). The provision of a laptop to each student has been central to the roll-out of the project. Over the intervening period, the project has been rolled-out to approximately 300 students including three consecutive intakes of 1st Year students 40 in addition to 5th and 6th Year students participating in the ACE programme. Moreover, the functionality and reach of the project has continued to expand with the introduction of new applications and programmes such as Google Apps and literacy classes. In addition to the standard laptops, a further 10 Tablet Laptops were provided to Science and Maths teachers. These devices differ from a regular laptop in that the screen is touch sensitive and offers greater mobility (i.e. the screen can be twisted around and placed flat), thereby enabling the user to write directly onto the screen using a stylus (or digital pen) rather than a keyboard or mouse. These devices are particularly useful in subjects such as Maths or Science as teachers had found it difficult to create resources involving mathematical notation because of subscript, superscript, special characters, etc. This device allows teachers to write up mathematical notation by hand and put it directly onto the data projector.
40
2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10
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Table 9.2: Overview of ICT Hardware Provision Device Standard Laptops Tablet Laptops Servers Webcams Microphone Headsets Data Projectors Digital Cameras 2 Volume More than 300 laptops to date for use by both teachers and students 10 tablet laptops for Maths and Science teachers 2 12 12 Provider South Dublin County Council South Dublin County Council South Dublin County Council South Dublin County Council South Dublin County Council South Dublin County Council With St Aidans Community School St Aidans Community School
Indeed, the infrastructure provided has enabled the Project Partners (including school management) to develop a multi-sensory teaching and learning environment unmatched in the majority of PostPrimary schools throughout the State. Indeed, the far-reaching and innovative nature of this provision has provided new opportunities for both teachers and students, a contention supported by both our research and the aforementioned Subject Inspection of Mathematics by the DES. Moreover, the ambition and success of this project has been recognised by honours such as the Open Source Project of the Year Award and the Excellence in Local Government Award in addition to continuing interest from the national media. Interestingly, when considering issues such as ICT hardware and operating software it is important to note that the fundamental considerations are actually access to a range of hardware and software options and the functionality of the available options. In other words, the key to the broader CONNECT initiative including the CONNECT School is the internet. The initiative is both device (i.e. laptop, etc) and platform (i.e. software) agnostic meaning that it can change over time. This openness to new solutions and willingness to embrace new technologies is important for one simple reason: the changeability of the ICT backdrop against which the CONNECT School operates. This phenomenon is perhaps best summed-up by Moores Law. The latter refers to an observed and generally-accepted trend in the development of computing hardware since the 1960s which states (in general terms) that devices become twice as fast, half the size or half the price every 18 to 24 months. This has obvious implications for the CONNECT School. For instance, although the Project Partners initially opted to procure and distribute laptops, this does not mean that a new approach cannot be taken in future years. Rather, it is recognised that the range of devices and their general availability, functionality and affordability has changed substantially since 2006. In other words, it is clear that new technologies will continue to emerge regardless of the choices made by the Project Partners in much the same way as First Year students in 2009/10 will have easy access to technologies not available 4 years earlier (i.e. the iPhone, iPad, etc).
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9.3
Cost of Provision
Global Costs Since Q1 2007, cumulative total expenditure of almost 0.5m has been incurred by South Dublin County Council. This expenditure relates solely to the current and capital costs arising from the rollout of the CONNECT School Project but does not capture any labour costs (i.e. the e-Champion, teachers time, etc) relating to the school. The single largest expenditure category was ICT Infrastructure and Support Costs at just over 418,000 (or 86 per cent of all expenditure over the 2-year period since 2007). This category of expenditure includes the procurement of Computers (77 per cent) and associated Trade Services (9 per cent). The balance of the expenditure incurred related to Training and Expenses (3 per cent) and Other Costs (11 per cent). With regard to Other Cost, the cumulative of the various professional services and supports contracted-in was almost 49,000 (or 10 per cent) whilst much of the balance of the expenditure under this heading related to Advertising (0.6 per cent). Table 9.3: Global Expenditure (by cost category)
CATEGORY ICT Infrastructure and Support Costs Computers Office Equipment Trade Services Software and Maintenance Other (i.e. Non-Capital Other) Staff and Expenses Costs Training Travel and Subsistence Other (i.e. Entertainment) Other Costs Advertising Office Consumables Consultancy Miscellaneous Costs ACTUAL SPEND 418,332 372,145 793 44,885 73 437 13,322 6,719 6,322 281 52,363 2,708 266 48,944 444 % OF TOTAL 86.43% 76.89% 0.16% 9.27% 0.01% 0.09% 2.75% 1.39% 1.31% 0.06% 10.82% 0.56% 0.05% 10.11% 0.10%
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Expenditure Trends, 2007 to 2009 Since 2007, the overall costs outlined above have been driven by 3 principal spikes. These occurred in January 2007 (120,000), January 2008 (69,000) and October 2008 (100,000) and reflect the capital nature of the expenditure incurred (i.e. a series of once-off infrastructural investments). Over the course of the period examined, almost 54 per cent (or 260,000) of this expenditure was incurred in 2008 with the balance attributable to 2007 (38 per cent) and 2009 41 (8 per cent). Figure 9.1: CONNECT School Expenditure, 2007 2009
Expenditure 2007 - April 2009
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
Feb-07 Feb-08 Dec-07 Dec-08 Feb-09 Oct-07 Apr-07 Apr-08 Oct-08 Jun-07 Jun-08 Aug-08 Aug-07 Apr-09
Variance from Budgeted Expenditure As part of the examination of the financial aspects of the CONNECT School project, the authors sought to review any variance between budgeted and actual expenditure since 2007 and the drivers of any such variance (i.e. capital or current expenditure). However, this has not been possible as South Dublin County Council does not have a specific code for the CONNECT School project.
41
Up to April 2009 only
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9.4
Selection and Performance
Student Laptops Supply and Delivery At the outset of the CONNECT School, it was decided to purchase 120 laptops (or 110 per cent of the required devices). The tender to supply laptops was awarded to PC Peripherals. It was agreed initially with the supplier that delivery constituted the booting of each machine and its joining the Schools wireless network successfully, thereby ensuring the functionality of the wireless network cards of each laptop. The supplier also provided an image of the laptop build on DVD which was used to recover problematic laptops. Since this image was greater than 8 Gigabytes, a dual-layer DVD reader was also required. As few as 6 out of 120 needed to be re-imaged and the extended battery proved enough to power each laptop through a full school day in the majority of cases. The 10 per cent redundancy laptop stock purchased at the outset is kept on charge within the school and is available as back-up in those cases whereby laptop batteries run flat during the school day. Operating System and Software Build At the outset of the project, the selected supplier provided a sample laptop preloaded with Windows XP. The operating system was then customised to suit an educational setting (i.e. games and DVD authoring software were removed, unwanted program icons were removed from the desktop, etc). Moreover, the Administrator, Teacher and Student were set up with appropriate rights. The laptop was then loaded with a suite of open source software (see Section 8.2) and tested vigorously for faults. When satisfied with the robustness of the operating system build including the suite of loaded applications the sample laptop was returned to the supplier and the other 119 laptops were imaged from this one. It was decided to use open source software since other software used within the project was also open source Although there is a lot of open source software available online it was decided to use programs from the Open CD Project (http://www.theopencd.org), since the functionality and compatibility of these have been extensively tested. Also these programs are all platform agnostic, which means they will run on either Windows or Linux. Figure 9.2 below provides an overview of the full suite of open-source software included in the CONNECT School.
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Figure 9.2a: Suite of Open-Source Software

Mozilla Firefox - Web Browser 7-Zip File Manager - File Compression Audacity - Audio Editor Celestia - Planetary Tour Program Inkscape - Vector Graphics Irfanview - Image Editing NVU - Web Authoring Scribus - Desktop Publishing Stellarium - Planetarium Tuxpaint - Paint Program
Figure 9.2b: Other Software Used

Microsoft Office - Office Suite Google Earth - Geographical Information System QuickTime Player - Media Player Adobe Flash - Web Content Player AVG - Anti-Virus Program
9.5
Maintenance and Replacement
Lines of Support A Four-Level Support Policy to troubleshoot problems with the laptops was developed and agreed with the Core Group and signed-off by School Management. The sequencing of this support model is as follows: 1. The Teacher in the Classroom is the 1st line of Support 2. A Member of the Core Group is the 2nd line of Support 3. Either the eChampion or the Schools ICT Coordinator is the 3rd line of Support 4. The Last line of support is the Laptop Vendor (PC Peripherals) Since vendor support is paid for on a contractual basis and can be easily used up in a matter of weeks it is of the utmost importance that the proper sequence of support is followed. However, in reality the need to avail of the 4th line of support has been minimal. Nevertheless, it should be borne in mind that although the foregoing is the agreed, formal sequence the reality on the ground is that the lines of support model is often a more fluid and flexible structure.
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For instance, teacher often only act as the first line of support if they have the necessary skill to do so or where that is possible within their classroom context. Similarly, a Core-Group member or the ICT Coordinator may not always be available. However, where such issues arise a teacher may send a student directly to the eChampion. Laptop Maintenance and Troubleshooting The student laptops have caused few maintenance problems for a number of reasons. Firstly, all students had limited user rights and so could not install software. Secondly, all students had an exact copy or image of the original build so that when a problem was encountered and solved it was relatively easy to resolve when it again arose on another laptop. Thirdly, an image of the build was provided on DVD so if a problem could not be resolved within a reasonable timeframe then the laptop could be re-imaged or rebuilt to its original state once all user data had been removed. As the project grows maintenance becomes more demanding. An operating system image server solution is being actively researched at the moment. This automates the process of re-imaging laptops. A trial has already shown that redeploying a laptop which used to take two and a half hours can now be done in 20 minutes. The next step here is to scale this up so that 10, 20 or 50 laptops can be done together in the same time. The technology used for this is called Clonezilla. Associated Costs of Maintenance and Replacement The conduct of laptop maintenance and replacement has incurred no additional cost to the Project Partners as 110 per cent of required devices were purchased at the outset and this has proven sufficient to maintain roll-out to date. Moreover, all maintenance work is carried out by the eChampion.
9.6
Logistics
Laptop Distribution and Collection The daily rollout and collection of laptops in St Aidans places a significant logistical burden on the day to day running of the school. The key process by which the roll-out and collection takes place every day is through the work of the Roll-Out Logistics Team (ROLT). The ROLT comprises the seven Special Needs Assistants, and was set up to supervise the distribution and collection of laptops in the mornings and afternoons. The rollout procedure typically follows the following schedule: 8.30am to 9.10am: the ROLT supervises the Students picking up their laptops from the lapcabbys where they're stored and charged overnight. Students arriving later than 9.10 forfeit the use of their Laptop for that day. 12.25pm to 12.35pm: the ROLT supervise the students placing their laptops in the Lunchtime Storage Area 13.20pm to 13.35pm: the ROLT supervises while students pick up their laptops.
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End of School Day: the ROLT ensures that all laptops are returned and notifies school management of any missing units. The storage area is secured once all laptops are returned. In addition the ROLT also monitor the usage of laptops: a roll is taken of those students who do not pick up their laptops and this is passed on to School Management. Since the ROLT have such a direct role with the Students, they are also the first to be aware of maintenance issues with the Laptops. Laptops requiring technical attention are removed from circulation by the ROLT, and the names of Students requiring replacement hardware noted. When the replacement hardware is configured it is the ROLT who ensure that the Student is re-issued with their new laptop. The ROLT also administer the usernames and passwords for students on the VLE and provide a degree of user-support to the students. The role of a ROLT team member is demanding and varied; it involves the distribution and collection of laptops, auditing and noting maintenance issues, issuing replacements, resetting usernames and passwords for Moodle, and supporting students in their use of the laptops. In addition to this there is also a significant amount of work in preparing laptops/netbooks/schoolbags at the start of each academic year as a new group requires laptop roll-out. Bring IT Home Programme The Bring IT Home Programme relates to the usage of the laptops in the evening time in the students own home. This policy is part of the Project Partners efforts to develop a deeper connection between the school, home and community and reflects the objective of developing a culture of lifelong learning within the community by means of fostering such a connection. This policy was originally instituted in 2006 but was later discontinued. However, the Bring IT Home Programme is to be re-instated from the academic year 2009/10 for Third and Fifth Year students. Under the terms of this policy, the laptop rule of use set out the circumstances and responsibilities involved in students bringing their laptops home as part of the eBook pilot. Primarily the responsibility of the laptop lies with the student to whom it has been assigned. The laptop must be handled with the utmost care and respect at all times. When not in use the laptops must be stored in their carry cases and students must bring the laptop to school each day. Consumption of food and drink is not permitted when the laptop is in use. Only the student to whom the laptop is assigned is permitted to use the device. The students must also ensure that their laptop is charged each night. In the event of a laptop becoming damaged or not working the student must notify the school immediately and in addition to this the laptop must be returned to the school for maintenance when required. Parents are encouraged to supervise usage of the laptop as much as possible as internet access at the school is firewalled (see Acceptable Usage Policy) but this may not be the case at home.
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Acceptable Usage Policy An Acceptable Use Policy was developed from a template available from the NCTE website and was introduced to ensure that students benefit from learning opportunities offered by the schools ICT and Internet resources in a safe and effective manner. The use of ICT and access to the internet is considered by the school as being a privilege. The Acceptable Use Policy is reviewed annually by both the school and parent representatives. This policy sets out the rules for use of the laptop at home (see above). However, much of the policy focuses on use of the World Wide Web, Email and the School Website (see Figure 9.3). The primary strategy of the school is to maximise the learning opportunities of the students along with reducing the risks associated with the Internet. In general terms the policy states that all internet sessions will always be supervised by a teacher. Internet usage is regularly monitored by the school. Risk to exposure of inappropriate material is minimised through filtering software and equivalent systems maintained by the NCTE and HEAnet for the Department of Education and Science. Internet safety training is provided for students and teachers and the uploading and downloading of non-approved software is forbidden. Virus protection software is updated on a regular basis and the use of memory sticks etc. is dependent on the teachers permission. The policy document outlines that the provisions made under the following legislation on the use of the internet and provides information to teachers, students and parents on the following: Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2003. Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998. Interception Act 1993. Video Recordings 1989. The Data Protection Act 1988. Figure 9.3: Extract from Acceptable Usage Policy Acceptable Usage Policy World Wide Web Students will not intentionally visit Internet sites that contain obscene, illegal, hateful or otherwise objectionable materials. Students will report accidental accessing of inappropriate materials in accordance with school procedures. Students will use the Internet for educational purposes only. Students will not copy information into assignments and fail to acknowledge the source (plagiarism and copyright infringement).
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Acceptable Usage Policy Email Students will use approved class email accounts under supervision by or permission from a teacher. Students will not send or receive any material that is illegal, obscene, defamatory or that is intended to annoy or intimidate another person. Students will not reveal their own or other peoples personal details, such as addresses or telephone numbers or pictures. School Website Pupils will be given the opportunity to publish projects, artwork or school work on the World Wide Web in accordance with clear policies and approval processes regarding the content that can be loaded to the schools website The website will be regularly checked to ensure that there is no content that compromises the safety of pupils or staff. Website using facilities such as guestbooks, notice boards or web logs will be checked frequently to ensure that they do not contain personal details. Pupils work will appear in an educational context on Web pages with a copyright notice prohibiting the copying of such work without express written permission. Pupils will continue to own the copyright on any work published.
The misuse of the Internet as outlined by the Acceptable Use Policy may result in disciplinary action. Included in this are written warnings, withdrawal of access privileges and in some instances suspension or expulsion. In addition to the school may report any illegal activities to the appropriate authorities.
9.7
Concluding Comments
The foregoing section has addressed a series of themes spanning laptop usage, maintenance and the adoption of the open-source software option. It is the view of the authors that the adoption of a platform agnostic stance by the Project Partners does confer certain benefits, not least in terms of value for money and the scalability of the overall project. Moreover, software such as Moodle, Linux and Firefox can support the development of highquality teaching and learning tools and can provide similar levels of functionality as competing proprietary packages. Consequently, it is the view of the authors that the use of open source software should continue although there is clearly a need to ensure that staff members support this usage and to continuously monitor the impacts of future roll-outs scheduled for the academic year 2009/10 in order to capture the success rates of such ventures.
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Finally, the provision of a laptop to each student has been a central tenet of the CONNECT School project since its inception. However, in line with the recommendation vis--vis re-focussing the project it is the view of the authors that the key considerations should be as follows: maintaining a laptop for each teacher; ensuring a high-quality pipeline of broadband into the school; and providing high-quality ICT infrastructure in each classroom (i.e. digital projectors, etc). As this evaluation neared completion, the authors advised the Project Partners that we believed that consideration should be given to putting in place fully-equipped Computer Rooms in the school which can be booked by each class. In addition to this change, we also believe that consideration should be given to providing each student with an alternative and perhaps more appropriate device such as a net-book. We note that the former recommendation was implemented in late-2009 and that the latter recommendation was being implemented at the time of writing.
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10 SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

10.1 Leadership
Summary of Findings
The overarching vision of the CONNECT initiative is to create a platform for improving quality of life and access to opportunities for the communities of South Dublin vis--vis a series of diverse and complementary interventions including the CONNECT School at St Aidans Community School. These interventions are grounded in a pro-social philosophy which seeks to target the root causes of antisocial behaviour and community disengagement by means of an innovative, technology-centred approach. In rolling-out the CONNECT School, South Dublin County Council has taken the lead in implementing an innovative and pro-social measure within a learning environment. The roll-out of this project could not have been realised without the commitment of the Project Partners and the enthusiasm and willingness of the school management to embrace new ideas and give of their time and energy. The generous and pro-active commitment of the teaching staff has been a key enabler to the project and reflects the professionalism and dedication of the staff within the school. It is also important to recognise that South Dublin County Council has played a lead role and has done so in a manner which goes beyond the traditional role of the local authority sector. Without this multi-agency approach it is extremely unlikely that the initiative would have advanced as far as it evidently has. Consequently, it is the view of the authors that the Connect School Project is a unique model, combining an inter-agency approach, a significant investment in hardware and software provision and a commitment to the training and development of both Staff and Students in St Aidan's Community School. Moreover, the CONNECT Project has ensured that St Aidans Community School is uniquely funded and supported compared to other schools and has bestowed many important opportunities upon teachers, students and the community.
10.2 Impacts and Effectiveness

Summary of Findings
The Virtual Learning Environment (or VLE) is a key part of the interface between the virtual and real school learning environments and as such provides a number of useful metrics around take-up, engagement and usage. Consequently, it is interesting to note that measures such as VLE log-ins indicate a broadly upward trend in the level of usage over time. Moreover, the usage statistics for the academic year 2008/09 indicate that usage is broadly comparable to the lifecycle of the school. In this regard higher levels of usage were recorded during busy school times such as September to late December and late January to early March.
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Although the VLE usage statistics do offer interesting insights into the impacts of the CONNECT initiative in terms of student engagement and take-up it should be noted that the initiative does have a number of important whole-school impacts. Indeed, at the outset of the CONNECT School project the Partners had anticipated a number of benefits including improved attendance and engagement and a review of the available school administrative data does indicate that impressive progress has been made across the whole-school environment. However, it is important to be clear that the authors are not solely attributing causality to the CONNECT project. Rather, it is important to note that many of the other interventions and programmes on-site will have contributed substantially to these outcomes. Teachers did note an increase in student engagement and in-class participation although they did note that the initiative was predicated upon universal access to computers and that occasions when students did not have their laptops with them can create difficulties. Indeed, internal monitoring statistics on laptop collection (Q4 2008) have indicated that approximately 1 in 5 students regularly do not collect their laptops (including those who are late or absent). Moreover, it is clear that some teachers believe that equipment such as projectors, electronic blackboards and tablet laptops are more important than the provision of laptops to students. Students themselves also felt that they received considerable benefits from the initiative notably the acquisition of additional skills, and the experience of greater independent learning. They also perceived that the new technology had improved the delivery of class lessons whilst many students also highlighted the role of the laptop as a link between the school and the home. However, a number of students emphasised the need to focus more on the centrality of student involvement than on the use of ICT by their teachers. Teachers have developed new materials for their classes using the VLE. However, even accounting for the fact that interactive materials are more suited to some subjects than others, the quantity and quality of this material continues to vary across the teaching body (notwithstanding the increase in the amount of material posted to the VLE). There are clearly issues around the comfort level of teachers to develop more technically challenging materials while others are unwilling to invest the time required to develop material. However, it is important to note that there are a number of examples of good practice, notably in ESS, History and French and that these provide a glimpse of the future potential of the VLE. In terms of the longer term impact of the initiative it is interesting to note that a teacher who has left St Aidans Community School is still using ICT to plan and deliver his lessons although his full utilisation of the technology is blocked by the lack of ICT infrastructure within his new school. It must be noted that technology is a mode of delivery; not a pedagogy. In this context, a major challenge to using technology effectively in an educational setting is to understand the difference between using technology and using technology to enhance learning. It is the view of the authors that focus heretofore has been on the former and that, in effect, the CONNECT School project is essentially a technology-driven rather than a pedagogically-led intervention.
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Consequently, it is the view of the authors that it is imperative to fundamentally re-focus the project upon pedagogical development during the next phase of its development within St Aidans Community School and that the CONNECT Project is not yet ready to be scaled-up (or applied to other schools). Rather, it is imperative that the aforementioned re-focussing of the project must first be addressed.
Conclusions and Recommendations

Recommendation #1 It is the view of the authors that the Project Partners should develop a considered, structured pathway towards re-casting the project as a pedagogically-led intervention and one which is focused upon teaching with ICT. In other words, it is recommended that the emphasis of the CONNECT School should be re-focussed as part of the next step in the development of the project. As part of such a change, school management should consider adopting the following steps: Undertake workshops with teachers (particularly those who have made best use of the resources) in order to collectively determine where the project is going (i.e. a re-focussed approach), how they will get there and how best use can be made of the available resources in doing so. Adopt the use of focus projects which are targeted by subject area (i.e. English, History, Science, etc). A focus project is grounded in a teaching and learning approach thereby binding the use of ICT into a stated curriculum-based learning objective and is pedagogical in the sense that it has a valid educational objective, runs a pre-determined life-course, and is teacher-led rather than technology driven. Recommendation #2 Moreover, as part of this change further consideration should be given to how soft skills (i.e. CSPE, SPHE, etc) can be taught through ICT and to how education for students with Special Needs can be prioritised. Recommendation #3 Although St Aidans Community School has experienced significant improvement across a range of in-school performance metrics (attendance, discipline, etc), the regular non-collection of laptops by a significant minority of students does present a very real challenge to the effectiveness of this intervention. Consequently, it is recommended that School Management should consider what options are available to ensure that all students bring their laptop to class (as required), or at least to substantially increase the collection rate over the upcoming academic year. These options could include incorporating such a requirement into the schools Code of Conduct and/or establishing a subcommittee of the Core Group to consider the various alternatives.
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Recommendation #4 Finally, the authors also recommend that the Core Group or the eChampion should closely monitor the extent to which those students participating in the newly re-instated Bring IT Home Programme do actually bring their laptops into the school each day 42 . Recommendation #5 As part of the methodological approach to this evaluation, the authors review and analysed a wide range of quantitative and qualitative data sources currently in place within St Aidans Community School including VLE usage statistics and the results of the most recent Teacher Online Survey (2008). However, the latter was originally developed for use in a 3rd level institution and the authors were of the view that this data source alone was insufficient to allow us to fully explore issues pertaining to the impact of the project upon teaching practice and as such, this data was supplemented with focus group material. Indeed, it is clear that the data currently collected is insufficient to underpin ongoing evaluative activity and that more and better data collection mechanisms are required going forward. Specifically, it is the view of the authors that VLE usage statistics and the current Teacher Online Survey alone do not fully capture all aspects of what constitutes success within this context and consequently, it is recommended that the latter should be overhauled to better fulfil this purpose. In order to assist with this process, we have developed a draft Student Survey and a draft Teacher Survey (referred to as Waystage Questionnaires); these are presented in the Appendices to this report). These surveys or some variant thereon could potentially be circulated periodically (i.e. at least annually) and would provide a robust and pedagogically sound base of evidence to inform future analyses. Finally, it should be noted that the authors had initially given consideration to a wide range of quantitative analyses that could be employed for the purposes of this report. These included undertaking both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of the general administrative information available from school for a sample of individual students over time and across a comprehensive range of indicators (i.e. attendance, behaviour, literacy and numeracy, etc). These would have facilitated comparisons across a range of educational dimensions. We also considered undertaking a Cohort Sequential Design in order to capture the available rich data on the progress of students as they move through the CONNECT School. In doing so, we believed that there was scope to approximate a long-term longitudinal study by combining, in a cohort sequential model, the temporarily overlapping short-term studies of various cohort groups and that this, in turn, would allow us to examine a common developmental trajectory spanning 1st Years
This recommendation is framed against the view expressed by a number of teachers that the Bring IT Home Programme contributed to students not bringing their laptops into the school
42
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through to 6th Years. Specifically, this approach would allow us to test outcomes across students by age as the project proceeds (i.e. comparing outcomes for 14 year olds in Year 1 and Year 2 43 ). Given that the CONNECT Project was still at a relatively earlier stage at the commencement of this evaluation (i.e. only three sets of classes had been provided with laptops), it was decided that it was too early to apply such analyses. Nevertheless, we do believe that there is scope to do so for the purposes of future evaluations.
10.3 Training and Development

Summary of Findings
Training and upskilling has been central to the roll-out of CONNECT in St Aidans Community School since its inception and it is clear that this training has served to significantly up-skill the teaching staff of the school and to advance the broader CONNECT project and this is evidenced by the results of the ICT skills audit of January 2007. Given the differing points of ICT expertise among teachers it is unsurprising that it is now becoming difficult to cater for the training needs of the teaching body as a whole and this issue will need to be addressed in order to maximise the benefit from the investment in such training. Consideration should also be given to the accreditation and certification of this training in the longer term. Any future scaling of the project will require the development of a wider Moodle Use community outside of the school and the authors welcome discussions between SDCC and ITT regarding further linkages in this area in terms of a Moodle Use Community of Practice. Given the experience that has been built up within St Aidans Community School this is a community in which the school could both learn and contribute. The provision of an eChampion within St Aidans Community School has been one of the most important supports provided by South Dublin County Council given that the e-Champion has worked intensively on-site to support school management and the teaching staff and to project manage the roll-out of the project. With regard to the former, the e-Champion provides administrative and technical support to both school management and the teaching staff (i.e. webpage management, ICT maintenance, procurement, etc) and is a key driver behind the delivery of training and ICT planning. In summary, although the CONNECT School project has undoubtedly delivered substantial training and up-skilling opportunities for the staff of St Aidans Community School it is the view of the authors that the training offered to date is neither comprehensive enough to generate the level of fluency necessary to power the pedagogical rationale behind the project nor appropriate to the developmental needs of teachers being asked to work in an ongoing way with technology in the classroom.
43
For instance, do 14 years olds perform better now than pre-CONNECT?
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Recommendation #6 It is recommended that the project should move away from an all staff training days approach. This could usefully be replaced with training sessions conducted on a subject-by-subject basis. In other words, staff members teaching a specific subject (i.e. English) would be trained together in terms of how best to use ICT as part of the planning and teaching of their shared subject. Such an approach would facilitate shared learning amongst teachers within each subject area and would supplement the adoption of focus projects. It would also help with the challenge of producing materials for sharing and reuse across the subject area. The school could link-in with existing work on subject specific ICT pedagogy through its NCTE or DWEC connections. Additionally, third-level partners could be sought to contribute to this aspect of the project; these could come from the local area where expertise permits (such as in the area of Modern Languages) or from new alliances and associations that St Aidans Community School identifies for this purpose. Recommendation #7 It is recommended that further training be introduced vis--vis the development and teaching of lessons which make the most of the interactive potential offered by MOODLE. There are two aspects to this: extending the developer skills of those staff members who feel they are ready to know more about the technical possibilities of the platform, and introducing a mechanism that allows a wider group of staff to share more readily their own learning in regard to using the learning management system. Both are essential if the school is to consider significant involvement in any future scaling of the CONNECT project. To this end, development of the Moodle Use Community of Practice could assist in achieving this goal and as such, should be pursued during the academic year 2009/10. There is an expertise within the St Aidans Community School that could form the bedrock for such a community. Strategic linkages can then be made with others teachers who have similar interests such as the CESI (http://www.cesi.ie/node/218 ) and with third level institutions who use Moodle and from whom both technical and usage lessons might be learnt. Recommendation #8 As part of these changes, it is recommended that future staff training and development should be predicated upon the development of teaching practice vis--vis ICT and enabling teachers to undertake one-to-one computing. Moreover, such training must be delivered on a structured basis and in a manner which is teacher-relevant. Indeed, it is the view of the authors that the range of possibilities opened up by on-demand access to one-to-one computing is not always immediately obvious to either the student or the teacher and this takes both professional development and practice to bring into play. Consequently, we recommend that this is factored into the planning of future training and development opportunities. A structured training programme that allows participants to work through pedagogical as well as technical issues is seen as the most valuable way forward and there are a number of options
113
available to this end. For instance, EPICT is one such programme. Alternatively, a CPD programme structured around a challenging but enjoyable approach such as Digital Creator could be used as the basic platform for a school-wide push in this direction. Both approaches are award bearing and both are teacher-relevant. However, we note that at the time of writing arrangements are being put in place to facilitate a structured training programme for at least 10 staff members. This will be delivered through the European Pedagogy Model (or EPICT) in early 2010. Recommendation #9 The authors do accept that the eChampion has been an integral support during the roll-out and consider that the role of eChampion needs to be retained. However, it is clear that this model will not be feasible if and when the project is scaled-up to include other schools. Rather, it is recommended that the Project Partners examine the feasibility of extant school resources for instance, the ICT Coordinator or a Core Group delivering core technical, administrative and training functions under the supervision of an e-Champion charged with oversight and project management of a suite of schools (as required). .
10.4 ICT Infrastructure and Management

Summary of Findings
Since Q1 2007, cumulative total expenditure of almost 0.5m has been incurred by South Dublin County Council. This expenditure relates solely to the current and capital costs arising from the rollout of the CONNECT School Project but does not capture any labour costs (i.e. the e-Champion, etc) relating to the school. On foot of this expenditure, a concerted effort has been made to embed a high standard of ICT Hardware within the St Aidans Community School. The provision of a laptop to each student has been central to the roll-out of the project and has been complemented with a range of other technologies including high-speed broadband, projectors and digital cameras. Indeed, the infrastructure provided has enabled the Project Partners (including school management) to develop a multi-sensory teaching and learning environment unmatched in the majority of Post-Primary schools throughout the State. The adoption of open-source software and the proposed introduction of an open-source operating system have been beneficial to the project in terms of value for money and the future scalability of the project and demonstrate impressive foresight on behalf of the project. The provision of a laptop to each student has been an underlying principle of the project since its inception. However, in light of the recommendation to re-focus the project as a pedagogically-led intervention and one which is focussed upon teaching with ICT the authors would question as to whether this is the most appropriate model for the future. In the context of this newly focused project
114
computer rooms, and potentially netbook type handsets, along with the provision of laptops to teachers should provide the basis of the ICT front line infrastructure.

Recommendation #10 It is recommended that the use of open-source software should continue although there is clearly a need to ensure support from staff and to continuously monitor the impacts of future roll-outs scheduled for the academic year 2009/10 in order determine the success of such ventures. Recommendation #11 In order to measure the future progress of the project the following should be undertaken: 1. The broadband pipeline to the school should be maintained. 2. Each teacher should continue to be provided with a laptop. 3. Implement fully equipped and bookable Computer Rooms. 4. Provide each student with a more appropriate device (such as a Netbook). Recommendation #12 In order to ensure that the financial management aspects of the project are sufficiently robust, it is recommended that South Dublin County Council establishes a specific code (or set of codes) for the CONNECT School project. Moreover, it is recommended that South Dublin County Council should routinely monitor any variance between budgeted and actual expenditure on this project and that actual expenditure should be presented on a full cost basis 44 (insofar as may be possible) going forward. Recommendation #13 Following implementation of the recommendations within this report, and in the medium term context of the decisions around scaling of the project arrangements, a full value for money analysis of the project should be put in place and this should include a specific consideration of the continued relevance of the project and whether it merits continuation. It is acknowledged that the current absence of such arrangements reflects the pace and school-centred nature of the project and in no way reflects on either the school of the steering partnership. However, if the CONNECT Project is to achieve its potential and be rolled out further as a groundbreaking intervention into teaching and learning in this country, it needs to be contextualised with the type of VFM analysis that, for instance, BECTA (UK) or Teaching and Learning Scotland regularly conduct. One model we would recommend for consideration is that being developed by an international consortium led by Prof Kathryn Moyle (Canberra University) which is actively researching data-driven decision-making issues for school leaders concerning the measurement of the value of
44
For instance, the cost of the eChampion and some portion of the cost of the CONNECT Project Manager should be included in order to better reflect the actual cost of the project
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educational technologies in schools. 45 The principal attribute of this model is that it concerns itself with value in a pedagogical sense as well as financial and seeks to factor in issues such as usage levels, learning outcomes and teacher facility as opposed to simply addressing cost and budget.
10.5 Concluding Comments

The overarching vision of the CONNECT initiative is to create a platform for improving quality of life and access to opportunities for the communities of South Dublin vis--vis a series of diverse and complementary interventions including the CONNECT School at St Aidans Community School. The Project Partners have sought to embed student-centred learning technologies within St Aidans Community School in a manner which affords both students and teachers an opportunity to access high-quality hardware and software of a kind not generally available in the majority of post-primary schools. Although formally launched in April 2007, the CONNECT School project had a 12-month plus lead-in period. Over the past 4 years, the project has been rolled-out to approximately 300 students including three consecutive intakes of First Year students. In rolling-out the CONNECT School, South Dublin County Council has taken the lead in funding and implementing an innovative and pro-social measure within a learning environment. This is a multi-agency model and the commitment of the Project Partners has been essential to the success achieved by the CONNECT School project to date. It is also clear that the roll-out of this project could not have been realised without the commitment, enthusiasm and willingness of both school management and teaching staff to embrace new ideas and give pro-actively of their time and energy. It is the view of the authors that the CONNECT School project has made impressive progress in terms of achieving the intended outcomes articulated at the outset (i.e. improved student engagement and participation, greater progression to Third Level, etc). However, we believe that it is important that the Project Partners take this opportunity to re-focus the project as a pedagogically-led intervention and to improve the training provided to teachers, improve the level of laptop collection, ensure students are centrally involved in the use of ICT in the classroom and to prioritise the use of ICT to teach students with Special Needs.
45
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APPENDICES
APPENDIX A BIBLIOGRAPHY AND LIST OF REFERENCES
Appendices
Bibliography Department of Education and Science (1997) IT 2000 - A Policy Framework for the New Millennium, Government of Ireland, Dublin. Department of Education and Science (2001) Blueprint for the Future of ICT in Education Programme 2001-2003. Department of Education and Science (2006) Whole School Evaluation: Report Issued for School Response - St Aidans Community School. Department of Education and Science (2008a) ICT in Schools, Inspectorate Evaluation Studies; DES; Dublin. Department of Education and Science (2008b), Investing Effectively in Information and Communications Technology in Schools, 2008-2013, Government of Ireland, Dublin. Dickard, N. (Ed.) (2003). The sustainability challenge: Taking ed-tech to the next level. Washington, DC: The Benton Foundation & EDC Center for Children and Technology. Galvin, C. (forthcoming) Policy and policy making for education ICT in Ireland: some reflections on failure and denial. In Marshall, K. and Butler, D. (Eds), Technology and Learning; Pathways to the 21st Century. UCL Press; London. Government of Ireland (1995) Charting Our Education Future; a White Paper on Education. Stationery Office; Dublin McCarthy, D. (2006) Contextualising the States response to global influences. In Jacobson, D, Kirby, P. & D. O Broin (Eds) Taming the Tiger: Social Inclusion in a Globalised Ireland. Dublin: Tasc at New Island. Mulkeen, A. (2004) Schools for the Digital Age: Information and Communication Technology in Irish Schools. A Progress Report 1998 2002. NCTE : Dublin NESC (2005) The Developmental Welfare State - No. 113 May 2005, National Economic and Social Council, Dublin; NCCA (2007) ICT Framework: A Structured Approach to ICT in Curriculum and Assessment; NCCA: Dublin. OECD (2002). ICT: Policy challenges for education. Paris: OECD; OECD (2004). Are students ready for a technology rich world? What PISA studies tell us, Paris: OECD. Pedr, F. (2006) The new millennium learners: Challenging our views on ICT and learning. Paris: OECD. UNESCO (2005). Towards Knowledge Societies. Paris: UNESCO
Yerrick, P. and Johnson, J.; Science Laptop Study: How Laptops, Probeware, and Digital Media Transformed Middle School Science Students' Learning, Academic Intersections, No. 3: April 2009 retrieved from http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=19075 October 2009.
References CONNECT (2008) Mid-term review of Connect School Project in St Aidan's Community School
Appendices
CONNECT (2007) Review of School Year 06/07 Teacher Online Survey (2008) CONNECT Project Outline Central Statistics Office, Census (2006) Web References http://ec.europa.eu/growthandjobs/index_en.htm http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/index_en.htm http://blog.teachnet.ie/?p=855 http://www.thinkquest.org/pls/html/think.site?p_site_id=C002926 http://www.f1inschools.ie/public/index.html http://microsoftireland.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!1024FF975ACC773B!212.entry http://scotens.org/?cat=5 http://www.cesi.ie/node/218 http://ijl.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.30/prod.1904
http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=19075
www.digitaleducationrevolution.gov.au www.http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/gotoschool/highschool/dernsw/index.php
Appendices
APPENDIX B: LIST OF CONSULTATIONS
Appendices
Focus Groups Student Focus Groups February 24, 2009 Non-Core Teacher Focus Group February 24 2009. Core Teacher Focus Group February 24, 2009. Consultations
Name Joe Horan Paul Mulhern Frank Moran Sr. Ann ODonoghue John Moloney Eddie Gilmartin Barry Feeney Madeleine Murray
Position County Manager Chair, Board of Management Principal Deputy-Principal Regional Manager, Dublin Office Chair Head of Computing National Coordinator Continuing Professional Development Head of Information Services eChampion ICT Co-ordinator CONNECT Project Manager South
Organisation South Dublin County Council St Aidans Community School St Aidans Community School St Aidans Community School Department of Education and Science Dublin West Education Centre Institute Tallaght of Technology for
National Centre Technology in Education
Tommy Kavanagh Ronan Herron Stephen Dooley Maire Ni Domhnaill
South Dublin County Council South Dublin County Council St Aidans Community School South Dublin County Council
Appendices
APPENDIX C SCHEMA OF FOCUS GROUP QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS
Appendices
Teacher Focus Group Questions

Class Planning and Delivery: How has the CONNECT Initiative impacted upon your lesson planning? How has the CONNECT Initiative impacted upon your teaching style? How has the CONNECT Initiative helped you to become more ICT confident? How easy have you found it to incorporate more ICT within the classroom environment? Do you find the CONNECT Initiative useful for fostering students differing learning styles? Does the CONNECT Initiative help you to improve the learning experience of gifted students? Student Engagement: How has the CONNECT Initiative impacted upon student engagement? How regularly do students use the ICT resources in your classroom? Does the CONNECT Initiative encourage better team-working amongst students? Training and Professional Development: Do you engage with other staff members about the CONNECT Initiative (i.e. sharing ideas, problems, etc)? How easy do you find it to develop your own digital resources (i.e. lessons, projects, etc)? Do you use any of the following (ScoilNet, Skool.ie, TeachNet.ie)?
Appendices
APPENDIX D RESULTS FROM TEACHER ONLINE SURVEY
Appendices
Statement
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neither agree nor disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree
Missing
The VLE improves my relationship with students by making me more accessible The VLE improves my relationship with students by facilitating greater/easier communication with them The introduction of the VLE has considerably improved my ability to communicate with large groups of students The introduction of the VLE has considerably improved my ability to disseminate information to large groups of students The VLE is user-friendly for the student accessing it The VLE is user-friendly from the staff perspective (i.e. administering to students) The capabilities of The VLE are sufficient to fulfill all my E-learning (teaching) needs The VLE use propagates decreased personal/face-toface contact with students The introduction of the VLE has considerably improved Students the ability to engage with their programme outside class times
15.2
23.9
34.8
10.9
2.2
13.0
15.2 23.9 34.8
8.7 4.3 13.0
17.4 15.2 34.8
10.9 8.7 13.0
10.9 17.4 28.3
19.6 10.9 13.0
6.5
17.4
34.5
26.1
2.2
13.0
17.4 8.7 19.6 39.1 2.2 13.0
23.9
13.0
32.6
15.2
2.2
13.0
13.0
23.9
41.3
6.5
2.2
13.0
13.0 19.6 30.4
19.6 4.3
13.0
Appendices
Statement
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree
Missing
The VLE encourages students engagement by offering dynamic teaching tools The VLE provides a safety net to students who dont and/or cant attend classes Posting class notes on the VLE has a negative affect on Students attention levels in class I use the VLE to the full extent that my knowledge/ability Permits I use the VLE to the full extent that my time schedule Permits Staff Training & Development for E-learning is adequate Time factors impinge on my level of use of the VLE I am generally at ease with new technologies Uploading onto the VLE is too time consuming Use of the VLE has considerably lessened the need to produce and distribute hardcopy handouts for students The VLE has led to me
4.3 19.6 26.1
34.8 2.2
13.0
13.0 15.2 26.1 30.4 13.0 2.2
8.7 30.4 39.1
6.5 2.2
13.0
6.5
19.6
21.7
19.6
19.6
13.0
10.9
28.3
30.4
17.4
13.0
17.4
17.4
23.9
26.1
2.2
13.0
6.5
10.9
15.2
23.9
30.4
13.0
6.5 6.5
13.0
28.3
26.1 26.1
13.0
13.0
8.7
26.1
19.6
13.0
21.7 15.2 34.8
13.0 2.2 13.0
2.2
4.3
37.0
19.6
23.9
13.0
Appendices
Statement
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree
Missing
working beyond scheduled hours The value of the VLE as a teaching & learning tool Suits some subjects better than others Use of the VLE is complementary rather than an alternative to traditional teaching methods Not knowing how long it will take to do prevents me from being more ambitious in my use of the VLE Technology should not dictate teaching practices The VLE offers the flexibility to move with a changing School Environment The VLE allows me to provide more up-to-date materials/resources for students Using ICT has a positive effect on students class attendance Using ICT has a positive effect on students participation in class Using ICT has a positive effect on students engagement in their own learning
4.3 2.2 30.4
23.9
26.1
13.0
26.1 21.7
39.1
13.0
2.2 4.3 39.1
30.4
10.9
13.0
6.5
23.9
26.1
30.4
13.0
8.7
26.1
50.0
2.2
13.0
2.2 2.2 23.9
45.7
13.0
13.0
6.5
21.7
34.8
23.9
13.0
2.2
13.0
32.6
37.0
2.2
13.0
4.3 8.7 26.1
45.7
2.2
13.0
Appendices
Statement
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree
Missing
Using ICT has a positive effect on students punctuality in the mornings Using ICT has a positive effect on my Teaching Pedagogy and Practice The VLE facilitates the increased participation of students that may feel inhibited or shy to interact in the classroom The VLE places greater demands on my time outside scheduled hours My use of the VLE personally motivated My use of the VLE professionally motivated is
10.9
13.0
34.8
26.1
2.2
13.0
2.2
8.7
23.9
39.1
13.0
13.0
4.3 8.7 41.3
28.3 4.3 13.0
2.2
6.5
28.3
26.1
23.9
13.0
2.2 is
15.2 4.3
30.4
30.4
8.7
13.0
10.9 28.3 43.5
13.0
My use of the VLE is motivated by external forces and/or pressures The VLE is an invaluable notification tool to inform teachers and students of schedule/timetable/room changes Any time & effort that goes into using the VLE is more than justified by the outcomes it produces The VLE training courses should include more practice time at the computer
8.7
13.0
37.0
26.1
2.2
13.0
8.7 13.0 26.1
34.8 4.3 13.0
4.3 13.0 43.5
21.7
4.3
13.0
4.3
2.2
19.6
41.3
19.6
Appendices
Statement
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree
Missing
The VLE training courses would be more efficient if tailored to very specific tasks I feel pressure by the School to use The VLE I feel pressure to use The VLE due to the expectations of my students I aim/aspire to utilise more of the VLE facilities than I currently use The students use appropriate ICT resources to develop problem-solving skills The Teacher Peer to Peer approach to training is a good approach Training as delivered by the Core Group is working well Sufficient IT Resources have been invested to make the Project work The current work of the ICT Coordinator is the best use of that resource The Connect Project is integrated across the school planning and development process
2.2
26.1
39.1
19.6
13.0
41.3
23.9
8.7
13.0
4.3
15.2
43.5
19.6
4.3
13.0
2.2 6.5 21.7 39.1 17.4 13.0
6.5
19.6
41.3
17.4
2.2
13.0
2.2
2.2
28.3
39.1
15.2
13.0
2.2
23.9
50.0
10.9
13.0
10.9
15.2
28.3
28.3
4.3
13.0
8.7
10.9
43.5
19.6
4.3
13.0
13.0 2.2 17.4 43.5 23.9
Appendices
APPENDIX E: ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY FOR CONNECT PROJECT
Appendices
World Wide Web Students will not intentionally visit Internet sites that contain obscene, illegal, hateful or otherwise objectionable materials. Students will report accidental accessing of inappropriate materials in accordance with school procedures. Students will use the Internet for educational purposes only. Students will not copy information into assignments and fail to acknowledge the source (plagiarism and copyright infringement). Students will never disclose or publicise personal information. Downloading materials or images not relevant to their studies, is in direct breach of the schools acceptable use policy. Students will be aware that any usage, including distributing or receiving information, school-related or personal, may be monitored for unusual activity, security and/or network management reasons. Email Students will use approved class email accounts under supervision by or permission from a teacher. Students will not send or receive any material that is illegal, obscene, defamatory or that is intended to annoy or intimidate another person. Students will not reveal their own or other peoples personal details, such as addresses or telephone numbers or pictures. Students will never arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone they only know through emails or the internet. Students will note that sending and receiving email attachments is subject to permission from their teacher. Students will only have access to chat rooms, discussion forums, messaging or other electronic communication forms that have been approved by the school. i.e. Forums within St Aidans Virtual Learning Environment Chat rooms, discussion forums and other electronic communication forums will only be used for educational purposes and will always be supervised. Usernames will be used to avoid disclosure of identity. Face-to-face meetings with someone organised via Internet chat will be forbidden. School Website Pupils will be given the opportunity to publish projects, artwork or school work on the World Wide Web in accordance with clear policies and approval processes regarding the content that can be loaded to the schools website The website will be regularly checked to ensure that there is no content that compromises the safety of pupils or staff.
Appendices
Website using facilities such as guestbooks, notice boards or web logs will be checked frequently to ensure that they do not contain personal details. The publication of student work will be co-ordinated by a teacher. Pupils work will appear in an educational context on Web pages with a copyright notice prohibiting the copying of such work without express written permission. Content focusing on individual students will not be published on the school website without parental permission. As a general rule the School Website will focus on Groups rather than Individuals. Personal pupil information including home address and contact details will be omitted from school web pages. The school website will avoid publishing the first name and last name of individuals in a photograph. The school will ensure that the image files are appropriately named will not use pupils names in image file names or ALT tags if published on the web. Pupils will continue to own the copyright on any work published.
Appendices
APPENDIX F: DRAFT WAYSTAGE QUESTIONNAIRES
Appendices
CONNECT Learners and Learning Waystage questionnaire

To what extent do you agree with each of the following statements about the CONNECT School project?
Disagree strongly
Disagree [ ]
Neutral [ ] [ ]
Agree
Agree strongly [ ]
I learn more at school because of the project. We use technology in useful ways in our classes. I feel proud of my school because we are a laptop / technology school. I am more confident about using technology because of the project. The project means I have the chance to work with other students on things in class. My parents are happy that Im using technology in school. The project gives me the skills I will need to get a better job when I finish school. Using the technology makes learning more interesting We have enough chances to use technology in school. I use technology at home more because of the project. The project has changed my views about school. We have good technology in school that doesnt break down much.. We get enough training to use the technology well for learning. I mostly use my laptop to go on the VLE I mostly use my laptop to go on the internet My teachers put their lessons
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Appendices
on the VLE I use my laptop in most classes My writing and spelling has improved because of using my laptop My reading has improved because of using my laptop I use my laptop for doing my homework Overall, being in the CONNECT project has been a good experience: For me as a learner For my teachers For the school
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP WITH THIS EVALUATION.
Appendices
CONNECT Teachers and Teaching Waystage questionnaire

To what extent do you agree with each of the following statements about the CONNECT School project?
Disagree strongly Disagree [ ] Neutral [ ] [ ] Agree Agree strongly [ ]
The project helped me to teach more effectively. The project means I use more technology within my teaching. The project helped me to improve the education experience of my students. The project helped me to become more ICT confident. The project helped my students to develop cooperation and teamwork skills. The project helped my students to learn more in the content/ curriculum areas we study. The project helped my students to increase their ICT skills. The project motivates my students. The project has changed the way I teach. The project means I teach with technology at every opportunity. The project has changed my views about the value of ICT. The project is well supported on the technical side. We get the training and support we need to use the technology well for teaching. Teaching within a one to one computing setting provides greater teaching opportunities in the classroom.
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Appendices
I use the VLE on a daily basis. It is easy to create teaching resources for the VLE. The project would benefit from more ready-made supports. Overall, participation in CONNECT has been a positive experience: For me as a teacher For my students For the school
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP WITH THIS EVALUATION.
Appendices

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10 SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................... 108

Key Themes Emerging

Purpose of the Evaluation

Figure 1.1: Overview of the Evaluation Report

This rest of this first evaluation report is set as follows:

Qualitative Research and Focus Groups

CONTEXTUALISING THE EVALUATION

The CONNECT Project

Figure 3.1: The Developmental Welfare State

The Developmental Welfare State

1.10 St Aidans Community School: Serving Brookfield

Table 3.4: Population by Socio-Economic Group of Reference Person

Table 3.5: Nationality and Ethnicity of Population of Fettercain ED (includes Brookfield)

ICT in Schools Policy and Investment

Year Commenced 1998 2001 2004 2005

Funding () 52m 78m 23m 15 30m 16 183m

Key Developments in Education and ICT

Mulkeen (2004), p.2.

Comparable Irish Initiatives to CONNECT Initiative

See http://blog.teachnet.ie/?p=855 See http://www.thinkquest.org/pls/html/think.site?p_site_id=C002926 See http://www.f1inschools.ie/public/index.html See http://microsoftireland.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!1024FF975ACC773B!212.entry

The Dell Coliste Chiarin, Technology-for-All Programme

Comparable International Initiatives to CONNECT Initiative

Digital Education Revolution, Australia

Digital Education Revolution, Australia

New York Middle School Apple Science Laptop Study

New York Middle School Apple Science Laptop Study

New York Middle School Apple Science Laptop Study

4 REVIEW OF KEY MILESTONES

2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10

Figure 4.1 CONNECT School Timeline, 2006 to 2009

CONNECT Review 2006/07: Implementing Recommendations

Yes Yes Partially Yes Partially Yes

2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10

LEARNING IMPACTS AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

Interface between the VLE and the School Learning Environment

Figure 5.1: View of VLE in St Aidans Community School

Virtual Learning Environment

Figure 5.2: What does it mean to learn in the 21st Century?

Source: enGuage; The NCREL / Meteri Report

Review of the VLE Usage Statistics

Refers to individual students or teachers who have accessed the VLE

Figure 5.3: VLE Log-ins, Academic Year 2008/09

Source: St Aidans Community School CONNECT VLE

0 Sep-08 Oct-08 Nov-08 Dec-08 Jan-09 Feb-09 Mar-09 Apr-09 May-09

Source: St Aidans Community School CONNECT VLE

Figure 5.5: VLE Posts, Academic Year 2008/09

0 Sep-08 Oct-08 Nov-08 Dec-08 Jan-09 Feb-09 Mar-09 Apr-09 May-09

Source: St Aidans Community School CONNECT VLE

Review of School Administrative Statistics

2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09

Mr Frank Moran, School Principal

Student Learning Impacts

Increased awareness and application of information and communication technologies:

Mr Frank Moran, Irish Independent (18 November 2009)

Additional Student Perspectives: Day-to-day Factors

6 TEACHING IMPACTS AND PEDAGOGY

Additional Teacher Perspectives

Developing Good Practice in Teaching Methodologies

Case Study 2: History Section of CONNECT VLE

Case Study 3: ESS Section of CONNECT VLE

Case Study 4: French Section of CONNECT VLE

Table 6.2: Selection of Responses (%) to Teacher Online Survey (2008)