DIGITAL EXPECTATIONS AND EXPERIENCES: THE GAP BETWEEN THE PROMISE OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY AND THE EXPERIENCES

For more than three decades, researchers, policy makers and educationalists have all harboured great expectations towards the use of technology in schools. This belief has received a hard knock after an OECD 2015-report has shown that computers do not improve pupil results: Investing heavily in school computers and classroom technology shows that frequent use of computers in schools is more likely to be associated with lower achievement. Pupils who use ICT moderately at school have better learning results than pupils who use ICT very frequently (and of course better than ppupils who use ICT rarely). The top-performing countries in digital reading and navigation skills are very cautious about using technology in their classrooms. The demise of traditional schooling has often been predicted based on the assumption that media-related developments will explode it apart and revolutionise thinking about education. The 21st-century student has experienced the shift from the world of writing and the book to the world of images and the screen. Political expectations for the modernisation of schooling through the use of information and communication technology and the allocation of funds in accordance with politically created agendas have led to perceived pressure on school staff to employ information and communication technology as a teaching aid. Many schools are consumed by a race in which they haphazardly adopt the latest technological gadgets, but many teachers do not understand how to incorporate these devices into existing instructional methods. The school case is analysed. This school is a former model school in terms of ICT use, although no single trace remains of such ambitions in the school's own presentation of itself. The school was formerly at the forefront of ambitious ICT implementation in everyday educational life. This is no longer the case. It is therefore interesting to analyse how and why the school's ICT focus came to an end. The reason is that political expectations regarding the modernisation of schooling through the use of information and communication technology and the allocation of funds in accordance with politically created agendas are not compatible with the situational constraints and operational features within the school organisation. A laissez-faire equilibrium evolved in the interactional patterns between pupils and teachers, and teachers became frustrated. This frustration manifested itself in a tug-of-war between the school leaders and teachers. However, the school leaders changed their minds and accommodated the teachers’ demands. A turn-around operation ensued. One of the lessons learnt is that school leaders and policy-makers should understand the perspectives of teachers before planning and implementing bold educational technology plans. The gap between the promise of educational technology and the realities shaped by the technology was induced by the teachers’ loss of operational control in this school studied.The school case analysed in this study is a former model school in terms of ICT use, although no single trace remains of such ambitions in the school's own presentation of itself. The school was formerly at the forefront of ambitious ICT implementation in everyday educational life. This is no longer the case. It is therefore interesting to analyse how and why the school's ICT focus came to an end. A frustration manifested itself in a tug-of-war between the school administrators and educators.