Visualisation data.

Here are the results of a quick analysis of the primary school educational market:

Visualisations to follow:

Technology development
	Influence rating
Utilisation of new technology for education	5
Mainstream technology uptake	9
Local authority	2
Parents	1
National curriculum	0
Becta	2
The government	1
Large multinationals	8
Educational technology company trailblazers	8
Traditional UK educational technology companies	4
Teachers	1
Students	1
Pedagogical methodology	3
Utilisation of new technology for education
	Influence rating
Technology development	1
Mainstream technology uptake	4
Local authority	5
Parents	5
National curriculum	7
Becta	8
The government	6
Large multinationals	9
Educational technology company trailblazers	10
Traditional UK educational technology companies	6
Teachers	7
Students	1
Pedagogical methodology	10
Mainstream technology uptake
	Influence rating
Utilisation of new technology for education	10
Technology development	10
Local authority	6
Parents	8
National curriculum	2
Becta	4
The government	5
Large multinationals	7
Educational technology company trailblazers	9
Traditional UK educational technology companies	5
Teachers	5
Students	9
Pedagogical methodology	2
Local authority
	Influence rating
Mainstream technology uptake	0
Utilisation of new technology for education	2
Technology development	0
Parents	7
National curriculum	4
Becta	8
The government	7
Large multinationals	1
Educational technology company trailblazers	2
Traditional UK educational technology companies	1
Teachers	7
Students	1
Pedagogical methodology	1
Parents
	Influence rating
Local authority	9
Mainstream technology uptake	1
Utilisation of new technology for education	6
Technology development	0
National curriculum	7
Becta	8
The government	5
Large multinationals	2
Educational technology company trailblazers	9
Traditional UK educational technology companies	1
Teachers	9
Students	10
Pedagogical methodology	3
National curriculum
	Influence rating
Parents	7
Local authority	8
Mainstream technology uptake	0
Utilisation of new technology for education	9
Technology development	0
Becta	10
The government	3
Large multinationals	9
Educational technology company trailblazers	4
Traditional UK educational technology companies	9
Teachers	10
Students	10
Pedagogical methodology	5
Becta
	Influence rating
National curriculum	10
Parents	4
Local authority	9
Mainstream technology uptake	0
Utilisation of new technology for education	9
Technology development	0
The government	8
Large multinationals	9
Educational technology company trailblazers	6
Traditional UK educational technology companies	9
Teachers	10
Students	0
Pedagogical methodology	7
The government
	Influence rating
Becta	9
National curriculum	10
Parents	4
Local authority	9
Mainstream technology uptake	3
Utilisation of new technology for education	8
Technology development	1
Large multinationals	5
Educational technology company trailblazers	5
Traditional UK educational technology companies	5
Teachers	7
Students	1
Pedagogical methodology	4
Large multinationals
	Influence rating
The government	5
Becta	5
National curriculum	0
Parents	4
Local authority	5
Mainstream technology uptake	7
Utilisation of new technology for education	8
Technology development	6
Educational technology company trailblazers	2
Traditional UK educational technology companies	5
Teachers	5
Students	6
Pedagogical methodology	1
Educational technology company trailblazers
	Influence rating
Large multinationals	2
The government	2
Becta	5
National curriculum	0
Parents	4
Local authority	3
Mainstream technology uptake
Utilisation of new technology for education	10
Technology development	4
Traditional UK educational technology companies	0
Teachers	5
Students	0
Pedagogical methodology	6
Traditional UK educational technology companies
	Influence rating
Educational technology company trailblazers	1
Large multinationals	4
The government	5
Becta	8
National curriculum	9
Parents	6
Local authority	8
Mainstream technology uptake	0
Utilisation of new technology for education	5
Technology development	0
Teachers	8
Students	1
Pedagogical methodology	4
Teachers
	Influence rating
Traditional UK educational technology companies	4
Educational technology company trailblazers	9
Large multinationals	3
The government	7
Becta	9
National curriculum	6
Parents	9
Local authority	8
Mainstream technology uptake	0
Utilisation of new technology for education	7
Technology development	0
Students	10
Pedagogical methodology	9
Students
	Influence rating
Teachers	10
Traditional UK educational technology companies	1
Educational technology company trailblazers	6
Large multinationals	2
The government	4
Becta	5
National curriculum	3
Parents	10
Local authority	4
Mainstream technology uptake	0
Utilisation of new technology for education	0
Technology development	0
Pedagogical methodology	1
Pedagogical methodology
	Influence rating
Students	10
Teachers	9
Traditional UK educational technology companies	4
Educational technology company trailblazers	9
Large multinationals	7
The government	8
Becta	9
National curriculum	10
Parents	6
Local authority	7
Mainstream technology uptake	0
Utilisation of new technology for education	8
Technology development	1

Visualising the dynamics (pressures) of the Primary school educational Technology market

The dynamics primary school educational technology market are complex, a multitude of different factors come into play when trying to visualise the dynamics.

• Technology development
• Utilisation of new technology for education
• Mainstream technology uptake
• Local authority
• Parents
• National curriculum
• Becta
• The government
• Large multinationals
• Niche educational technology trailblazers 
• Deep routed traditional educational technology companies
• Teachers
• Children
• Pedagogical methodology

All these factors denote where and for what primary school money designated for ICT is spent! Many factors interrelate, and some factors have more influence than others, this dissertation aims to measure the effects of each, and how much each relates to one another in order to gain massive insight into the market dynamics in order to visualise it.

Looking at each field the direction of influence in educational technology must be analysed, for example "parents" have no effect on new technologies being invented or pedagogical methodology, but big influence on "local authority" which in turn has influence over the government which in turn influences the national curriculum, which has influence over Becta that influences the local authority and also teachers, etc...

Results will follow:

The effect of ICT grants of the educational marketplace and technology take up

The masses of government grants throughout the nineties and noughties have enabled each and every primary school across the UK to purchase ICT equipment they would never before have been able, with most primary schools having computer labs, and interactive whiteboards in each classroom. Guidelines on how to spend this money were/are provided by Becta, who offer support on how ICT should be integrated into their school, giving their company recommendations and service opinions. Although positive, these grants are/were short term and have arguable inflated the ICT marketplace unsustainably, and also influenced schools to purchase masses of ICT equipment, that may or may not be worthwhile or suit future curriculum, with grant and funding deadline it could be argued that schools are forced into rapid purchasing.

The educational technology market stands on a knife edge as the new policies and cuts are introduced by the new coalition government. The market has been riding a wave which New Labours increased educational funding schemes and technology grants created, and its only a matter of time until it crashes on the shore of reality.

Due the uncertain economic direction of the UK, there is no guarantee that the same levels on funding will be available in the future, infact its almost certain that its not. The generally feeling is that the potential lack of ICT funding is obviously going to have a negative impact on children learning, this in fact may not be true. It is widely considered that the pedagogy for teaching/learning with the current ICT set-up has limited development, and that pedagogical methodology stemming from teaching with TV/video, and activities in books is currently applied. Perhaps a time of pedagogical development on the current hardware platform is ahead, which will potentially have greater benefit of educating children than higher and higher technology.

Technology uptake...

The way in which computer &; peripheral technology uptake in schools has manifested throughout the years has depended on a number of issues, with a number of different layers.

Firstly at the government end, the national curriculum dictates the direction in which school must use technologies in order to meet targets, ICT initiatives and accreditation look at certain guidelines of computer technology which a school must adhere to in order to gain ICT accreditation, BECTA denotes good computer technology and guides schools as to what the best products are.

Next,the field is dominated by key multinationals, these can dictate the direction in the hardware/software they create, often due to their position in the market, they tend to play it safe in their distribution, while usually show casing "future development" experimenting with more ambitious technologies.

Smaller vendors do tend to try and offer something different to their customers, usually due to tending to the nique markets such as dyslexia, autism, learning difficulties and generally tech savy schools. Though due to the small nature of the clientèle these companies usually remain smaller and do not get the same publicity and kudos as the larger companies.

In this educational market one can take the positive opinion that the market works and functions like any other free market, where by it is dominated by the multinationals, which dictate the direction of technology push, with smaller vendors dotted in and around catering for the niques which the mass market dynamic of the multinational don't cater for. The problem is this is not a free market, where the vast majority of money spent is government money spend though the schools. In the past the government was blatant in its support for the 3 major UK based computer manufacturers to supply schools with computers offering subsidies; but now, due to the devolution of funding the power of choice is given to schools.

Schools want minimum fuss, assured, robust, tried & trusted companies and services, with "extra mile" customer services to give them peace of mind. Primary schools haven't often got the required ICT skilled staff on hand to solve potentially simple problems which may go wrong with the software or equipment, so for many schools especially in rural areas a solid; fault free system is vital.

Primary schools are influenced by both above in their purchasing of ICT equipment and software services.

Key technological issues in regards to ICT in schools below:

Technology development
Technology use development - pedagogy/software/activities etc...
Educational technology take up

Online learning in UK primary schools - informal writings

So, this is my first little post which is just getting my ideas out there, some stuff I say will have to be checked for accuracy later.

Essentially there is the tend which I perceive, from video education (which really started in the 1980) and its transition to internet movie clip education. Much web based learning it based around movie clips, integrated with small games or mini games, sometimes exploratory, where by the child can click and choose clips within a topic area to watch. But often structured, where by a child can watch a short video about for example "milk is manufactured", then which a mini game follows where questions are asked about the information the video contained. Companies such as Espresso education design their mini-games in a way that once completed, a print out can be made detailing the child's answers and providing a kind of certificate of completion. This watch & listen, then answer model in abstraction is similar to a learning/teaching model which was around in the 80s, where by a video was shown on a TV to the entire class, and each student was given a series of questions which to write down answers for, these would be marked by the teacher, and given a star of smiley face for approval.

Essentially the pedagogy of teaching is only just starting to adapt from the old models which are used for teaching with video, the benefit of the interactive computer games learning experience is starting to develop and make use of the new functions. Throughout the 80s and the 90s computers and TV were very separate entities when it came to learning, 

Interactive whiteboards & projectors = blackboard & TV

History of computing (ICT) in education...

Response to:

Report on history of ICT in UK schools, with future trends analysed. References to sourced data in this.

• Technology take-up ...VS... Technology development

To start I'll explain the path in with computers started to appear in school.

Computers started to appear in primary schools in the mid 80s. The first to hit the market were the Apricot and the Commodore PET in the early 80s. Although the take up of these computers was decent in secondary education, primary schools saw little benefit in them, as at this stage the computers were very basic; essentially their only use was for word processing, and spreadsheets. These computers were unable to output sound, and didn't have graphical capabilities, which was not at all ideal for young children. Once these computers had established a certain degree of kudos; the government at the time decided that computers in schools were worth subsidising. So in 1984 the "Department of Trade and Industry" interfered by offering to pay half of the cost for primary schools purchasing new computers, so schools throughout the UK began to purchase more computers. The Department for Trade and Industry chose three UK based computer manufacturers which school could purchase the computers. In 1984 (until the 90s) the "Local Education Authority" was centrally in charge of schools budgets, purchasing, etc... so it decided on which computer system it would purchase for its area. These were:

Acorn's BBC model B

 

RM's 380Z

 

Sinclair Spectrum


(bloody gorgeous aren't they...)

The more popular models were the Acorn and the RM, as it was found the Sinclair wasn't robust enough for general classroom usage. All of these were state of the art at the time, which meant they all had sound, and they all were able to display graphical pictures in colour, allowing for much richer interaction, making computer technology more accessible to younger children.

A major issue with early computing in primary schools was the software, very few programs were actually written for them, and some which were, were often crude with little or no educational benefit, or too wordy and stale. The way in which software was loaded onto the computers also became a stigma, tapes were used in early models that were a task to load, clumsy, and easily broken. This was followed by a leap to floppy disks which were an improvement, but suffered from similar problems.

Early use of computers in primary schools, positioned them as a separate entity - they were used as a learning station, like an education video games console, each piece of software set out an activity and alone or in small groups the children would complete it, in most cases it wasn't part of any subject or subject area of which the child was currently studying in class, schools often had a very limited library of software. Computers were seen as a separate subject rather than something that was integrated, and the concept that computers were not simply a teaching station but were in fact a creative tool to learn through not from. A big social leap in the wider use of computers was that of word processing, the old guards opinion was that of "why use computers when pen and paper is fine?", this opinion was drowned out when it became abundantly clear that the ability to print, share and collaborate was highly beneficial in teaching/learning. The National Curriculum was a key driver and really pushed the idea of computers as objects to learn through not from, setting out guidelines and integrating methodology into the curriculum which schools were guided.

A key landmark in educational computing was when "Windows, icons mouse and pointer" operating systems were introduced, the first of which was the RM Nimbus, which was released in 1985/86, and was the first
Department of Trade and Industry supported WIMP computer. It had much improved graphics, better sound and was considerably faster:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIMP_(computing)



Soon after RM, in 1987 Acorn released the Archimedes computer which also had a WIMP operating system, which had again had improved graphics, better sound and was much faster. Some models even had IBM/or PC emulation software.

Next came the Acorn A3000 which was quickly adopted by primary schools

RM equipped with their "286" version of processors decided to conform to the standards which were shaping the market, and they scrapped their operating system in favour of an industry standard model, although it wasn't until the early to mid 90s they halted production of their Nimbus 186 range. The Sinclair faded from educational use, in 1986 Sinclair sold its computer range (Sinclair spectrum) to Amstrad. The spectrum range established a place in the market as a "home computer", where it increasingly competed with video game consoles, leading to its demise.

One major player in the education computer market at this time was Apple computers. Apple computers had WIMP operating systems before both Acorn and RM, focusing on ease of use, perfect for education. They had a large market share in the USA elementary schools, but due to the UK Department for Trade and Industry, they were never subsidised and therefore introduced into UK schools.

The battle between computer platforms in schools raged on until the mid 90s, where ultimately the omnipotent PC ruled supreme, and other systems were rendered obsolete. The overwhelming dominance of PCs in the "real world" finally took control in primary schools, and PCs became the only type of computer to have in schools. Microsoft Windows 3 and then Windows 95, were the first highly polished fully functioning operating systems, this coupled with PC's superior sound, graphical capabilities, CD-ROMs



















Acorn dropped out of the race in the late 90s. RM changed its business model to a service/software business in the mid 90s. Apple continued without real market penetration, biding its time, it ventured into emerging trends and technologies, and is now worth more than Microsoft! Apple are once again trying to establish themselves in UK primary school classrooms, and with their perceived simpleness, usability, and general kudos there may well be another platform battle in UK primary schools in the coming years.

By the start of the 21st century any computer platform battle in schools had virtually disappeared, the PC had prevailed and a different type of competition for market share ensue. PC manufacturers competed with each other, companies such as RM, Stone & Dell, all offer product system services, with different software packages and support to suit the needs of schools.

All that said, the real future is not in hardware platforms but in methods of interaction and online learning environments, as in generally people are wiser to the real power of technology, as a method of increasing experience relative to education, rather than an experience in itself.

Continuation of BECTA short paragraph... and Coming UP...

BECTA have a major influence on how the national syllabus is written, what it necessitates of the schools in order to reach aims set out buy it, for example some area denote use of certain technologies. Schools must, or certainly strive to get ICT mark of approval to indicate that the school is modern, and therefore teaching children adequately. 

Coming UP...

Report on history of ICT in UK schools, with future trends analysed. References to sourced data in this.

• Technology take-up ...VS... Technology development

Elaboration on topics in Proposal.

Solid definitions of the forces in action, with "Visualisations", showing how these force act and shape the marketplace.


TO NOTE:

yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss... I'm engrossed, lets do this shit!

Analysis of the forces in the uk educational marketplace dynamics...

The dissertation should layout all of the variables in the world of educational technology with defined emphasis on ICT, due to the complex nature to which technology can be referred to. Also with focus on the Primary education, again due to the complexities and pedagogical differences across ages groups, it must be taken note that dissertation explores further Key Stage 1 primary education.

The forces which sway technology in education can plainly be identified as the technology trend and advancements, the government (encompassing BECTA) and educational needs. Each area is muddied, intermingling and passing from one to another.

Educational need is difficult to analyse, one may assume that it is out of competing with the perceived heightened interactions that modern day children experience in they're daily lives (i.e. computer games & TV etc) that ICT has taken centre stage in today's classroom, with interactive whiteboards, laptops, desktop computers and interactive audio visual equipment/toys commonplace in nearly ever classroom across the UK. This may be so in regards to older students that may automatically get put of by "lo-fi" classroom learning, although again, pen and paper is still the main medium of communicating work in schools, that of course until later in secondary schools and beyond, which is dissertation does not discuss.

Essentially teaching is the conveying and passing on of information in a form easy to understand and absorb by the audience experiencing (listening/watching/touching). It is widely accepted that technology can enhance an experience when used in the right way, although much technology is designed in order to make our lives easier, for example watching a video about how chocolate is made, from the cow and coco bean, to the factory, to the super market shelves; may inspire and educate some children when watched, but it doesn't give the same amount of immersion as if the child went on a field trip to physically follow the path of chocolate. Today there are companies such as Education City and Espresso Education which have created an online database of different videos (such as the chocolate example), and mini educational games which children can work through interactively, giving the child response to his/her actions, and allowing the child to review and deliberate. These can be used in class on interactive whiteboard as a class, or small group activity, though these interactions are in no way that to rival computer games, they are still perceived as sterile by the children, which posing the question of direction, should classroom ICT interaction rival that of PS3 and box360, or should it set its own direction with focus on pedagogical interactivity.

There is a threshold of traditional educational ICT benefit in primary teaching, although there has been a push into increased interactivity of ICT, the tools are the same, and especially for KS1 students the uniform ICT individual point and click learning on desktop/laptop computers is a cognitive leap from reality, and is often just going through the motions rather than enhancement of learning. Although the argument could be made that children should learn to use the tools (traditional computer set-up) in which they will most definitely be using in their futures.

This is a vital highly political and economic point, the technological ICT tools which children use whilst in school imprint on them a brand, a piece of software, an email address, an operating system a way of doing things on a computer in the future.

A massive point for debate, who wants what out of educational ICT?

Schools - :

Priorities are:

Ease of use
Integration into current system
Tried and trusted solutions - no risk
To meet curriculum requirements
Accredited systems, platforms & technology

Buyers/Teachers in primary schools are likely not to automatically choose a product/system which is outlandish in its technology and claims to greatly aid learning, this is not because they don't care about the children. But simply put there isn't enough staff time in the average school to risk a product/system that is may well go wrong. Schools tend to choose companies which go the extra distance in their customer service, choosing local options, and tired and trusted vendors. They go with what they know, what may or may not have served them well. This coupled with schools swing towards trusted (i.e. larger companies) creates a market climate ruled by a few major players.

Large multinationals who control a massive stake in the market:

Have their technologies approved/recommended by BECTA
Create a climate of fear over the risk of smaller vendors
Have their technologies detailed in school curriculum
Help schools apply for "Grants" in order to purchase their products
Legally advertise and instill their brand in to a young audience.
Gain a "friendly company image". 

It is of perceived great benefit to companies to slam their branding in the faces of children in order to create a branding relationship with them so they pester mum and dad for the next "Sony" branded video games console, or get accustomed to MAC OSX/Windows. The only real battle in this domain is between Apple and Microsoft's harvesting of new users. The educational marketplace is to all intents and purposes a small market, in addition to this it is highly competitive, these dynamics stifles smaller companies and allows larger multinationals for whom educational technology may not make big money for, to be in the market to monopolise and push their brand and image. Multinationals relationship with the government organisation BECTA is a key relationship to question as the motives and perceived motives may conflict and entwine. Above defines the market as a whole, where as in reality it should be explained in terms of service, hardware, and software - where quite often they interrelate, which invokes subcategories.


The British Government (i.e. BECTA):

To search for educationally beneficial technologies, working with schools and children
To accreditate companies with outstanding service/system/product/s
Conduct the marketplace
Equality for companies in the educational marketplace

It's hard not to be skeptical when to comes to analysing BECTA's role in the direction of educational technology. On the one hand they do outwardly appear to promote innovative solutions, and conduct independent studies into best practices, and investigating solutions such as Linux and open source. Where as on the other, educational technology is seemingly dominated by large multinationals with potential inward ties to examining boards and curriculum developers. Without resorting to slander, BECTA must be analysed without precursors.