What is an ecological approach and how can it assist in understanding ICT take‐up?

Abstract

This paper argues that ecological frameworks offer a powerful way of explaining the take-up of information and communication technology (ICT) in schools. Past research has focused on teachers and their willingness and readiness to use ICT but this has not satisfactorily explained the use (or non-use) of ICT. Gaps in this research can be addressed by an ecological approach which shifts attention from the teacher to the context in which ICT is expected to be used. Such an approach, following Bronfenbrenner and others, looks at the relationship of individuals to the system in which they act, a relationship which is seen as interdependent. An ecological perspective explains how take-up of ICT is influenced by the degree to which different levels of a system, eg, micro, meso, exo and macro levels, are aligned. It is recommended that researchers and policy makers should pay greater attention to context when advocating the use of ICT.

The Relationship Between ICT Perceived Competence and Adolescents’ Digital Reading Performance: A Multilevel Mediation Study

“…A host of studies have revealed that the frequency of ICT use is a determining factor for the development of adolescents’ digital reading performance. The use of ICT has been found to affect students’ reading performance in different use contexts (i.e., at school and outside of school) (Hammond, 2020) and with different use purposes (i.e., recreational and academic purposes) (Eger et al, 2020). Most studies found that using ICT at school was negatively correlated with students’ reading performance (e.g., Chen et al, 2021; Hu et al, 2018; Petko et al, 2017; Skryabin et al, 2015); however, mixed correlations were found with respect to the use of ICT outside of school and digital reading performance— recreational use could be either positively (e.g., Hu et al, 2018; Skryabin et al, 2015) or negatively correlated with performance (e.g., Petko et al, 2017; Xiao et al, 2019).…”

Size matters: contextual factors in local policy translations of National School Digitalisation Policy

“…Notably, with present trends moving towards more flexible, network-orientated and decentralized school governance (Fan and Popkewitz 2020), national policies tend to be formulated as visionary documents setting simplistic, 'loose' goals rather than specific ones (Kozma 2008). Additionally, contextual issues, which are considered of particular concern for school digitalisation, have been insufficiently acknowledged (Hammond 2020;Lund 2021;Ward and Parr 2011). Hence, considering the trends of decentralisation described above, the issue of context in relation to policy comes forward as of special concern in understanding the digitalisation of schools.…”