The low and how it effects ICT use in schools in the UK

Running Head : The Law and ICT

The Effects of the Law on Information and Communication Technology in Schools at United Kingdom

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Introduction

Since the introduction of personal computers in 1980s , the use of computer technology in schools has mirrored that in western society as a whole . In many western schools , the availability of an internet-connected is considered as a right and a prerequisite for learning many schools have considered or are planning to move to a ratio of one computer for each student

p As computer technology has grown ubiquitous in the spheres of business and industry , a cultural expectation has developed that schools should train students for the workplaces of the future . This expectation has led , in turn , to public policy initiatives focused on encouraging adoption of various aspects of technology . Universities began training teachers to use technology in their classrooms , and governments and businesses alike began pouring money into schools . Though initially referred to by the catch-all term educational technology , reflecting the perspective of many in the research community that computers were another in the long line of tools used in service of technology , the rhetoric began to change in the late 1990s . Researchers and policymakers in the United Kingdom , excited about the prospects of computer technology for transforming teaching and learning , began to use the phrase Information and Communication Technologies , or ICT , to refer to the broad uses of computing in schools (Stevenson , n .

, 1997

Today , though there remain pockets where computer technology is less than pervasive in schools , many consider that schools in developed countries have reached a near-universal level of access to computing technology . Statistics bolster this argument : 99 of secondary schools in the US and UK has computers that can access the internet . The average student-to-computer ratio in UK secondary schools in 2004 was 4 .9-to-one , while US schools reported an average ratio of 4 .8-to-one in 2002 (NCES 2003 , DFES 2004

At the same time the computer technology has become ubiquitous in schools , researchers have begun to examine what role computers should play in the educational endeavor . From early technophiles and champions of classroom-based computing came promises of increased learning efficiency and success for all learners (t , n .

, 1980 , combined with a perhaps unpleasant notion of teachers being relegated to mere coaches for students ' individualized learning (Callister Dune ,

br 324-326 , 1992 . Critics , pointing to the amazing ability of the educational establishment to avoid systematic change in the face of even the most impressive of interventions , were skeptical of technology for a number of reasons (Chadwick ,

35-40 , 2002

One result of this rivalry (Reynolds , Treharne Tripp ,

151-167 2003 ) was a proliferation of research comparing educational computing to traditional content delivery collectively , the work found basically no difference in the educational outcomes of the different delivery methods (Salomon ,

71-72 , 2002 . Other research has provided significantly more valuable data on how computer technology can be used in educational contexts . Specifically , by combining research in the learning...