Final Conclusions
The content of this page was discussed and agreed by both authors and the page was written by Megan Dick. A transcript of the discussion can be found in Appendix I.

The focus of this assignment was the issue of IT staff development with small groups, reflecting on two cases of such work. This is a joint conclusion which brings together some conclusions and reflections. Included in the two case studies are conclusions and personal reflections based on each individual case.

The three key factors that influenced the level of success of staff development (appropriateness, motivation and support) were apparent in both cases, but to different degrees. This was a result of the different stages that each school has attained on the Passey and Ridgeway scale (Kirkman, 1998). This makes comparing the cases interesting, as it underlines the fact that each case of staff development is complex and the needs of staff should be dealt with individually when developing a coherent staff development strategy. It was agreed that a staff development programme should train staff using an application that is relevant, rather than just how to use computers. Furthermore, the process of introducing and assimilating an innovation takes some time if all people are to be included.

We found that working on-line suited collaborative work. We could easily discuss our work and send drafts of our pages to each other using e-mail. We did agree that this type of work did have fairly specific prerequisites:

• A comfortable level of internet skills was required in order to use an on-line medium.
• It was necessary to spend a fair amount of time on-line if coherent and relevant discussion was to take place.
• It was felt that planning together was important when working collaboratively, and that this improved as we progressed with the assignment.

We both felt that we have learnt a great amount through doing this assignment. We have acquired a greater understanding of the qualitative research paradigm and a realisation of how relating theory to practice is a useful aid to learning. We learnt more about writing webpages and using internet communications software. We felt that doing an assignment collaboratively in this manner was very useful, as we were both developing a new style of learning, including the use of peer-tutoring.

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