The integration of information and communication technologies(ICTs) in the preparation of teachers at colleges of education in Namibia
Loading...
Date
2010
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Abstract provided by author
After independence, the Namibian government wished to exploit the new opportunitiescreated by the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Therefore,the government embarked upon developing national policies and strategies for integrating ICTs into the education curriculum. The need for ICT integration and application in the entire educational system has become a national policy in Namibia. In order to contribute to Namibia becoming a Knowledge-based Economy, the Colleges of Education are expected to integrate ICTs across the curriculum, aimed at achieving Level 4 in terms of use, knowledge and expected teaching competency
The research study investigated the teacher educators and students' perceptions on the use and integration of ICT in teaching and learning opportunities at all four Colleges of Education in Namibia. To achieve this goal, six research questions were formulated in order to facilitate a better understanding of perceptions of teacher educators and student teachers
This study used both qualitative and quantitative methods of collective data and these were interviews, observations, document analysis and questionnaires. A total of 81 teacher educators and 199 student teachers from all four Colleges of Education participated in this study. The study used purposive sampling to choose teacher educators who were teaching Integrated Media and Technology (IMTE) at the Colleges of Education while cluster sampling was used in selecting a group of teacher educators who were not teaching IMTE. The students were also selected through cluster sampling which was based on class groups
The main findings of the study were that the majority of teacher educators expressed interest and willingness to integrate ICT in their teaching and learning situations.Participants also perceived ICT to be useful in their teaching and learning despite the difficult circumstances with the lack of ICT equipment, hardware and educational software. Findings have, however, revealed that much of the ICT integration was taking place in IMTE and to a lesser extent in ETP, Mathematics and Natural Sciences while in other subjects little or nothing was taking place. Most of the ICT integration activities encouraged drill and practice kind of skills and mostly used common software such as Word Processing, PowerPoint, Excel and Spreadsheet
Successful implementation of the use and integration of ICT, however, will also depend on the management of Colleges of Education accepting and recognising factors and issues as identified in this study as barriers to the integration of ICT
Further, participants agreed that professional development opportunities in ICT integration would result in more teacher educators becoming comfortable in its use and integration; hence speeding up the rate of adoption. Finally, the current available ICT infrastructure at the Colleges of Education and lack of knowledge among the teacher educators in e-learning approaches makes it extremely difficult to create e-learning opportunities. Based on the findings of the study, the study made recommendations directed at the student teachers and teacher educators, the management at the Colleges of Education and recommendations for further research in order to improve the current ICT integration practices at the Colleges of Education
After independence, the Namibian government wished to exploit the new opportunitiescreated by the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Therefore,the government embarked upon developing national policies and strategies for integrating ICTs into the education curriculum. The need for ICT integration and application in the entire educational system has become a national policy in Namibia. In order to contribute to Namibia becoming a Knowledge-based Economy, the Colleges of Education are expected to integrate ICTs across the curriculum, aimed at achieving Level 4 in terms of use, knowledge and expected teaching competency
The research study investigated the teacher educators and students' perceptions on the use and integration of ICT in teaching and learning opportunities at all four Colleges of Education in Namibia. To achieve this goal, six research questions were formulated in order to facilitate a better understanding of perceptions of teacher educators and student teachers
This study used both qualitative and quantitative methods of collective data and these were interviews, observations, document analysis and questionnaires. A total of 81 teacher educators and 199 student teachers from all four Colleges of Education participated in this study. The study used purposive sampling to choose teacher educators who were teaching Integrated Media and Technology (IMTE) at the Colleges of Education while cluster sampling was used in selecting a group of teacher educators who were not teaching IMTE. The students were also selected through cluster sampling which was based on class groups
The main findings of the study were that the majority of teacher educators expressed interest and willingness to integrate ICT in their teaching and learning situations.Participants also perceived ICT to be useful in their teaching and learning despite the difficult circumstances with the lack of ICT equipment, hardware and educational software. Findings have, however, revealed that much of the ICT integration was taking place in IMTE and to a lesser extent in ETP, Mathematics and Natural Sciences while in other subjects little or nothing was taking place. Most of the ICT integration activities encouraged drill and practice kind of skills and mostly used common software such as Word Processing, PowerPoint, Excel and Spreadsheet
Successful implementation of the use and integration of ICT, however, will also depend on the management of Colleges of Education accepting and recognising factors and issues as identified in this study as barriers to the integration of ICT
Further, participants agreed that professional development opportunities in ICT integration would result in more teacher educators becoming comfortable in its use and integration; hence speeding up the rate of adoption. Finally, the current available ICT infrastructure at the Colleges of Education and lack of knowledge among the teacher educators in e-learning approaches makes it extremely difficult to create e-learning opportunities. Based on the findings of the study, the study made recommendations directed at the student teachers and teacher educators, the management at the Colleges of Education and recommendations for further research in order to improve the current ICT integration practices at the Colleges of Education
Description
A dissertation submittewd in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy(Curriculum Instruction and Assessment Studies)
Keywords
Educational technology, Information technology