The product of ICT such as computers are powerful and flexible tools
that can enhance teaching and learning in innumerable ways. Computers can be
used to help make learning more engaging, better address the needs of
individual students, provide access to a wealth of information, and encourage
students to explore and create (Kleiman, 2000). ICT is an effective means for
widening educational opportunities. It is also effective in cultivating
collaboration. Computers can also be
excellent resource tools for teaching problem solving and critical thinking
skills. They provide a way to visually represent numerous realworld situations
and identify patterns in data; therefore, they enhance problem solving skills
in the learning process (Ranasinghe, 2009).
Over the past decade, many articles have appeared in
popular and educational journals providing anecdotal evidence of changes that
educational technology can make in schools (Baylor & Ritchie, 2002).
Technology can help schools achieve such desirable outcomes as improved test
scores, reduced failure rates, lower absenteeism, fewer student withdrawals,
increased graduation rates, improved job placement rates, and overall
improvement in motivation (Duffy & Jonassen, 2005; Coffey, 2012; Kleiman,
2000; Saglam & Sert, 2012).
Despite the fact that many researches admit that
technology can enhance the quality of teaching since it facilitates the young
learner’s world (Duffy & Jonassen, 1992). On the other hand, however, not
all teachers are adopting ICT into their teaching. The enduring concern is the
reluctance of the teachers to integrate ICT into teaching. Therefore, there is
still a gape left between the envisioned advantages of the integration of
technology into teaching and its real implementation in the classroom. The
question is therefore, what keeps this distance to prevail? The integration of
ICT into teaching is affected by many factors.
Teachers’ Beliefs
Individual beliefs play a significant role in the
adoption of new Information and Communication Technology (Boling, 2008; Wang,
2008). The beliefs of teachers towards technology greatly influence their
adoption and integration of computers into their teaching (Parchoma, 2007;
Jakopovic, 2010). Teachers who were enthusiastic about using ICT in general in
their teaching were more likely to feel enthusiastic about the adoption of
mobile learning (McCallum &
Jeffrey, 2009). How teachers view their role as teachers influences how
they teach with technology. Teachers’ beliefs about classroom practice appear
to shape their goals for technology use as well as the weight they assign to
different barriers (Angers &
Machtmes, 2005).
Self Confidence
Teachers may be aware the
positive effect on technology on their teaching. However, they are reluctant to
integrate it into their teaching. The reason is that they have poor confidence
in using technology as medium of delivery. Many teachers who do not consider themselves to be well skilled in using
ICT feel anxious about using it in front of a class of children who perhaps
know more than they do. Larner and Timberlake in British Educational
Communications and Technology Agency (2004) found that teachers were worried
about showing their pupils that they did not know how to use the equipment, and
that it was the teachers who experienced this kind of anxiety who were less
willing and or able to make use of computers in their teaching. In addition,
pupils’ attitudes and expectations of their teachers’ competence in ICT are
likely to contribute to this teacher anxiety.
Work Load
Some recent studies
indicated that many teachers have competence and confidence in using computer
in the classrooms. And yet, they have not really take advantage in its use
because they have no enough time (Lumpe and
Chambers in Jakopovic, 2010). Understanding and using technology into teaching and learning require
that a certain amount of time be dedicated to the preparation and planning
activities. This time is often difficult to come by because teachers are facing
many other works to do. The teachers
particularly emphasized that they could not use video teaching materials often
due to limited time. The teachers generally use ICT-based resources with others
materials such as textbooks. In addition, due to the fact that the course
content of social studies is very extensive, teachers cannot spare enough time
for different ICT materials (Unal & Ozturk, 2012; Oigara & Wallace, 2012).
ICT Skills
On the one hand, the number of new technologies which
can be utilized for educational purposes increases rapidly today. On the other
hand however, incorporating these technologies into school curriculums and
utilizing them effectively in classroom settings is not easy. Some researchers
revealed that neither the staff nor the students are adequately prepared for
the integration of ICT tools into teaching and learning process. Their level of
computer literacy may not be adequate to handle the tools associated with
integrating ICT into teaching and learning (Laborde, 2001).
Access to
internet
Fabry and Higgs in British Educational Communications
and Technology Agency (2004) point out that if teachers and their students are
to have adequate access to computers which are to enhance learning, then not
only do those computers need to be located in a position where all can access
them, but they also need to be of a high enough specification to make their use
worthwhile. This involves ensuring that they are internet connected, for
example, to allow access to rich resources beyond the school, and also inter-connected,
or networked, to allow teachers and students to communicate and collaborate. In
their study Fabry and Higgs found that many of the schools claiming to have a
low pupil: computer ratio had a large number of computers which were not capable
of fulfilling these requirements (British Educational Communications and
Technology Agency, 2004).
Hardware and
Software
McCallum & Jeffrey
(2009) and Demirci (2009) found that physical condition is
determinant of the integration of technology into teaching. Demirci (2009)
stated that physical conditions at secondary schools and classrooms are not
adequate in terms of hardware and software to incorporate GIS into geography
lessons throughout Turkey. Nearly all schools have a computer laboratory.
However, almost half of the teachers indicated that there are some obstacles in
using those laboratories for their geography lessons. The number of classrooms
which include a computer, an LCD projector, and an Internet connection was
found to be insufficient in the study.
Leader’s Support
Teachers’ positive attitudes toward integration of ICT
into teaching were shaped by institutional policies concerning utilization of
technology because educational technology and resources were mentioned
frequently (Saglam & Sert, 2012). Leng
(2008) admitted that a lot more has to be done by school leaders to be
transformational in their role in fully integrating ICT into the curriculum
and, in a wider context, in managing change. But she underlined the importance
for leaders to have vision. Leaders in schools, she said, must first of all be
concerned with the development of a clear and appealing vision. While, Shattuck (2010) stressed the
importance of the alignment between teacher’s vision and leader’s vision. If a
teacher’s vision is not aligned with the principal’s vision, he said, and then
the principal’s vision will not be implemented.
Professional
Development
