Implementation: From policy to practice

I found one of the treaded discussions on Moodle particularly thought provoking and useful. We were asked to discuss:
1. What are the effective ways to encourage change using ICT to help improve learning?
2. What are some of the pitfalls that you would advise others to avoid?

I have used these questions as a guide for this discussion that looks primarily at scaffolding teachers' ICT learning and the importance of thoughtful and considered implementation from policy to practice.

Anne Cawley's insightful comments regarding how ICT needs to be broken down into achievable steps is so necessary. Yes there are teachers who will teach themselves and use ICT interesting and effectively in their class but the majority of teachers will struggle with this. One key reason for this is due to what Prensky calls the digital divide. Most teachers are what he terms digital immigrants. They unlike their students (digital natives) have not been born into a digital world and thus can feel uncomfortable and unconfident using new technologies. I have witnessed this division between immigrants and natives in schools a lot. On one hand you have students who are digitally savvy and/or eager to learn and communicate digitally and on the other hand teachers who haven't go the skills to engage their student in meaningful digital activities.

I believe that there is really little difference with how children learn and how teachers learn. Both require individual learning styles to be cater for, learning to be reinforced and scaffolding provided. Anne is correct in thinking that in order for ICT to be encouraged and integrated into the classroom that teachers, just like students, need to learn incrementally. A type of scaffolded approach was used at my last school to equip teachers with ICT skills through a gradual and supported methodology. Once a week a given class would come to the information suite which was equipped with an ICT room and an adjacent library. The class was split and I would have half of the class and the librarian the other. The classroom teacher was not released during this time but rather was required to observe, take notes and trial my planned lesson. They could ask me questions at appropriate times and learn alongside the children in the class. If they were confident with the content they could support their students providing an excellent teacher to pupil ratio. Following the session the teacher would have a lesson plan and notes to practice and review. The following session the class would swap as would the teacher conducting the lesson. Rather than teaching I would guide and encourage the teacher providing support when needed. This model proved successful especially as a number of the teachers had very little computer knowledge. Joy Paton's thread highlights the importance of teachers learning together and sharing ideas and experiences through the use of a designated time at staff meetings or assemblies. The point I am making, regardless of the approach, is that teachers need ongoing support to use ICT effectively.

Unfortunately successful ICT and e-learning practice can not just happen in a supportive and collaborative environment -it takes many factors, some of wish Joy brings to our attention in her threaded discussion. One of these factors that I would like to look at further is an area which I believe is key if we are to successfully integrate ICT through out the curriculum. This are of interest is implementation. As I have mentioned in one of my other blog entitled NZ policies I believe that the lack of successful integration in school is largely due to a lack of instruction on how to implement e-learning effectively and how to chose and adopt new technologies.

Ward and Parr (2008) share my viewpoint and they argue that the reason for the failure of ICT implementation to deliver real changes in student learning in schools lies in a failure at the stage between the development of strategic policy and the classroom practice, and that a new theory of Action is required to help us achieve real change. Whilst Ward and Parr identify a gap in planning Fullan suggests that failure of successful implementation is caused by schools adopting innovations which promote their image as up-to-date and efficient. What the public value and faddism become the major reasons for adoption over pedagogical needs within an institution or school.

Interestingly there are a number of implementation models available to educators, however, it has only been through studying this year that I have come across these. There are a lot of similarities between the models and in my opinion it doesn't actually matter which model you are using as long as your thinking is being guided by informed research from policy to practice. Saying that if someone asked my opinion on which one has guided by learning and think I would acknowledge the TPACK model. I think the interrelationship between technological, pedagogical and content knowledge is crucial in not only implementing e-learning but also in the ongoing integration and successful use of ICT. It reminds me through its simple Venn diagramme of the importance of planning and prior thinking necessary to find that middle ground where technology, pedagogy and content knowledge met. This versatile model also acts to counter faddism and technocentrism that Fullan warns against.




Fullen, M. (1985). Change processes and strategies at the local level. The Elementary School Journal, 83, 361-422.


Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6. Retrieved from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf


Ward, L., & Parr, J. (2008). Translating ICT strategic policy into action: Reaching for the wrong fruit. Computers in
New Zealand Schools, 20(3), 52-61.