Factors that Influence Pre-service Teachers’ ICT Usage in Education
Source: European Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. 34, No. 4, November 2011, 483–499.
(Reviewed by the Portal Team)
This study was aimed to identify the inter-relationships among internal factors (e.g. self-confidence, perceived experience, and attitudes) and external factors (e.g. perceived external support and computer ownership) that might affect pre-service teachers’ use of ICT.
Participants
The participants were 1898 pre-service teachers in 18 different Turkish universities.
All of the participants were selected from among senior students.
Over three-quarters of the participants had a personal computer.
Of these participants, 58% were female and 42% male.
Forty five percentage of the participants had access to the Internet from home, 14% from school, 32% from Internet cafes and 8% from both home and school.
Instruments
The research instrument was consisted of five parts: a personal inquiry form;
a self-reported ICT experience scale;
computer and Internet attitude scales;
a perceived self-confidence scale;
and a school climate and support scale.
The results indicate that pre-service teachers might have difficulty with integrating technology into the teaching and learning process.
This study revealed that Turkish pre-service teachers used basic ICT applications, such as word processing programmes and presentation software).
The pre-service teachers also reported that their knowledge level about advanced ICT applications was low.
The pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards computers and the Internet were found to be moderately positive.
In this study, male students’ attitudes towards technology and the Internet were more positive.
In addition to differences due to gender, the participants’ faculty and department was found to be related to their attitudes towards technology and the Internet.
Those enrolled in departments such as language teaching and computer education had more positive attitudes towards computers and the Internet than those enrolled in other programmes.
The attitude scores were also found to be positively related to knowledge.
The participants’ self-confidence levels regarding ICT were found to be moderate.
The participants’ self-confidence levels were also found to be related to their department and faculty: those enrolled in CEIT departments had higher levels of self-confidence than those enrolled in other departments.
The participants’ perception of school climate and support were found to be relatively low. Perceived support in the current study was also found to be correlated with internal factors, including attitudes towards computers and the Internet, self-confidence, and knowledge.
Therefore, effective ICT integration requires a school culture and support (an external factor) that provides its pre-service and in-service teachers with the necessary knowledge and experience (internal factors) regarding effective and successful ways to integrate ICT into classroom activities.
The author recommends that classes focusing on technology integration should be designed in a way that helps the pre-service teacher understand how effective and successful technology integration takes place in the classroom.
In addition to the compulsory introductory technology integration classes, elective courses should be added to the curriculum.
Teachers should be supported, both motivationally and technically, so that they can make full use of ICT in the classroom.
Finally faculty members should provide a role model for their students by integrating ICT into their classroom activities.
They also should create a classroom environment that provides pre-service teachers with hands-on experiences regarding ICT integration.