One Laptop on Each Desk: Teaching Methods in Technology Rich Classrooms

This article takes its point of departure from the main findings from research in four upper secondary schools in a 1:1 initiative (one laptop per student) and reports on a deeper analysis of four classrooms that are part of the empirical study. This study aims to investigate how teaching and learning in technology-rich classrooms are structured and thus contribute to the development of knowledge about the impact of technology on the structuring of teaching and learning in educational practices. Bernstein’s theoretical concept of the pedagogic discourse is used to make visible how the main incentive for teaching methods is the evaluation system that recontextualises traditional discourses about teaching and learning. The conclusion is that fundamental transformations of education is less about technology and more about the changing of the structures and discourses concerning teaching, learning and education.

"The main findings from the two years of study in 1:1 schools indicated the frequent use of technology in classrooms to support teaching and learning. The methods of use can be considered as mainly traditional. Teachers are positive about the use of technology and find it useful for managing their professional work.... ICT, in this context, did not contribute to changing the pedagogic discourse; instead it seemed as though the use of technology actually functioned as a tool to facilitate the prevailing pedagogic discourse.... the pedagogic discourse about how teaching and learning had to be done was constituted by traditional discourses about teaching and learning.... this study also sheds on the familiar problems, such as social exclusion, and these are critical factors in success or failure in education." (Authors, 190-191)