Balanskat, A., Blamire, R., & Kefala, S. (2006). The ICT Impact Report – A review of studies of ICT impact on schools in Europe. Brussels: European SchoolNet.
http://ec.europa.eu/education/pdf/doc254_en.pdf

Balanskat, Blamire, & Kefala (2006), in a study for the European Commission, drew on evidence from 17 recent studies and surveys on the impact of ICT on schools in Europe and found that: ICT impacts most in primary schools in native language and science; the evidence for mathematics is less compelling though longer use of ICT by young people is linked to improved mathematics scores; there is a growing gap between high and low ‘e-confident’ teachers and schools and there were large differences between European countries. A “clear finding” of the study is that teachers’ practice is not changing much when they use ICT (Balanskat et al. 2006).

Just thought you might like to know that Mal Lee’s new book, Leading a Digital School is now available from ACER Press – sales@acer.edu.au or call 03 9277 5447.

I think we might have ended up in the same room at the IWB conference once or twice, but didn’t get the chance to walk up and say hello.

I went to Mal Lee’s session two years ago at the Sydney conference and also found a great deal to think about. I particularly liked his reference to the tipping point that you notice once “critical mass” is reached in your school. We’re about to hit that this term and I’m excited to see what change will result.

I think there’s a very careful balance that needs to be found with IWB technology; it is very, very easy to become a “sage on the stage” of the 21st Century. What’s missed of course is that the “sage on the stage” doesn’t exist today like it did in the past.

I was also interested to see you felt a little underwhelmed. This is my 2nd conference, and I do think the first one grabbed me a little more than this one did – I did find myself doing a lot more Web 2.0 stuff then. I went with two colleagues who now want to present here in Sydney next year because they believe they can do just as well, if not better. If nothing else, the motivation and learnings they’ve brought from the conference have motivated me to push all of us further, and that can’t be a bad thing.

I spoke to a group of schools this week who are looking at running their own iwb conference with view to create content with students over the two days. I cannot wait to work with this group and will keep you posted about how it is going.