Success Factors for Smart Schools Emphasizing the Role of Information Technology: A Case Study

Abstract

Smart school is a learning institution that has been systemically reinvented in terms of teaching-learning practices and school management in order to prepare students for the Information Age. Information Technology or IT, as an important pillar of smart school system, has different roles in the system from facilitating teaching and learning activities to assisting the school management. The aim of the research is to investigate the smart school activities in Iran in order to propose an IT framework for improvement of the smart school system in Iran. Although in recent years some efforts have been done for developing smart schools in Iran, there is still no comprehensive solution for development of smart school system to be referred. This research has employed mixed methods, encompassing qualitative and quantitative methods in order to identify success criteria for development of smart school system. Twenty success criteria were identified, among others, Information and Communication Technology or ICT skills, ICT use rate, application use rate, and ICT courseware. The proposed IT framework developed based on the criteria success is used to investigate current activities of smart schools in Iran, and to assess five cases in Iran through interview and observation methods. The findings indicated that these schools should have electronic contents for all courses, high speed networks, Internet lines, computers, printers and other related equipments to become complete smart schools. The framework provided a set of guidelines in terms of smart school components in a structured way, which can assist the Ministry of Education of Iran and top-level policy makers to improve current activities of smart schools in Iran. Besides, the research also contributes towards the expansion of theory and knowledge of smart school which could benefit to other developing countries.