46637 KNOWLEDGE MAP: SCHOOL-LEVEL ISSUES GUIDING QUESTIONS: What do we know about effective planning for ICTs in schools at the school level? What do we know about necessary school-level infrastructure to support ICTs in education? CURRENT This Knowledge Map is an excerpt KNOWLEDGEBASE from the publication, Knowledge What we know, what we believe Maps: ICTs in Education: What Do -- and what we don't We Know About the Effective Uses of Information and Communica- Much is known about what work at the school level tion Technologies in Education in A great deal is known about what works ­ and Developing Countries? produced what doesn't ­ related to implementations of by the Information for Development ICT in education initiatives at the school level, Program (infoDev). based on both OECD and LDC experience. Good documentation is available Good documentation exists of specific practices and models for a great number of issues based on experience in the United States and the United Kingdom. e Commonwealth of Learning and UNESCO have adapted the models and lessons learned from such experiences, together with other experiences from LDCs, into a very useful Schoolnet Toolkit. COMMENTS General comments Best practice exists for most issues relating to uses of ICTs in education at the school level. Applicability to LDC/EFA context Despite the wealth of documentation mentioned above, little if any of this knowledge and information appears to have been incorporated into planning for and delivery of ICT in education initiatives in LDCs, where the `same old mistakes' are often made again and again. School-level Issues 47 Some areas for further investigation and research e greatest need related to this topic is for existing knowledge and information to be delivered to the relevant people in charge of ICT in education initiatives in LDCs, as well as those (in donor agencies, NGOs and the private sector) who advise or contribute to such initiatives. Short workshops could be delivered to target countries preparing to scale up ICT in education initiatives to transmit such lesson learned. What are successful examples of how ICTs have been introduced and maintained in schools? What types of information must be provided to schools to aid in the introduction and maintenance of ICT-related equipment and to promote ICT-related instruction? Some Recommended Resources to learn more .... British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) Tools and Services Consortium for School Networking (COSN) Studies and Toolkits ICT and School Management A Review of Selected Literature [Passey 2002] Integrating ICTs into Education: Lessons Learned [UNESCO-Bangkok 2004] A Review of the Research Literature on Barriers to the Uptake of ICT by Teachers [Becta 2004] Schoolnet Toolkit [UNESCO-Bangkok 2004] About these Briefing Sheets: infoDev's Knowledge Maps on ICTs in education are intended to serve as quick snapshots of what the research literature reveals in a number of key areas. ey are not meant to be an exhaustive catalog of everything that is known (or has been debated) about the use of ICTs in education in a particular topic; rather, taken together they are an attempt to summarize and give shape to a very large body of knowledge and to highlight certain issues in a format quickly accessible to busy policymakers. e infoDev knowledge mapping exercise is meant to identify key general assertions and gaps in the knowledge base of what is known about the use of ICTs in education, especially as such knowledge may relate to the education-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). 48 Knowledge Maps: ICT in Education