running towards a learning organization? the policies and practices on icte in two schools tse wing...
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Running towards a Learning Organization? Running towards a Learning Organization?
The Policies and Practices on ICTE in Two SchoolsThe Policies and Practices on ICTE in Two Schools
Tse Wing Cheung, AlexKowloon Rhenish School
九龍禮賢學校
Paper presented in IT in Education Symposium
July 10, 2004
Self introductionSelf introduction
Msc. (IT in Education) graduate, HKU
Chairman, IT Committee, Kowloon Rhenish School (九龍禮賢學校 )
Professional Member/ Member: HKERA, HKAECT, HKPERA, HKACE, AiTLE, CITE
Ex-QEF External Reviewer (IT in Education, Round 4)
Ex-QEF Project Leader (IT in Education, Round 4)
What do you think about the following What do you think about the following questions?questions?
Do you think that many teachers have tried very hard in implementing Information and Communication Technologies in Education (ICTE)?Are there significant improvements in the quality of teaching and learning afterwards?Do you think that some underlying factors, which fundamentally post as the impediments of implementing ICTE in the schools, have not changed?In this way, how can the policies and practices on ICTE be effective and sustainable?
This study reveals that…This study reveals that…Isaacson and Bamburg suggest that “quality won't be found through the same old systems. Educators must challenge traditional mental models and ways of visioning and teaming if they hope to create meaningful change.” (Isaacson & Bamburg, 1992, p.42) The issues like mental models, shared vision and team learning etc., in fact, are the essential “disciplines” of a Learning Organization (LO)This study uses this model of LO to analyze the policies and practices on ICTE in two schools Reflects the necessity of schools to transform them as LO so as to make the education reforms, likes those of ICTE, actually beneficial to the school development
About the 2 studied schools (S1 and S2)About the 2 studied schools (S1 and S2)
Many schools in Hong Kong deeply engage in implementing ICTEThe 2 studied schools are the good examplesE.g. QEF funded ICTE projects and various school-based ICTE initiativesLocal primary schoolsTried very hard and very best in implementing ICTEOnly minimal improvements in the quality of teaching and learning
The general background of ICTE The general background of ICTE implementation in S1 and S2implementation in S1 and S2
Purposes of this researchPurposes of this research
Case study: does not have significant value of generalization
Help to find out the impediments that other schools may encounter in implementing ICTE
Prepare for exploring a good model of practice for implementing ICTE for school development
Research frameworkResearch frameworkLearning Organization: an in-depth research Learning Organization: an in-depth research
framework for assessing school developmentframework for assessing school development
Senge suggests LO in his huge influential book: The fifth discipline, the art and practice of learning organization in 1990Put the model into the context of school: Schools that learn in 2000School should develop five “disciplines” (capacities) for better school development: personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning and system thinkingAct as a framework for assessing school development of 2 studied schools in implementing ICTE
Research designResearch design
Deals with the issues of culture, ethos values and belief etc
Difficult to make use of the “objective instruments”
Uses qualitative methods
Findings and discussion: Findings and discussion: Do the schools run towards a Do the schools run towards a
Learning Organization?Learning Organization?
Adopts LO as guiding principle
Compare and evaluate the 2 studied schools’ policies and practices on ICTE for school development
The five disciplines are applied one by one
Personal Mastery: Personal Mastery: School should rank staff development School should rank staff development
as an extremely high priorityas an extremely high priority
Taking staff development for ICTE as exampleIn S1 …Majority of funding spends on buying hardware and softwareJust encourage teachers to participate in the occasional training arranged by EMB
Personal Mastery: Personal Mastery: School should rank staff development School should rank staff development
as an extremely high priorityas an extremely high priorityStress on top-down approachWeak in encouraging staff development for implementing ICTETeachers’ initiatives are discouragedThe members of ICT team nearly design all the lesson plans, adopted in Information Technology Learning Centre (ITLC)The majority of teachers cannot participate or implement ICTE in their own wayOutcome: Difficult to build up their personal vision of implementing ICTE
Personal Mastery: Personal Mastery: Teachers should view personal vision as Teachers should view personal vision as
important and engage in pursuing itimportant and engage in pursuing it Staff development for ICTE in S2 is very different
Bottom-up approach is widely adopted
The ICT team encourages the teaching staff to implement ICTE by “autonomous ways”: Providing necessary technical support Informing teachers clearly that the available pool of ICT
teaching and learning resources Adequate chamber for the teachers to realise their own
teaching philosophies by implementing ICTE in their ways
Beneficial for the teaching staff to build up their personal vision of implementing ICTE
Personal Mastery: Teachers should develop Personal Mastery: Teachers should develop an awareness of current realities and an awareness of current realities and
encompass commitment to tell the truthencompass commitment to tell the truth
Taking school culture as exampleIn 2 studied schools …Unfavourable culture, which hinders the building up personal vision: Teaching staff, in some cases, do not commit
to tell the truth When some sensitive issues arise, it is rare
that the staff will bring up the problem and insist to find the truth
Do not want to rock the boat Not accustomed to be the critical friends of
the others
Personal Mastery: Personal Mastery: Teachers should develop an awareness of Teachers should develop an awareness of
current realities and encompass commitment to current realities and encompass commitment to tell the truthtell the truth
Aim at attaining the dazzling achievements more than concrete advancement of school …
The school-based ICTE training for teachers mainly aims at fulfilling the requirements of EMB and
Providing a ground for raising fund of ICTE development
The course assessment is not so serious
Whether the teachers can really acquire certain level of ICT competency is a question
Staff have low motivation to be aware of current realities of school development
Outcome: the ICTE implementation may run on a wrong track in the long run as they fail to perceive the real picture of the school development
Personal Mastery and 2 schools: OverviewPersonal Mastery and 2 schools: Overview
2 schools apparently has certain distance from a LO
Can reorient the importance of the staff’s growth and learning
Critical for the overall success of the schools
Significant portion of total budget of ICTE development for staff development can be set aside
The staff can learn to be a critical friend of each other and commit to tell the truth
All these factors become the very important foundation of a successful, effective and sustainable implementation of ICTE
Taking evaluation on ICTE implementation as example
In 2 schools, many teaching and learning initiatives
Poor culture to reflect on these initiatives
The innovations are usually confined to certain working groups of teachers
Too busy for the involved teachers (seed & pilot projects) to share their experiences and reflections with the their colleagues
Mental Models: Teachers should challenge Mental Models: Teachers should challenge the underlying principles, philosophies, the underlying principles, philosophies,
assumptions, strategies and definitions of assumptions, strategies and definitions of teaching and learningteaching and learning
Mental Models: Mental Models: Each school stakeholder should query the existing Each school stakeholder should query the existing
structures of school and roles of each poststructures of school and roles of each post
Teachers generally view that ICTE does not lead to significant change on teaching and learning style …
The adoption of interactive and student-centred learning are still very limited
Teachers still dominate the teaching and learning process
The curriculum remains highly restricted by the textbooks
Mental Models: Mental Models: Collaborative sharing, invention and application Collaborative sharing, invention and application
of new mental models among the teachersof new mental models among the teachers
S1: Half-day school
Difficult to set aside a regular period of time for the teachers to share their experiences and reflections with the their colleagues
Mental Models: Mental Models: Collaborative sharing, invention and application Collaborative sharing, invention and application
of new mental models among the teachersof new mental models among the teachersS2: whole day school
Possible to encourage sharing of teaching practices among teaching staff
Each Friday afternoon, there is a period of time called Teaching Research (TR)
The teachers will be grouped according to the subjects they teach
They can share, discuss and reflect on their teaching practices
It helps the emergence and application of the new mental models
Quite similar to Senge’s dialogue
Mental Models and 2 schools: OverviewMental Models and 2 schools: Overview
Active participation in numerous teaching and learning initiatives
Generated high potential for S1 and S2 to make reflection on the mental models that they stick on in the daily teaching practice for a long time
S1: Lack favourable adequate channels to build up the new mental models
Minimal improvement on the quality of teaching and learning is expected
Mental Models and 2 schools: OverviewMental Models and 2 schools: Overview
The opportunity of dialogue among the staff through various levels, approaches and ways can be encouraged for changing mental models
Need to develop new mental models on the roles of students as well as teaching and learning
Undoubtedly necessary for a successful implementation of ICTE in the schools
Shared Vision: Shared Vision:
1. The teachers should view that the 1. The teachers should view that the visions of the school can comprise those visions of the school can comprise those
of the individualsof the individuals
2. The school vision of various policies 2. The school vision of various policies should be itinerant and ongoing among the should be itinerant and ongoing among the
teaching staffteaching staff
Shared VisionShared Vision
In 2 schools (especially in S1) …
The visions of different policies are mostly imposed from the principals
Teachers almost have no say in formulating the ICTE plan
Such culture of power centralization affects each level of school management
Shared VisionShared Vision
Inadequate chamber to develop shared vision in school
Widen the gap between the school ICTE plan and teachers’ personal ideal on it
Becomes an hidden impediment of ICTE implementation
Shared Vision and 2 schools: OverviewShared Vision and 2 schools: Overview
Can encourage “bottom-up” initiatives: mass formulation of school vision and mass participation of school policies etc.Help to promote the shared vision in schoolsInvolves the issues of change managementChannels and culture can build up Above measures are vital because ICTE implementation especially requires tremendous effort of teachers’ initiatives
Team Learning:Team Learning:
1. Teachers should believe in the 1. Teachers should believe in the effectiveness of collective learning in groupseffectiveness of collective learning in groups
2. The school should develop a favourable 2. The school should develop a favourable environment for emerging insightful environment for emerging insightful
reflections among the teachersreflections among the teachers
Team LearningTeam Learning
Taking teaching of Computer Literacy as exampleIn S1:ICT team has strategically arranged co-teaching in the subject of Computer Literacy for several yearsICT-experienced teachers lead “fresh” colleagues to teach with the support of ICTBuilding up many staff’s confidence to use ICT tools to teachThe lesson observations are arrangedUseful to facilitate sharing about ICTE implementationMore useful than the one-off ICTE seminars in motivating the teachers to integrate ICT in their teaching practicesRealising the effectiveness and importance of collective learning
Team LearningTeam LearningIn S2:Teachers of Mathematics spend much time on sharing their experiences in implementing ICTEA favourable atmosphere for promoting team learning among the teaching staffBeneficial for implementing ICTE
Team Learning and 2 schools: OverviewTeam Learning and 2 schools: OverviewBegin to realise the importance of collective enquiry
Various sort of formal and informal groups
Encourage team learning among the teachers to implement ICTE
Opportunities of team learning can be more effective, especially when they can learn how to discuss together productively and achieve its unique objectives effectively
Teaching staff should accept that learning is not only an individual phenomenon but also happen in collective experience of groups
If the capacity of team learning grows gradually, the schools will develop favourable environment for emerging insightful reflections about integrating ICTE in teaching and learning
System Thinking: System Thinking: The school should perceive what are the The school should perceive what are the underlying patterns, which impede the underlying patterns, which impede the
advancement of schooladvancement of schoolTaking contributions of various school stakeholders as example
In S1:
Under the policy of EMB, the Parents-teachers Association was formed a few years ago
A functional body with limited authority of school management
Parents can share their view to facilitate the school development
Parents become a potential source of outsourcing for ICTE implementation
But it takes time to develop the culture
System Thinking: System Thinking: The school should perceive what are the The school should perceive what are the underlying patterns, which impede the underlying patterns, which impede the
advancement of schooladvancement of schoolIn S2:
Private school: free from the pressure of establishing Parents-teachers Association
Principal dominates the decision-making process of the schools
So-called Parents-teachers Association is just the occasional gatherings between parents and teachers
Principal did not think parents with school management authority is beneficial for the school development
Parents cannot contribute to the development of ICTE for that school
System Thinking: System Thinking: The school should consider the goals and The school should consider the goals and
issues of a particular project as part of issues of a particular project as part of larger entirety and not isolated problemslarger entirety and not isolated problems
Taking coordination of ICT policy with the master school plan as example
Both schools work out their school plan and ICTE plan separately
Principals, teachers and even members of ICT team also view that the ICTE plan is an isolated issue and does not closely relate to the master school plan
The school should view each issue from an integrated perspective
System Thinking: System Thinking: The school should consider the goals and The school should consider the goals and
issues of a particular project as part of issues of a particular project as part of larger entirety and not isolated problemslarger entirety and not isolated problems
A successful ICTE implementation should closely inter-relate and interact with various levels and parts of the school development
Alignment of the ICT plan with the master school plan is very important
System Thinking and 2 Schools: OverviewSystem Thinking and 2 Schools: Overview
S1 has a better performance to link up with her stakeholders for the school development
Both schools still have a distance from a LO in terms of system thinking
Consider the ICTE implementation as an isolated issue of school development
The school should be an integral system instead of a sum of separate parts
System Thinking and 2 Schools: OverviewSystem Thinking and 2 Schools: Overview
For S2, the knowledge of various stakeholders can be linked upEffort can be put to draw them closely cooperate with one another so as to maximize the overall performance of a schoolOutcome: teachers and principal will no longer narrowly dominate the decision-making process in school development
ConclusionConclusion
For better ICTE implementation, principals and teachers should take their role to transform their schools and themselves…
ConclusionConclusion
For principals…Link up various school stakeholders togetherBuild up their shared vision and apply the discipline of system thinkingTry to change their own model models about staff developmentCreate more chamber and opportunity to help their teaching staff to:Challenge the old mental modelsEngage in team learningDevelop their personal mastery
ConclusionConclusion
Teachers:Change their model models about teaching
and learning as well as team learningView personal vision as important and
engage in pursuing it Develop an awareness of current realities
and encompass commitment to tell the truthChallenge the underlying principles,
philosophies, assumptions, strategies and definitions of teaching and learning
ConclusionConclusion
Teachers:Active participation in collaborative
sharingView that the visions of the organization
can comprise those of the individualsBelieve in the effectiveness of collective
learning in groups
Final remarksFinal remarks
No any prescriptions for successInformation age discourages homogeneityTo make successful transformation of a school, the change agents (especially teachers and principals) of the school can embed everyone in the change processThe changes can target on one or two new priorities for change in the initial stageOrganizational learning can be implemented on all three levels - classroom, school, and communityBy an in-depth adoption of the concept of LO, a successful ICTE implementation can no longer be a distant dream in campus
Question & Answer SectionQuestion & Answer Section
Correspondence:Correspondence:Email: [email protected]