Digital technology is seen as a way of transforming conventional education. However, this transformation has not happened: digital technology is mainly used to support traditional learning and teaching. In order to transform, digital technology needs to be integrated into pedagogy. I research factors (enablers and inhibitors) that impact the integration of digital technology in learning and teaching in educational establishments.
Interviews were carried out with two sets of people: first, staff including teachers, in two Scottish local authorities who had undertaken professional learning on the implementation of Google G Suite, and second, those who developed and implemented the Scottish Government’s (2016) Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy on Enhancing Learning and Teaching Through the Use of Digital Technology.
The findings indicate that two sets of factors, professional and institutional, impact the implementation of digital technology. The professional sub factors are teacher’s perceptions and attitudes, curriculum and assessment and the impact of professional development on teachers’ digital literacy skills. The institutional sub factors are connectivity, cybersecurity and hardware and ecological issues.
Professional and institutional factors are not mutually exclusive and can be enablers or inhibitors in the integration of digital technology in learning and teaching in educational establishments. This complex picture is best examined through an ecological perspective. The study outlines a series of recommendations to improve the integration, and, therefore, transformation, of digital technology in learning and teaching
