Identifying multiple roles of ICT coordinators

This study reports on the development and validation of measurement scales to study the different roles fulfilled by ICT coordinators. Based on a review of the literature, a 24 item questionnaire was constructed and administered to a sample of 177 Flemish ICT coordinators working in primary education. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a four-factor solution: the ICT coordinator as a planner, a budgeter, a technician, and an educationalist. Qualitative data corroborated these roles. This study provides a quantitative measure of the different roles assumed by ICT coordinators in practice. The implications of our findings for schools, researchers and policy makers are discussed.     

School leaders, ICT competence and championing innovations

The implementation of new technology is becoming more important to schools and the success of such implementations is often due to the presence of ICT champions. This article examines ICT champions to determine whether the intention to champion ICT is determined by the ICT competence of school leaders. This article, based on responses from 64 school leaders in New Zealand, reports that professional development and ICT usage are antecedents of ICT competency and that school leaders are ICT competent and willing ICT champions. These findings are contrary to existing research which has found that school leaders have poor ICT competency.     

Innovative pedagogical practice with ICT in three Nordic countries – differences and similarities

Three Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland and Norway, participated in the IEA SITES 2006 study. All the three countries have launched huge policy and investment programmes to promote digital literacy and readiness for the information age. In relation to the remarkable Finnish Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, it is interesting to see if the Finnish school system may be better suited to ground and contextualize pedagogical practice with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) than the Danish and Norwegian counterparts. One main difference is that the Finnish system seems to anchor decisions about and interpretations on how ICT should be utilized stronger at the local level than the two other systems. One of the general goals in the policy programmes is to get teachers to innovate with ICT in the classrooms. The Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES) 2006 indicators for two innovative pedagogical orientations, lifelong learning orientation and connectedness are utilized to compare teachers from the three nations. The main findings is that Finnish teachers are either not differing or they are scoring significantly lower on the two indicators than teachers from Denmark or Norway. The exception is Finnish science teachers who are more inclined towards using ICT in lifelong learning practices than their Danish and Norwegian counterparts. Generally, the Finnish teachers seem to be more autonomous in their pedagogical choices but may also be more conservative than the Danish and Norwegian teachers in making use of ICT.     

Direct measures of digital information processing and communication skills in primary education: Using item response theory for the development and validation of an ICT competence scale

In the past decade, several studies have measured ICT competences from the perspective of ICT self-efficacy. Such indirect measurements tend to have validity problems, as they depend on the pupils' ability to judge their own ICT competences. This study outlines the development of a performance-based digital test and the validation of a direct measure of ICT competence through the use of item response theory (IRT). More specifically, the test and the developed measure focus on primary-school pupils' proficiency in digital information processing and communication. 56 Items were administered to 560 pupils at the end of their primary-school education (age between 10.79 and 13.85 years old). The items were controlled for dimensionality, model-data fit, local item dependence and monotonicity. The final measure contains 27 items that refer to retrieving and processing digital information, and communication with a computer. The results indicate that the instrument is particularly reliable for low and median ability levels. Further refinement and possible future use of the instrument is discussed.     

职业教育多媒体实验室的设计与建造

本文提出了一般网络化计算机多媒体实验室涉及的载体,以及工科职业教育师资专业对多媒体实验室的功能及使用要求,从而给出的多媒体实验室的设计原则更另适合工科对学生培养目标的要求,将信息技术,计算机多媒体技术,网络技术与工科的职业教育科学更进一步完善地结合在一起。文章最后给出了同济大学职业教育多媒体实验室的建造实例。     

Examining the digital divide in K-12 public schools: Four-year trends for supporting ICT literacy in Florida

While there is evidence that access to computers in schools has increased, there remain questions about whether low socio-economic status (SES) schools provide students with equitable supports for achieving information communication technology (ICT) literacy. This research first presents a theoretical model to examine the digital divide within schools. Using this model, this research uses statewide data from four school years to investigate significant trends in ICT integration by school level and SES in Florida. Multilevel models for repeated measures analysis were used to compare models for predicting trends on nine different aspects of school technology integration. Results show statistically significant differences between high and low SES schools at every level in terms of student access to software, student use of software, teacher use of software, and the level of technology support. This research provides evidence of the existence of the digital divide among Florida’s K-12 schools.     

ICT in education policy and practice in developing countries: South Africa and Chile compared through SITES 2006

This paper presents a comparison between South African and Chilean results on SITES (Second Information Technology in Education Study) 2006 study, aiming to show and discuss both disparities and similarities, and trying to explain them through an analysis of their ICT in Education policies and national contexts. Firstly, these policies and contexts portray national backgrounds and initiatives. Secondly, methodological approach is described (a secondary analysis of the international data consisting in a two-way statistical analysis to calculate significant differences between South African and Chilean results, but also including some specific references to the northern hemisphere countries). Thirdly, main results are shown, organized in five sections: a) access to ICT resources; b) support to teachers; c) teachers professional development; d) principals’ pedagogical vision and e) teaching and learning practices.     

Policy impacts on pedagogical practice and ICT use: an exploration of the results from SITES 2006

The Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES) 2006 results reveal that principals' perceived presence of lifelong learning‐related pedagogical activities in their schools had changed markedly since the same data was collected in 1998 in SITES‐M1. More intriguing was the fact that the directions of the changes were quite different depending on the education systems concerned – many of the Asian countries reported very high increases while some of the European countries reported large drops over the same 8‐year period. This paper reports statistical evidence that the observed ‘pendulum swing’ reflects actual changes in teaching practices in these countries. Exploratory multilevel analyses results consistently show that national means of principals' vision can be used as a system‐level indicator predicting national means of pedagogical orientations in schools several years later. These findings also indicate the possibility of the ‘pendulum effect’ being a consequence of system‐level policy differences in the countries participating in the two SITES studies.     

Multimedia blogging in physical education: Effects on student knowledge and ICT self-efficacy

The main idea behind this study was to explore the educational potential of multimedia blogging for academic disciplines such as Physical Education (PE) that are not heavily based on written discourse and where multiple representations are important in learning. A class blog was utilized as a means for PE students to reflect on and showcase their performances of four specific basketball skills, through creating multimedia posts on these skills and receiving comments from their instructors, peers and an external expert. The effectiveness of multimedia blogging was evaluated, in terms of the acquisition of knowledge of the specific basketball skills and the self-efficacy in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), as compared to that of an equivalent multimedia website which lacked the blogging component. Students’ responses to the blogging activity were also investigated. The sample were 70 undergraduate PE students who were assigned to two groups, one of which used the class blog (Group A, N = 35) and the other one the website (Group B, N = 35), both for 11 weeks. The study followed a pretest/posttest experimental design, taking before and after measurements of each group through written questionnaires. Participation in the blogging activity did have a positive impact on students’ ICT self-efficacy, given that Group A students exhibited significant gains in Internet self-efficacy as well as in multimedia processing and blogging self-efficacy, whereas those of Group B did not. Students’ responses to the blogging activity were also positive. However, within both groups no significant increase was found in students’ knowledge of the basketball skills. The implications of the findings for higher education and future research are discussed.     

多媒体技术在职业高中思想政治课教学中的应用

多媒体技术在思想政治课教学中的应用是一个必然的趋势,尤其是在职业高中的思想政治课教学中,更应得到广泛而积极的运用。运用时要注意：适实而用,切勿随意;注重人机交互,重视师生沟通;善于选择,宁缺毋滥。     

Socioeconomic differences in elementary students’ ICT beliefs and out-of-school experiences

The purpose of the study was to explore possible links between student socioeconomic status (SES), beliefs about information and communication technologies (ICTs), and out-of-school learning resources. Grades 5 and 6 students (N = 345) who were enrolled in one private and six public elementary schools in Greece, located in areas with different demographic characteristics, responded to a questionnaire addressing their ICT self-efficacy and value beliefs, out-of-school ICT access and activities, perceived parental support and regulation of home ICT activities, and access to sources of technological support beyond the family. Findings showed that students from all SES family backgrounds tended to have positive views about the value of ICTs, but students from low-SES families expressed lower confidence in their ICT skills. Parents from all SES backgrounds appeared to view equally favorably their children’s engagement with ICTs, and perceived parental support correlated highly with students’ ICT value beliefs. However, students from low-SES families appeared to have fewer opportunities to develop ICT competencies, which may explain why they expressed less positive self-efficacy beliefs. Findings stress the need for school ICT integration efforts to take into account student differences in prior experiences and to be coordinated with students’ home computer use.     

基于Authorware开发的多媒体课件发布及Autorun光盘的制作技术

随着Internet的发展及普及,越来越多的人通过Internet网络或多媒体课件光盘进行学习,充分利用优秀教学课件以及在In-ternet上开发优秀的教学课件,是电教教育研究的一个重要内容。该文介绍Authorware作品在Internet/Intranet上发布、访问和播放多媒体作品的方法及Autorun光盘的制作技术。     

浅析几款课件制作软件的功能与特点

本文通过对几款常用的课件制作软件的介绍，使读者较深入的了解每种工具的功能与特点。为了对几款软件作出比较直观的评析．本文还用实例分别介绍了用不同软件制作同一个效果的方式，指出不同软件在各方面的优势与特点，使读者在制作课件的过程中，能够选择最适合自己课堂教学的软件来进行课件的制作。     

浅析几款课件制作软件的功能与特点

本文通过对几款常用的课件制作软件的介绍,使读者较深入的了解每种工具的功能与特点。为了对几款软件作出比较直观的评析,本文还用实例分别介绍了用不同软件制作同一个效果的方式,指出不同软件在各方面的优势与特点,使读者在制作课件的过程中,能够选择最适合自己课堂教学的软件来进行课件的制作。     

ICT diffusion as a determinant of human progress*

This research poses the question of whether the diffusion of information and communications technology (ICT) in countries can affect human progress. Human progress in this research is defined as progress that allows every member of a society to live in an environment with high economic, political, and civil liberties. To examine the posed question, the authors developed the following three hypotheses. First, ICT diffusion serves as a determinant in human progress. Second, the size of the impact of diffusion of ICT on human progress may differ depending on the income level of the economy. Lastly, the impact of ICT on human progress may differ depending on the type of technological medium. These hypotheses were tested with a sample of 102 countries panel for 14 years from 2000 to 2013 with data from the International Telecommunications Union to see the status of diffusion of ICT, the Heritage Foundation and the Freedom House in order to employ the measure of human progress by a year-lagged seemingly unrelated regression analysis with both pooled and grouped samples. The results suggest that the diffusion of ICT is a determinant of human progress at the global level and that the effects differ depending on the type of technology or the income level of the country.     

School subject paradigms and teaching practice in lower secondary Swedish schools influenced by ICT and media

This article deals with how school subjects’ paradigms, i.e. the established content of the teaching and the way in which the teaching is traditionally organised, are influenced when digital media are becoming increasingly common in educational contexts. The study is based on interviews in so-called focus groups with teachers of different school subjects in a Swedish lower secondary school about issues concerning how much they use media and ICT in their teaching and how they think this affects the content of their subject, relations in the classroom, working methods and the role of the teacher. The theoretical point of departure is Basil Bernstein’s concepts of ‘recontextualisation’, ‘framing’, ‘classification’, and ‘the sacred and the profane’. The study shows that the teachers in the lower secondary school where the investigation was conducted use so-called new media to a relatively limited extent but that they are ready to develop their use if resources are made available. They also think that the content, working methods, relations and the role of the teacher are changing, usually for the better. Drawing on Durkheim’s concepts of ‘the sacred’ and ‘the profane’ it appears in this study that the sacred in schools is often associated with the physical and practical.     

流式媒体集成课件的实现

本文简要介绍流式媒体集成技术,给出使用SMIL语言开发多种流式媒体集成网上课件的完整过程和实例分析,读得可在作者的web上浏览本文实例的运行效果。     

多媒体在政治教学中的应用

教育是立国之本。随着我国当前经济的不断发展,教育事业也得到了各方的广泛重视。在众多学科中,政治学科在教学方面也亟待革新,加之当前我国正处于信息化时代,多媒体在政治教学中发挥着越来越不可替代的作用。本文主要论述的是当前政治教学中对多媒体的应用情况以及需要注意的地方,并且指出了多媒体应用政治教学中的一些作用,以期日后的政治教学能更好的与多媒体结合,来提高政治课堂的教学质量。     

多媒体会议系统数据传输同步问题的研究

多媒体会议系统是当前计算机支持的协同工作(CSCW)系统的重要应用领域之一,为了得到更高、更好地声音及图象,会议系统中基于IP网络流媒体的传输技术,特别是数据同步,成为一个关乎系统服务质量的重要问题。本文将结合会议系统和流媒体传输的技术及特点,对多媒体会议系统中数据传输同步的问题加以研究并提出一种的同步控制方式。     

浅谈PowerPoint在制作多媒体课件的应用技巧

当今信息社会,利用PowerPoint制作出与众不同的课件来协助我们教学,是经常利用多媒体辅助教学的教师们所感兴趣的问题。一般像简单的插入图片、音频、视频是大多数教师都能易如反掌的运用的。本文在掌握常用方法的基础上,对音频、视频、FLASH媒体文件的应用技巧进行了综合应用,主要说明如何运用一定的技巧,使课件质量得以提高,效果更加人性化。