Squires and McDougal (1994) make a clear distinction between two types of theoretical ICT frameworks, which I have called:

• Software frameworks
• Pedagogical frameworks

I would add to this two further categories:

• Cognitive frameworks
• Evolutionary frameworks

These types of frameworks are described in more detail below.

Software frameworks
These are characterised by a focus on the software per se. Squires and McDougal (1994) distinguish between four categories of software frameworks:

• Classification by Application Type
• Classification by Educational Role
• Classification by Educational Rationale
• Composites of the first three

All of these frameworks suffer from a problem of technological determinism - they seem to assume that the software determines the way in which it will be used. This is clearly not the case - and indeed some of the authors of what would normally be classified as software frameworks explicitly acknowledge this (eg Kemmis et al 1977).

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Pedagogical frameworks
These are characterised by a focus on the educational practices surrounding computer use. In so doing they overcome the fundamental problem already identifed above with software frameworks.

Squires and McDougal's (1994) Perspectives interactions Paradigm (PIP) is one of the first and most well known pedagogical frameworks. Twining's Computer Practice Framework (CPF) is another example of a pedagogical framework.

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Cognitive frameworks
These are characterised by a focus on the 'cognitive' impact of computer use. They attempt to provide a vehicle for analysing interactions/behaviours/activities in relation to the learner, and more specifically to the mental functioning of the learner.

Laurillard's (1993) 'conversational framework' is an example of a cognitive framework.

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Evolutionary frameworks
These are characterised by a focus on the way in which computer use in education changes over time. Thus, they focus on 'phases' or 'stages' in the embedding of ICT. These phases/stages are often include elements that focus on the educational practices surrounding computer use.

Sandholtz et al's (1992) 'Survival, mastery, impact' model is an example of an evolutionary framework.

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This page is maintained by Peter Twining (PeterT@meD8.info)
Last updated 22nd June 2004