Courtney, Lyn, and Anderson, Neil (2010) Do rural and regional students in Queensland experience an ICT "turn-off" in the early high school years? Australian Educational Computing, 25 (2). pp. 7-11.

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Abstract

Students learning in regional, rural and remote locations in Queensland are currently experiencing a 'turn-off' in relation to school-based ICT in the first three years of high school. At the same time, students are experiencing increasing levels of interest and motivation from their use of ICT at home. Given the importance of ICT as an enabling factor in transforming pedagogy and bridging the barriers of distance, it is essential that educators connect with learners' experiences in order to devise strategies to ensure that students have increasing levels of engagement with ICT across the curriculum rather than the diminishing levels of satisfaction that are currently evident. This paper reports preliminary findings from the large study of Year 8, 9 and 10 students and focuses on data from students in regional, rural and remote schools (n = 629), which was extracted from the full dataset of 1,292. This research employed a case study approach using surveys, interviews and focus groups with students and teachers. This paper presents both quantitative and qualitative evidence indicating that homebased ICT usage was considered more interesting and preferred compared with school-based ICT usage. Explanations for why this trend is occurring will be discussed.

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