Teachers talked of pupils “try[ing] words they wouldn’t use otherwise because they know it will be
checked” [VC/En] and “playing around” [SC/En; VC/En] with texts by “editing, changing, shifting
around” [SC/En], so that a text became “something you can mess about with on the screen and
improve and delete so that nobody ever needs to see a finished version” [VC/En]. In particular, the
easy revisability of drafts “allow[ed pupils] to be much more critical of what they’ve done” [GS/En],
and made it reasonable for teachers to “actually offer some advice for restructuring” [SC/En].
In summary, teachers –primarily in English and Mathematics– pointed to ways in which use of ICT
not only helped pupils to check and correct aspects of their work, but supported a style of working
in which ideas were tried out and work-in-progress refined.
5.3. Enhancing the variety and appeal of classroom activity
Teachers identified a contribution of ICT use to bringing variety to classroom activity, and
enhancing its appeal.
There were references to activity involving ICT use being “something different” [GS/Sc; MC/Sc]; as
“mak[ing] a change” [GS/Ma]; as adding “another dimension” [SC/En; GS/Ma; TC/Ma]; as having
“novelty value” [GS/En; CC/Ma]; and –most frequently– as providing “variety” [MC/En; CC/Ma; TC/Ma;
VC/Ma; CC/Sc; GS/Sc]. Such variety alone was represented as generating pupil interest and
motivation:
The more varied the techniques you can use, like a video, computer, games, they’re more interesting to
kids because you keep changing the activity… / The more ways you present something, the more
interested they’ll be and hopefully you’ll keep their interest. [GS/Sc]
Other accounts hinted at further components constituting the ‘difference’ associated with ICT use:
It’s just a different way, rather than being sat in the classroom… /… It’s a quicker way. It’s not having
to write everything down, and they see it as a privilege to go in and use the computers, so already
they’re happy, they put more effort in just because it’s a change. [MC/Ma]
There was talk of how pupils “like a change from the routine of the classroom situation” and “love
to go to the ICT room” [CC/Ma]; of how “going off to the computer [room]… holds their interest,
keeps them motivated” [GS/Sc]; and of how “getting them out of the classroom was good” [CC/En].