Do textbooks bring help for ICT teaching? Antti Ekonoja

Contents Background of the research Results of the previous research Present research Conclusion – in which phase I am right now?

Background Why do Information and Communications Technology’s (ICT) teachers have to do all of their study material by themselves? This was the conclusion I had after my own substitute teacher experiences and talks with other ICT teachers. Strange because it is not convention in other school subjects. There they have textbooks in advance.

Background I wanted to try if textbook could give some help also in ICT. ICT teachers need help; in another case I think they can have a burn out in some years. Problem is that ICT teachers have to do so much extra work (theory material and exercises) for lessons but they still have about same number of lessons to teach as other subject’s teachers.

Background Unfortunately there are no real textbooks for ICT. The biggest reason for that is that ICT is an optional subject in basic education’s grades 7–9 and in upper secondary school (in Finland). Communes do not have much money for optional subjects (almost all resources go to the compulsory subjects). And when we do not have enough buyers for ICT textbooks, publishers even do not publish them. 

Previous research - background I decided to write a new textbook for ICT and do research about that textbook’s benefits for teachers and also for students. Writing a book and doing the research with that became my Master’s Thesis in The book’s target group is basic education’s grades 7–9 but it can also be used in upper secondary school.

Previous research - background The textbook I wrote was in trial use in three schools in fall The trial lasted two and a half months and it was aimed for basic education’s grades 6–9. There were 3 teachers and 120 students who used the book. After the trial use, both teachers and students answered questions about the quality of the book and benefits of using the book in teaching and learning.

Previous research - the book The book itself was four-color and it had 202 pages. It was like a “traditional” textbook with theory, exercises, summaries and further information sections. There was also an extra material CD with the book. It contained more exercises and videos. For teachers there was also individual teacher’s extra material CD which contained answers for the book’s exercises and example exams.

Previous research - the results According to my research results the textbook I made was a successful aid for ICT teaching in basic education’s grades 7–9. Both teachers and students thought that the textbook I made was a high-quality book; they saw it brought help both to the teachers and for the students. Especially teachers saw benefits with a high confidence.

Previous research - the results The biggest benefits to teachers for using the book in teaching were the following: required time for planning the lectures became smaller teaching got more attractive and own teaching got more comprehensive One result was that the book gave more advantage to teachers with low education in ICT. I think that is a very important result because in many schools there are not “real” ICT teachers; instead ICT is hold by some other teacher who has some expertise (not educational) in that area.

Previous research - the results The biggest benefits to students for using the book in teaching were the following: better learning results better learning chances better quality of teaching Also ability grouping was easier with the textbook. This is a very interesting research result because earlier researches report that ability grouping would be harder with textbook.

Previous research - conclusions The research results showed that a textbook still does not guarantee high-class education, although it makes it possible. If the textbook is high-class, it assists good learning and also national ICT goals become true when all students get same information about the subject. Anyhow there are some betwixt approaching things: teacher activity and students motivation to ICT.

Previous research - conclusions Reliability of the research was not enough good. The trial use was not controlled; the teachers did not have guidelines how to use the book. So the results depended too much from the way the teacher used the book. Also there should be more teachers than three to test the book. So there is need for a new research to get more reliable results.

Present research Now in my postgraduate studies I am going to research same case more and clearly to get more reliable results of that case. I am going to write a new textbook for ICT because it is very important to have up-to- date book for becoming trial use. Writing process is coming in this spring (starting in two weeks).

Present research In the next fall I am going to do trial use with the new book in the basic education’s grades 7–9. The trial is going to be a very controlled trial where are also control groups. Teachers will get specific guidelines how to use the book. The aim is to get about 5-10 schools for the trial use. After the trial I am going to ask comments both from teachers and students. In the year 2010 I am going to analyse the results.

Conclusion So, now I am in the beginning; the work is just starting and much work is to do. I have good own background research which helps me. The problem is that there is not much previous researches about the benefits of using textbook in teaching ICT. I hope in some years we have those missing researches about the subject – at least one.

Thank you! Questions?