|
 |
|
 |
|
In 2001 we said....
The home computer could increasingly be thought of as a standard tool for children's activities.
We began to see a high level of overlap between activities on the computer at home and those in school.
Mobile technologies, such as the phone, were rapidly penetrating young people's day to day lives.
As the new internet connected mobiles increase in popularity, mobile phones might need to be seen as another important tool for learning.
How can schools support children in their use of these tools and create links between home and school through technologies?
|
|
|
Report on 2001 Survey.pdf
Results
The 'learners out of school uses of technologies' theme began in June/July 2001 by conducting a
detailed questionnaire survey of 1818 young people and children in all the schools
involved in the overall project, in years 5,7,10,12. The questionnaire
aimed specifically to map access to and patterns of use of a range of technologies outside
school - specifically computers, the internet and mobile phones.
Central to the questionnaire was the finding from the Screen Play project that in order
to understand the role of technologies in young people's lives, we need to move beyond a
simplistic mapping of ownership and engage with the specific activities young people are
involved with when using these technologies. Key findings in this
report suggest that:
- The majority of young people now have computer (88%) and internet (73%) access in the
home, although this is strongly patterned along socio-economic lines.
- The home remains the key site of use, although children from the lowest socio-economic
quartile report higher levels of use in public access sites.
- The home computer is being used by the majority of students in the sample for both 'fun'
and 'school' activities, with 65% of the sample reporting computer use for schoolwork at
least once a week or more, and 84% of the sample reporting computer use for 'fun' at least
once a week or more.
- The most popular activities on the home computer are writing, games and information
seeking. Other activities, making/recording music, programming, making films, watching
DVDs, remain relatively rare.
- The most prevalent use of the internet at home was for web browsing for fun, sending
email and looking up information (71%, 55%, 46% respectively reported as weekly or more
frequent activities). In contrast, the least prevalent form of internet activity is web
site designing and building, with only 11% reporting this on at least a weekly basis.
- Use of mobile phones eclipsed all other technology use in terms of intensity and
penetration of the sample with 84% reporting using (if not owning) a mobile phone outside
school, and nearly 50% reporting texting friends on a daily basis.
Implications
The results of the InterActive survey suggested that the home computer could increasingly be thought of
as a standard tool for children's activities in the home. If this position were to be taken as a
sign to alter homework policies, however, this would raise significant questions about
provision of access for children from lower-socio economic areas where computers and
internet access may not be available. Looking at the reported prevalent activities on the
home computer- writing, information seeking etc - we also began to see a high level of
overlap between activities on the computer at home and those in school.
In contrast it was clear that mobile technologies, such as the phone, were rapidly
penetrating young people's day to day lives. We speculated that, as the new internet connected mobiles increased in popularity,
mobile phones might need to be seen as another important tool for learning. Looking in more
detail at the activities that children reported we saw that children with computers in
the home had access to a range of powerful tools which many of them were using
regularly - the home computer was being used to manipulate images, to communicate across
the web, to design and make artefacts, to record and edit music. These powerful tools were,
potentially, giving young people access to previously "professional" resources. How, we asked, could
schools support children in their use of these tools and create links between home and
school through technologies?
These questions, and others were explored in the next phase of the research theme which involved focus groups and case studies of children in their
homes.
|
