Pupils’ Learning and Access to Information Technology: an Evaluation

Citation

Gardner J, Morrison H, Jarman R, Reilly C & McNally H (1992) Pupils’ Learning and Access to Information Technology: an Evaluation. Department of Education - Northern Ireland. Collected Original Resources in Education, 17 (3) Fiche 3 F08. http://gtcni.openrepository.com/gtcni/bitstream/2428/8353/1/PLAIT%20Full%20Report%20-%201992.pdf

Abstract
In sponsoring this research, the Department of Education for Northern Ireland required an evaluation of a number of issues relating to the rôle and impact of information technology in education and in particular the likely rôle of the up-and-coming generations of portable computers. In order to gain first-hand knowledge of classroom processes involving portable computer ie. ‘laptop' usage, observations of lessons were carried out by the research team and were supported by visits from consulting experts. Conventional inquiry techniques such as interviews and questionnaires were used to develop and refine the perspectives of the teachers, school principals and a selection of parents of the pupils with laptops. Pupil diaries also provided information on the pupils' use of their machines in school and at home. In support of these qualitative methods, a quasiexperimental design, involving the testing of matched pairs of experimental (with laptops) and control (without laptops) groups, was used to assess the impact of the use of the machines on pupil performance in English, mathematics and science.