A description of the modern day middle school with reference to ICT use and students-teacher relationships. Focus specifically on the article: Courtney, L., Anderson, N., Lankshear, C. 2010. Middle School students and digital technology: Implications of research (pp.229-240) In Developing a networked school community: a guide to realising the vision. ACER Press. Australia

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
This presentation will cover:
A brief introduction to the focus of the reading (5 minutes)
Part 1- An outline of technology based attitudes in
teaching which affect student learning (8 minutes)
Group discussion (2 minutes)
Part 2- The nature of middle school students in the
development of ICT learning (8 minutes)
Group Discussion (2 minutes)
Case Study and Conclusion (5 minutes)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
An introduction: the context
“The effective use of digital technologies in schools
has been a major focus… for 25 years.”
“The world has evolved into a „knowledge economy‟”
“The „digital age‟ has created an innovative
workplace that schools need to prepare students to
enter.”
“While schools already employ these technologies in
learning, there is a need to increase effectiveness
significantly.”
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 229)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
An introduction: the context (cont.)
The challenge is using ICT to “promote
equity, inclusiveness and excellence in educational
outcomes and career pathways”
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 229)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
The key focus:
The Teacher
“Tensions between young people‟s digital technology
use and teacher confidence.” (Courtney, Anderson and
Lankshear, 2010, pp. 230)
The Student
Home-school nexus: Understanding the „middle school
turn off.‟ (Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp.
232)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
Looking at the Student
“Participate in technology-rich home environments”
“An enthusiastic up taking of multitasking”
“An increasing number of web-connected devices”
“An overwhelming rejection of passive activities in
favour of connectivity, interaction and personal
contribution.”
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 230)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
So what about the Teacher?
There is a diversity of competence and confidence in ICT
“Teacher confidence in using digital technologies has a
significant impact on their students‟ uptake”
“Teachers who felt more confident to use digital
technologies… reported that their students used ICT more
than students of less confident teachers”
“confident teachers also preferred their students to use
ICT more for teaching and learning”
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 230)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
Let‟s Talk Community!
“Principals pinpointed teacher confidence and competence as more
important factors in the uptake of digital technologies in classrooms than
resources.”
“Getting staff to embrace the potentiality of ICT has proved to be more
difficult than getting it in.”
“The lack of ICT competence impacts negatively on teacher confidence
and creates boundaries against seamless in-school and out-of-school
technology use.”
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 230-231)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
Table 15.1 Teacher School and system level boundaries
Teacher Level Boundaries School Level Boundaries System Level Boundaries
Lack of ICT skill Absence and poor quality Rigid structure of the
of OCT infrastructure schooling system
Lack of Motivation and Lack of high quality
confidence in using ICT hardware and suitable
educational software
Inappropriate Training Limited access to ICT
equipment
Limited project-based
experience and
experience in project
based learning
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 231)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
Let‟s talk about it
In Small groups, discuss the following questions:
What are the boundaries for ICT in my school?
At what level do these boundaries most
prominently apply? (Teacher, School, System)
How could these boundaries be
adjusted/removed?

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
Guidance that might be helpful in building a
confident and competent mindset
Effective professional development
Teacher laptop ownership programs
Ongoing support in the form of competent peers
and ICT coordinators
Access to reliable and wide broadband and
overcoming gender issues
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 231)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
Some advice from my dad!
The EATS Model
Exposure
Acquisition
Training
Support

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
Part 2: our students
Some Data and Statistics
Research suggests that “it is in the middle school years, or early
adolescence, that engagement with learning reportedly declines.”
In contrast to this, it is in “the early adolescent years that young people
become more engaged with digital technologies”
“86% of students aged 15 reported using a computer at home.”
“Young people use digital technologies more at home than at school and
enjoy home use more.”
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 232)

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A modern day
student

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
Is the data equal?
In 2006, 80% of ICT higher education graduates were
male, however 53% of all high education graduates
were female.
“It was in the middle school years that girls reported
they were „turned off‟ school-based ICT”
“Girls are still under-represented in fields such as
Science, Physics and ICT”
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 232)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
Is the data equal? (cont.)
Despite these early results, the gender gap has changed
significantly due to the introduction of the internet and
social networking.
The key variable in students‟ home computer use is now
connectivity, rather than gender/personality.
We describe this difference as „information rich‟, versus
„information poor‟ families.
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 232)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
Is it all bad news?
The use of technologies in the home actually
promotes life skills:
A wider range of skills and strategies
More problem solving
More developmental thinking skills
More exercises of perseverance, imagination and
memory exploration.
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 233)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
So what do we do?
The challenge of the modern educator is to incorporate
home-use and school-use into a dynamic relationship,
while still defining the school as a learning-focused
environment.
EXAMPLES
Instant messaging promotes „virtual‟ peer contact in the
home, which is modeled on that of a classroom.
Software can be “„played with‟ at home can be fed back into
use at school.”
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 233)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
The Outcomes
“A clear delineation between home and school computer use is
becoming more difficult to ascertain, as are the distinctions
between formal and informal learning.”
“Young people experience diverse forms of peer reviewing and
expert-like feedback that is not typically encountered in school
based learning experiences.”
Students enjoy rich „tech savvy‟ opportunities as they select
technologies appropriate for different purposes.”
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 233-234)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
Discussion
In small groups, discuss the following questions:
In what ways can we promote effective home-use of
computers into our school curriculum?
How can we change student perspectives towards
ICT use?
What do we think are the most common barriers for
students when it comes to ICT?

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
Some ideas…
Give every student their own laptop
Upload subject notes, assessment sheets and documents online
Create engaging technology based activities that are not too
prescriptive
Look at our filtering and restrictive systems to allow students a
greater feeling of freedom
Match the capabilities of school facilities to meet the home
environment
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 233-234)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
A case study
Conducted in 2010
Involving 2 schools, 86 males, 76 females and a
number of teachers and principles
Asked students and teachers to comment on
elements they liked/disliked about ICT use.
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 234-235)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
The Results
Students commented that they enjoyed using ICT in school at
first (beginning of middle school), but enthusiasm declined each
year. There was a notable decline in interest in ICT subjects over
time.
Some students, particularly females commented that they would
rather interact with people than machines.
In year 8, girls described ICT subjects as „boring‟. The boys
disagreed. By year 10, the gap had closed significantly as the
boys sided with the female perspective.
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 235-238)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
The Results (cont.)
Common student comments included: „It‟s too hard to use
computers at school,‟ and „I can‟t access anything on them.‟
Many students made reference to the fact they are more
productive on computers.
Barriers listed included: computer restrictions, computer
malfunction, internet filtering, hardware performance, repetition
and boredom.
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 235-238)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
To Conclude
Our students are becoming increasingly tech savvy.
Teacher confidence and competence are essential! The teachers
who are „keeping up‟, are seeing more effective integration of
ICT in the classroom.
Teachers need to be re-thinking the traditional classroom
learning structure.
Students enjoy using computers at home more than at
school, and they are learning from it.
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 238-240)

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Middle School Students and Digital Technology Use
To Conclude (cont.)
Our challenge as educators is to harness students‟ ICT enthusiasm from
home, and bring it into the classroom.
The focus needs to be on preparing our students for the digital
workplace. This means keeping up with current technology and
information.
Interest in ICT studies at school is declining with age. We need to find a
balance, but are so far unsuccessful on the whole.
The answer lies in the utilization of the home-school nexus, and the
importance of developing networked learning spaces in which the home-
school differences are capitalized upon to turn around the middle school
turn off.
(Courtney, Anderson and Lankshear, 2010, pp. 238-240)

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References
Courtney, L., Anderson, N., Lankshear, C. 2010.
Middle School students and digital technology:
Implications of research (pp.229-240) In
Developing a networked school community: a
guide to realising the vision. ACER Press. Australia