A. Introduction
MIICE stands for Measurement of the Impact of ICT on Children's Education
MIICE's main purpose is to put into words what most recognise is good quality in learning and teaching incorporating the use of ICT. It is concerned with those qualities which cannot readily be assessed in conventional ways
To contribute to the debate about the ends of more widespread use of ICT for learning and teaching. Use of ICT makes real demands - in money and time - on education authorities, schools, teachers and children. We need to be clearer about the benefits which we can anticipate
Background
MIICE grew out of a set of case studies of evidently good practice in Scottish schools - primary, secondary and special - when using ICT undertaken by Tony van der Kuyl at the Scottish Interactive Technology Centre (SITC) in the late 1990s
From these 16 case studies, 12 learning outcomes, commonly observed to be in evidence, were articulated. Tony wanted to expand this embryonic framework by tapping the experience of a wide range of colleagues from schools, education authorities and teacher education institutes. This partnership had its first meeting in May 2000
Almost all of the 32 Scottish education authorities and all 7 of the Scottish universities involved in the training of teachers plus Learning and Teaching Scotland have chosen to associate themselves with the MIICE partnership
The partnership has developed a range of instruments to help with this focus on quality of learning and teaching when using ICT. Prime among these has been the MIICE quality framework or toolbox, which is a cornerstone of the activities of the partnership as a whole and of individuals using MIICE. It is available in various formats, to permit selection and adaptation for personal professional purposes
The MIICE quality framework or toolbox has the following structure
- Outcomes - these are the broad areas of impact of ICT use; there are 13 altogether, in 3 broad groups
- Components - these are aspects of these broader areas; there are from 2 to 4 components in each outcome and 41 altogether (4 of which appear in 2 outcomes)
- Measures - these are the detailed activities about which questions might be asked; there are from 1 to 6 measures within each component
The structure broadly mirrors that in How good is our school? (quality indicator, theme, illustration) but the MIICE framework is a more finely grained analysis than HGIOS
Additionally individuals - schools, EAs, TEIs and others - have made use of elements from the MIICE quality framework to help them with planning and/or review of activities involving ICT as part of the learning blend. A selection of these uses can be seen on the MIICE website
And there is some discussion of some uses in section E in this paper
Reports on uses of MIICE are also included in the MIICE Newsletters, published quarterly in PDF format since December 2002 and available on request and by downloading from the MIICE website
A full summary of the MIICE partnership's activities is available from the MIICE website
