Over the past few decades, information and communications technology (ICT) has become gradually more important to schools and universities. There are wide of research exists to explore and study the use of ICT in the process of learning and teaching in secondary schools. This research examines how ICT is applied in the classroom of Kuwaiti schools from the perspective of students, teachers and decision-makers. Based on four fundamental research questions, the aim is to analyse the level and impact of ICT on teachers‟ pedagogy, the students‟ perception of ICT use in the classroom and to seek out any fundamental differences in public and private education, as well as across genders. The research adopted a mixed-methods approach to data gathering, using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to gather data from students, teachers and policy-makers in Kuwait. The evidence was then analysed based upon the original research questions outlined. The results show a sporadic use of ICT in Kuwaiti secondary schools and suggest that when employed, evidence is mixed as to whether there is indeed a positive or negative impact from ICT use. The research does suggest there is capacity in the skills of teachers and students to employ ICT effectively, at least on a fundamental or technical level. There remains a significant gap between possessing these schools and applying them in the school setting. Alongside this, there is some support and recognition of the benefits associated with ICT use, and there are some teachers who recognise the importance of ICT in developing more constructivist methods in the classroom. The research therefore implies both a potential failure of Government and the profession itself to effectively implement ICT in the Kuwaiti classroom.

This study offers a much-needed discussion of the use of interactive whiteboards in English teaching. Focusing on a sample of teachers, in an English region, it seeks to provide heightened awareness of and critical insight into the role that the technology plays within the teachers’ practice. Specifically and distinctively, it examines how the technology supports the teaching of English skills and content. The study addresses the paucity of research into interactive whiteboard use within this secondary core subject. The study is informed by a consideration of teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) and by two other specific theories. Gibson’s theory of affordances supports a consideration of opportunities offered by the technology. The cognitive theory of multimedia learning (Mayer) underpins an exploration of the multimedia capabilities of interactive whiteboards. A case study approach is adopted, using mixed methods to gather data on seven case study teachers who are experienced, regular users of the technology. Lessons taught by the teachers were observed through systematic observation and the content of the interactive whiteboards was analysed. The English teachers were subsequently interviewed. A range of findings illuminate areas relating to interactive whiteboard content, English subject teaching and pedagogy in general. Analysis shows how the teachers are actively considering aspects of planning and design with their resources In particular. They produce highly prepared resources, designed to suit individual teaching groups. However, the technology can be utilised in limited and limiting ways. Program choices constrain the affordances of the interactive whiteboard. Multimedia content is limited in nature. The main pedagogic model is one that supports teacher control and the transmission of content. Student interaction is usually constrained and training opportunities are uncommon. The study identifies the need for a better informed understanding of the technology’s affordances if it is to effectively support English teaching.

The importance of giving pupils opportunities to become producers of digital media is well documented in the literature (see Harel, 1991; Papert, 1993; Kafai, 1995; Harel Caperton, 2010; Luckin et al., 2012; Nesta, 2012; Sefton-Green, 2013), however there has been little research in this area in the context of the UK Key Stage 3 ICT curriculum. The purpose of this study is to achieve an understanding of how authoring computer games in a mainstream secondary setting can support the learning of basic game design and programming concepts. The research explores pupils’ experiences of the process they followed and the areas of learning they encountered as they made their games, and considers what they valued and what they found difficult in the game authoring activity. The research draws on the learning theory of constructionism, which asserts the importance of pupils using computers as ‘building material’ to create digital artefacts. In the process of creating these artefacts, over time, computers become ‘objects to think with’, enabling pupils to learn how to learn (Papert, 1980b; Harel and Papert, 1991a). Data were collected in planning documents, journals and the games pupils made, in recordings of their working conversations, and in pair and group interviews. Findings indicate that as well as learning some basic programming concepts, pupils enjoyed the activity, demonstrated positive attitudes to learning and felt a sense of achievement in creating a complex artefact which had personal and cultural significance for them. This research acknowledges the need to develop accessible units of work to implement aspects of the new Computing curriculum (DfE, 2013c), especially for teachers and pupils who have little prior knowledge of the field. It suggests that computer game authoring may offer a viable entry and considers the extent to which constructionist approaches are suitable for this kind of work.

Are eleven to fourteen year old learners attracted to computers? Can computers motivate them to learn? How do they respond to new self-study, computer-based learning activities? Does the type of computer-based learning activity affect their motivation? This study focuses on three important facets of e-learning and motivation – attraction, novelty and activities. The first facet (attraction) relates to verifying the existence of, and reasons for, the attraction to computers. Further areas of investigation relate to the effects of this attraction (if it exists) and learners’ perceptions of proficiency on motivation. The second facet (novelty) relates to learners’ perceptions of novelty and responses to different types of novel self-study, computer-based learning activities. Activities (the third facet) relates to the motivational effects of different types of self-study, computer-based learning activities. The study took place in three schools in different geographical areas of the United Kingdom. The participants were eleven to fourteen year olds. The first facet (attraction) was approached using surveys, through online questionnaires and focus group interviews. The second and third facets (novelty and activities) were approached through multiple-case studies, mainly through observations, self-report forms, and focus group interviews. An important finding is that most learners are attracted to computers, but not necessarily motivated to learn with computers. It is argued that today’s learners have learning attitudes that are based around fun. Hence, e-learning must accommodate this whilst delivering “serious learning”. The research evidence also show differences in perceived novelty and motivational effects of different types of e-learning activities. In particular, the research evidence suggests that the perception of novelty can be extended by changes or discussions during the interaction with certain activities (“regenerative novelty”). It is argued that knowledge of the novelty and motivational effects should be harnessed to provide engagement with learning.

A considerable current challenge facing Saudi schools is the need to change in order to meet the demands of the future and to develop new and different learning opportunities for the coming generations of learners. This research project is a case study that focuses on the use of an asynchronous e-learning tool, exploring a strategy used in one secondary school in Saudi Arabia to investigate students’ communication, interaction and collaboration. The project reflects upon the challenges of effectively using new learning technology, and encouraging effective communication, interaction and collaboration between students. The study also investigates the effect of using a variety of sources of information in order to pursue a better understanding of the tasks, benefits and challenges associated with using online forum technology by teenage girls being taught in traditional Saudi classrooms. A qualitative methodology was employed. A group of thirty female students in a school in Boraydah, Saudi Arabia, participated in an online forum to study a specific unit on the Geography curriculum during the second semester of the academic year 2012-2013. Online observation, focus groups and individual semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate students’ e-learning experiences and in particular, their communication, interaction and collaboration. Knowledge Building Theory and Communities of Practice were used as theoretical frameworks for the case study. Forum discussions were analysed using Systematic Content Analysis, and focus group and interview data were analysed thematically. The response of the students indicate that prior to the intervention the level of interaction both inside the classroom and outside the classroom was much lower and that poor level of interaction, they felt, had a negative influence on their learning. They recognise the value of collaboration and the experience of the online forum encourages them to communicate more in school and in the classroom. The research also shows that students using the online forum develop features of a community of practice. I hope that the results of this research can assist teachers, schools and the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia to identify how to develop new teaching and learning approaches, increase student communication and interaction, and integrate new technological methods in schools for the benefit of the coming generations of teachers and learners.

Assessing learning progression in Media Education is an area of study which has been largely neglected in the history of the subject, with very few longitudinal studies of how children learn to become "media literate" over an extended period of time. This thesis is an analysis of data over three years (constituted by the production of digital video work by a small group of secondary school students) which attempts to offer a more extended account of this learning. The thesis views the data through three concepts (or "lenses") which have been key to the development of media education in the UK and abroad. These are Culture, Criticality and Creativity, and the theoretical perspectives that the thesis should be viewed in the light of include the work of Bourdieu, Vygotsky, Heidegger and Hegel. The examination of the student production work carried out in the light of these three lenses suggests that learning progression comes about because of a relationship between all three, the key metaphorical idea put forward by the thesis that describes that relationship is the dialectic of familiarity. This suggests that for media education at least, the learning process is a dialectic one, in which students move from cultural and critical knowledge and experiences that are familiar -or thetic - to ones that are unfamiliar, and hence antithetical. Over time this antithetical knowledge becomes familiar and students synthesise together their popular cultural and critical experiences with the critical experiences that they have in the media classroom. This synthesis is driven by the creative act of production work, which brings together the cultural and the critical, the familiar and unfamiliar. It is this key metaphor then, that offers an account of learning progression in media production, and the relationship of that process to creativity, criticality and popular culture.

This thesis investigates the planning processes involved in transforming intended learning into actual learning. It focuses on the nature of, and influences on, the planning process and in particular, the extent to which the relationship between intended and actual learning upports the teaching-learning process in Design and Technology. The planning processes and procedures used by teachers are an essential pre-requisite to ensuring students’ progress their learning and consequently a vital aspect of teaching. Unfortunately however, it is an area of teaching often only considered in the context of ‘novice’ teachers. With the recent increasing focuses on the production of measurable learning ‘outputs’ in education, understanding the mechanisms behind effective planning processes that provide appropriate learning experiences, producing a range of learning outcomes is challenging for teachers and schools. This empirical research study adopts an interpretivist framework, utlising multiple data sources to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Three distinct, yet inter-connected studies provide the structure for the main study: Study 1 analyses 47 lesson plans and identifies the key operational requirements of, and themes within, current planning processes, Study 2 involves seven lesson observations, identifying and examining the intended learning and the actual learning, and Study 3 asks participants to identify the learning that is demonstrated in the learning outcome and then compares this to the intended learning statement. The findings from this study reveal that the dominant, systematic planning model used by many teachers, provides only to a limited extent the relational framework for the intended and actual learning that supports the teaching-learning process. The prevailing focus on learning outcomes identified during this research is, it is argued, unable to fully support the multidimensionality and multimodality integral to Design and Technology learning. Instead it is restrictive and promotes a limited approach to the subject in relation to both teaching and learning. The study concludes that the planning processes and procedures in Design and Technology need to ii be developed with the clear intention of strengthening their role within the teaching-learning process. This would encourage the development of the underlying important principles inherent within the subject and support teachers’ and students’ achievement, creativity and enjoyment in teaching and learning in the classroom.

In 1943 the Ministry of Education took the decision to sponsor the production of an experimental programme of nonfiction films specifically to be used as ‘instructional’ teaching aids in the secondary classroom. The intervention was a development of pre-war efforts on the part of a number of organisations from the teaching and cultural sectors to realise the value of ‘educational’ film, in response to recognition of the medium’s social and cultural influence. This historical example demonstrates that government recognition of film as an educational resource has been achieved in the past. However, in 2012, the British Film Institute (BFI) launched a new education plan, at the centre of which was the aim to advocate the value of film education to Government (British Film Institute, 2012c). This aim had been the focus of film education initiatives in the previous decade without resolution, for example in the national strategy Film: 21st Century Literacy (UK Film Council, 2009). My research analyses the Ministry of Education’s production experiment in order to discover whether the findings can inform current film education strategies and offer an insight into why the struggle for government recognition of film education still remains. This research combines film theory, archival research and education histories in order to contextualise the films within the particular historical moment of their production. I apply a pragmatic approach to the postmodern and poststructural theories of for example, Nichols (1991), Plantinga (1997), Renov (1993) and Winston (1995) in my textual analysis of the 16 films, sourced from the British Film Institute National Archive. The analysis of form and style informs my discussion of concepts of realism, ‘objectivity’ and ‘truth’ in relation to the films and the social and political ideologies conveyed through the texts. I also analyse contemporary documentation sourced from The National Archives in order to identify the objectives, the pedagogical rationale and the ideological project motivating the Ministry’s experiment as a whole and evaluate its outcomes. I argue that the methodology of the Ministry of Education experiment was flawed so that no definitive conclusions were drawn regarding the educational ‘value’ of film. Furthermore, the ‘experiment’ was turned to political purpose so that the ideological project informing and conveyed through the filmic discourse actually worked to impose the social stratification inherent within the post-war tripartite education system. I also argue that, due in part to technological advances which have removed the need for state sponsorship of educational film production, government recognition is now unnecessary, and carries the risk of ideological and political incentives overcoming the pedagogical objectives of ‘21st century literacy’. I make the recommendation that film education initiatives should exist outside of political agendas and instead build links with teacher training institutions in order to ensure the driving force behind its practical application is pedagogical rather than political.

Many different technologies are available to support teaching and learning in schools and their role is a key topic for debate in contemporary education (Selwyn, 2011b; Lankshear & Knobel, 2006; Collis & Moonen, 2001). Evidence shows that although some technologies are adopted and used successfully within schools, others are not (Straub, 2009). This study was conducted in a technologically-rich secondary school where first-order barriers (Ertmer, 1999) were not expected to affect the use of ICT, and yet there are problems with the adoption of ICT across the curriculum. This study has followed two separate but connected lines of inquiry – how second-order barriers affect the integration and use of ICT and how ICT is used in practice. This includes the roles of the teacher, students and managers in terms of delivery and provision (Moyle, 2006; Eynon, 2010; Wastiau et al, 2013), with a particular focus on the implementation and use of a VLE and e-portfolios for end of Key Stage 3 assessment (Stefani et al, 2007). Following a case study methodology, the research investigated the use of technology within a large secondary school in the South West of England. Data were gathered through the use of VLE logs, questionnaires and group interviews with Year 9 students, questionnaires and interviews with staff, and document analysis of lesson planning and the e-portfolios created by these students. The data shows that, despite good technology provision and access to resources, ICT use is variable within and between departments and despite the SLT vision for student-centred use of ICT, its use is mainly teacher-led. Issues such as how differences in understanding and interpretation of policy between SLT and teaching staff affect ICT use in practice and how teachers’ beliefs affect their practice are identified. By considering the role of second-order barriers on the integration of technology, the research examines the ‘messy realities’ of technology use in education. The key findings show the importance of the SLT and how their practice is central to implementing their vision for ICT use, the importance of the ICT department in supporting development of practice across the curriculum and how teachers’ beliefs about students’ home use of ICT affects their practice.

Teaching a subject which involves a long process and inter-related problems can sometimes be difficult through conventional classroom activities. This is particularly difficult at the UK Key Stage 3 (13-14 years) where students are only beginning to understand the processes of reason. Often what the teacher would like to encourage is group discussion but for many reasons, young students may be reluctant to put forward ideas in a conventional classroom setting. An area where this becomes less of a problem is once they get involved in playing a game together. In addition to this certain subjects are difficult to teach because they involve complex interactions that are largely outside the general knowledge of young students. An example of this is the issue of human contributions to climate change. The subject is one of recent heated debate, much of which involves complex arguments on the relationship between the natural contribution to climate variation and those produced by human beings. In the work reported here a computer game has been developed which tries to incorporate the various processes involved in a realistic way. In principle this game can be used individually. However, it also provides the opportunity for generating group discussion and reasoning processes. The game which has been developed uses a non-player character which is controlled by the teacher. The game is played in a networked environment with a number of teams of two players each trying to provide solutions to a complex climate issue. The non player character is able to monitor the performance of the different teams and provide feedback that will be of a more realistic/less predictable nature. This thesis addresses the design and the implementation of the game as a tool for teaching and learning purposes for learning about the human contribution to climate change. Three experiments have been done using this computer game to investigate the effectiveness of game-based learning towards tackling these issues. The first two studies were carried out in the UK while the third study was carried out in Malaysia to investigate educational cultural background. The initial study involved two groups of Key Stage 3 children in a Geography class. The study was undertaken in the normal teaching sequence. The children were divided into pairs during game-play and each session lasted about one hour. The behaviour of the whole group and individual teams was monitored throughout the game-play. Analysis of this shows that the game not only allowed the students to investigate the science but also to communicate with each other during the process. Overall, it is felt that by introducing an environment with which they were sufficiently familiar (playing a game together) the normal inhibitions to communication were removed. The control based experiment reinforced these findings.