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Capturing complexity through maturity modelling

Abstract The impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) on the process and products of education is difficult to assess for a number of reasons. In brief, education is a complex system of interrelationships, of checks and balances. This context is not a neutral backdrop on which teaching and learning are played out. Rather, it may help, or hinder, the task of embedding an innovation into the educational environment. In addition to this we know that technological innovations are rarely a direct cause of change but rather act as a facilitator or amplifier of existing educational practices. While much thoughtful and illuminating research has been conducted into the impact of ICT on education, the story so far is both confused and confusing. The authors argue that to capture a greater proportion of this complexity, a necessary prerequisite for the development of predictive dynamic models of the impact of ICT on the educational process, then we need to first develop an analytical tool which allows the synthesis of multiple-sourced data. The research framework presented here is being developed for the evaluation of the Department for Education and Skills/British Educational Communications and Technology Agency ‘Test Bed’ project, which seeks to establish the educational costs and benefits of new technologies in environments across primary, secondary and tertiary institutions, when ‘sufficient’ technology is present.