The Picture Project:
(Perceptions of ICT Use in Remote Education)
Partially funded by the Socrates-Minerva Action

The ICTs offer great potential in improving the quality of the educational experience and in providing access to lifelong learning for all. However, the successful adoption of ICTs in education requires a receptive environment. While it is important to ensure that the financial and infrastructural support is in place, the attitudes, perceptions and personal profile of the end user – the student is also of key relevance.

This project of two year's duration, will investigate the perceptions and attitudes of learners to the use of the ICTs in education on a transEuropean basis. This will involve research into attitudes and access to technology of adult students in a number of European countries (Ireland, Northern Ireland, Denmark, Portugal, Netherlands and Sweden); the project will investigate the role which gender and prior exposure to the technologies plays in readiness to adopt the ICTs.

As a practical demonstration of the use of ICTs, a case study of the use of ICT in a course using online resources, linked with conventional textbooks developed by a commercial publisher will be carried out. This part of the project will test the potential of adapting and localising commercially developed online resources linked with conventional print-based textbooks and will provide a test-bed to identify issues such as assessment of students, involvement of teachers in adapting this material to their own programmes, accreditation, costs, and copyright implications. The project will involve partners from three European countries. It is envisaged that a number of tasks will be subcontracted to other institutions and that a commercial publisher will be involved in the evaluation of online multimedia resources.

Outcomes

The outcomes of the project will include: understanding of the role played by student related factors (attitudes, gender, access to ICTs, prior experience) in the successful adoption of the ICTs in education, and knowledge of the issues involved in utilising commercially produced resources in educational settings

Deliverables will include: Development of an instrument to investigate students readiness to adopt ICTs in education; guidelines for institutions developing strategies for adopting ICTs in their programmes; guidelines on good practice in utilising commercially produced resources in accredited programmes; a Workshop at ICDE conference 2001; a transnational workshop in Dublin 2002, and presentation of the outcomes of the project other conferences

Duration: 1st September 2000-30th November 2002

Coordinating Institution: Oscail, National Distance Education Centre, Dublin City University, Dublin 9

• Dissemination Activities The PICTURE  e-learning Project: Online Resources, Pedagogical Techniques and Tutor Roles - Poster Presentation, Improving Student Learning Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland, 9-12th September 2002.
• Report on Pilot Phase of PICTURE Project:
  The PICTURE eLearning Project: Online Resources;Pedagogical Techniques; Higher-Order Learning and Tutor Support Ms Word Version / PDF Version
• International Colloquium: eLearning in Higher Education: Pedagogy and Policies, Belfast, UK, 4th October 2002.
• The new elearningeuropa.info portal, an initiative of the European Commission The elearningeuropa.info portal aims to be a collaborative platform that facilitates access to information for all Europeans interested in e-learning issues.
• Conor McCaffery : The Digital Divide in the EU National Policies and Access to ICTs in the Member States.
• Kay McKeogh: Student Perceptions of the Use of ICTs in European Education: Report of a Survey