ICT initiatives in primary education: a built environment research challenge

Abstract

The last decade has seen an array of ICT initiatives in education aiming at decreasing inequality and digital exclusion. The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project provides children in developing countries with Internet connected laptops free of charge. As part of this project, Uruguay is the first country to provide every public primary school child with a laptop through the Plan Ceibal. The Plan represents a major investment to promote digital literacy and improve the quality of education. However, several conflicts arise when new technologies are introduced into the educational system. Amongst these is how the introduction of new tools and changes in pedagogical approaches conflict with existing school facilities. There is little current knowledge about what an integrated approach to operating, maintaining, improving and adapting the school buildings and infrastructure in order to create a supporting environment might look like. This paper reports on a research project initiated to explore and unravel the tensions that the introduction of laptops pose, and establish the different ways in which these can be alleviated. Empirical data is drawn from an ongoing multiple case study of five public primary schools. Particular attention is given to how school facilities and their immediate surroundings mediate the successful introduction and adoption of individual laptops. We argue for a context sensitive view on research that not only considers potential changes in pedagogical approaches, but also the physical environments in which these changes are supposed to take place.