The Role of ICT Infrastructure in Its Application to Classrooms: A Large Scale Survey for Middle and Primary Schools in China

Autor/inn/en	Lu, Chun; Tsai, Chin-Chung; Wu, Di
Titel	The Role of ICT Infrastructure in Its Application to Classrooms: A Large Scale Survey for Middle and Primary Schools in China
Quelle	In: Educational Technology & Society, 18 (2015) 2, S.249-261 (13 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1436-4522
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Information Technology; Technology Uses in Education; Middle Schools; Elementary Schools; Surveys; Influence of Technology; Urban Areas; Rural Areas; Multimedia Instruction; Achievement Gap; Regression (Statistics); China + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Informationstechnologie; Technology enhanced learning; Technology aided learning; Technologieunterstütztes Lernen; Middle school; Mittelschule; Mittelstufenschule; Elementary school; Grundschule; Volksschule; Survey; Umfrage; Befragung; Urban area; Stadtregion; Rural area; Ländlicher Raum; Multimediales Lernen; Regression; Regressionsanalyse
Abstract	With the ever-deepening economic reform and international trend of ICT application in education, the Chinese government is strengthening its basic education curriculum reform and actively facilitating the application of ICT in education. Given the achievement gap of ICT infrastructure and its application in middle and primary schools between urban and rural areas, a divide exists between the needs of constructing ICT infrastructure and the patterns of promoting ICT application in education. This paper reports a survey conducted on the infrastructure and application of ICT in middle and primary schools in urban areas (city and county) and rural areas in China based on their demands for promoting ICT in education. The survey focused on 2,168 middle and primary schools, including 717 schools in cities (33.1%), 487 schools in counties (22.5%) and 964 schools located in rural areas (44.5%). Based on stepwise regression analysis, it was revealed that ICT infrastructure had different influences on its application for schools in urban and rural areas. Schools' proportion of ICT aided courses in counties, and utilization of multi-media classrooms in rural areas may be more associated with the infrastructure. These conclusions would be particularly useful for policy-makers in Asia. Moreover, the analysis model could highlight some areas where improvement plans could be implemented to reduce the digital divide. However, ICT infrastructure was found to play an insignificant role in "utilization of multi-media classrooms" or "proportion of ICT aided courses" in city schools, and thus its role in city schools should be reinterpreted. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	International Forum of Educational Technology & Society. Athabasca University, School of Computing & Information Systems, 1 University Drive, Athabasca, AB T9S 3A3, Canada. Tel: 780-675-6812; Fax: 780-675-6973; Web site: http://www.ifets.info
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01