Abstract
Our study is based on a comparative analysis of two institutional documents, produced in public primary and secondary Portuguese schools, meant to enhance the use of ICT resources: an application to the Iniciativa Escolas, Professores e Computadores Portáteis (â??Schools, Teachers and Laptops Initiativeâ??), which aimed at equipping schools with ICT equipment, and the ICT Plan, a biannual plan of action for the integration of ICT in educational activities involving all the members of the educative community.
 The analysis focused on the typologies of activities planned for each school in both documents. As these documents were produced in consecutive school years, it was possible to recognize a continuity and evolution relationship towards the activation of ICT resources when conceiving, planning and developing learning activities.
Highlights
In the beginning of the 21st century, the vertiginous development of ICT rises several challenges that may result into a heavy burden for schools’ traditional organisation
The comparative analysis we carried out of the two documents of intentions seems to reveal an important evolution of the intentions of the schools ICT Teams and teachers regarding ICT resources in planning and developing learning opportunities. The results of this analysis reflect a decrease of the concerns related to equipments, either in what regards acquisition and distribution to schools, and with their availability; likewise, there is a less significant expression of the needs in training teachers basic ICT competences, which has been replaced by an investment in training directed to applications and equipment directly oriented to the enhancement of the emancipation of students from the teacher in the organisation and development of learning experiences, such as blended learning systems or multimedia interactive boards
We may point out, regarding ICT plans, inferior levels of references to the activation of ICT in learning activities and to creating and/or supplying pedagogical materials and resources; we think this may be due to the greater presence of ICT resources in learning practices since the school year 2006/2007, as result of equipping the schools
Summary
In the beginning of the 21st century, the vertiginous development of ICT rises several challenges that may result into a heavy burden for schools’ traditional organisation. The importance of a conscious and pedagogically intentional integration of ICT in educational contexts is enhanced by the transition from a mechanistic metaphor of education, in which learning processes are centered on the teacher, to a constructivist perspective, which values a network and collaborative representation as well as being centered on the student Such challenges must be considered by basic and secondary education schools, for they are such an important path for the students’ development; on the other hand, educational challenges may not be dissociated from the nation’s economical, political or sociocultural challenges [1], as that would imply a narrow vision of school, not contextualized in its surrounding global environment, as was in the past. In 2007 a new plan of action was introduced in Portugal: the Plano Tecnológico da Educação (‘Technological Plan for Education’), which aims at facing the challenge of the technological modernisation of the Portuguese schools [9] It is, important to make an evaluation of the way schools are integrating ICT, and in what way they are benefiting from their technological and pedagogical potential
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