Faculty of Education - Theses

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Laptop computers: changes in teachers' practice

Calnin, Gerard T. ( 1998)

This thesis tracks the chain of events which led to the introduction of a laptop computer program at an independent boys' school. Initially it examined the implementation of the program and its effects on teachers and students. To explain these patterns, the study then examined the way the school prepared itself to implement the use of laptops. In seeking to understand the reasons underlying the preparation for implementation strategies, the study then examined the key adoption decisions taken by the school. Thus, the thesis traces a set of interrelated phases of implementation, adoption and use. The study should be regarded as an evaluation because the findings presented here have been reported to the school. One aim was to 'lay out' what had happened up to a particular point in time, June 1997. Laying out the findings, or providing an illuminative analysis was a means chosen by which the school could come to grips with what had happened to this time. In addition, the study provides a more formative element through the synthesis of literature designed as a basis for improving the existing curriculum. The literature is linked to the findings of the empirical part of the study throughout the thesis. Having access to the findings of what has occurred so far, and the relevant literature, was seen as a way by which the evaluation can influence the future laptop program of the school.