Arts Council England How teachers find and use online resources Matt Locke, Chris Unitt & Eylan Ezekial Storythings.com
The Arts Council wanted to better understand how teachers discover, use and share online educational resources in order to develop a strategy for resources produced by arts organisations. 1 - To understand in detail the user journeys for teachers 2 - To identify some of the key challenges facing teachers 3 - To suggest potential areas of opportunities for ACE and arts organisations in providing creative and cultural education resources for teachers online.
The Research: Storythings launched an online questionnaire which, in conjunction with TES Connect, was answered by 871 teachers in total. We also ran a Twitter chat with 168 teachers across the UK using the popular #UKEdChat hashtag.
Survey Responses - Professions 700 622 525 350 343 175 110 103 0 50 1 1 Classteacher Subject Specialist SLT Governor Business Manager Trustee Other
Survey Responses - Teaching Stage 500 414 416 375 303 296 250 225 125 134 0 EYFS KS1 KS2 KS3 KS4 KS5
Survey Responses - Subjects 400 300 307 250 200 207 206 100 152 149 145 134 133 132 129 125 106 119 0 All (if Primary) English Science Maths Citizenship Art & Design History Languages Design & Tech Computing Geography Music PE Other
Key Findings The majority of teachers are constantly looking for appropriate digital resources to incorporate into their lessons. The majority search every week on a lesson- by-lesson basis. Teachers want instant, impactful, inspiration to support the curriculum.
When do teachers look for digital resources? Before individual lessons 514 / 60% Beginning of the term 193 / 22% Beginning of the school year 80 / 9% Other 74 / 9%
How often do they look for new resources to use in lessons? Weekly 497 / 58% Daily 282 / 33% Monthly 56 / 7% Once per term 20 / 2% Less regularly 3 / 0% Yearly 3 / 0%
Teachers are put off by: cost (74%) poor instructions (53%) confusing language (52%) no reference to age suitability (52%) The brand name of the organisation producing the resource has some bearing. 57% said it was somewhat relevant and 15% said it was very relevant. Reliability and Suitability are more important than brands.
Selection: Recommendation, accreditation or reviews by trusted source and/or other teachers Evidence of usage by others Clarity of the information Common Frustrations: Resources developed without input from schools or teachers Prescriptive activities that can t be tailored Old-looking websites No preview option Copyright uncertainty
Usage 95% of respondents currently make use of digital resources in their lessons Rural schools in particular use technology to bridge issues of access, location and cost There are very diverse and broad definitions of culture between arts orgs, schools and the pupils themselves
43% of teachers currently pay for the digital resources they use Of the teachers who don t currently pay for resources, 60% said they would pay for something of sufficient quality. Subject relevance and ease of use are the most important factors when selecting resources. Length should be appropriate too.
Conclusion - Get the basics right - Resources should be search optimised and featured on existing sites where they can attract reviews and recommendations - Include prominent information about age suitability and copyright details, prioritise ease of use and make instructions as clear as possible - Allow teachers to preview the resource before downloading and/or paying
Conclusion - Show how resources are already being used - Highlight accreditations, recommendations and reviews. Show that other teachers have used the resource - Enhance profile of existing digital channels, to make resources easier to find - Publish case studies of innovative uses of online resources to grow trust and take up
Conclusion - Work with teachers on designing resources - Subject relevance, ease of use and appropriate length are important to teachers - Don t make resources that are too prescriptive, inflexible or lengthy. Bitesize modules that a teacher can adapt to their lesson plan are preferable - Collaborate with teachers to develop resources
Thanks. We help people tell stories for digital attention: @storythings matt@storythings.com