FACTORS AFFECTING THE FREQUENCY OF ICT USAGE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS TEACHING

Abstract

Intensive and rapid development of ICT lead to popularization and necessity of its use, and changes in all spheres including education as a process.

A research was conducted in order to ensure valid and reliable assessment of the extent and nature of ICT knowledge and skills of teachers in primary schools, to identify the factors that affect the frequency of use of ICT in teaching and to identify strategies for enhancing development effectiveness future. 

The research surveyed 214 teachers from 10 primary schools in the Southeast region of Macedonia. Technique Modeling of Structural Equations was used to determine the relative strength of the factors affecting the frequency of use of ICT in teaching. The results show that the highest percentage of 58.4 % of the teachers often use ICT in teaching, 33.6 % rarely use ICT, 7 % of respondents use ICT at all times, and only 0.9 % do not use ICT for teaching purposes. ICT competencies of teachers, number of training, years of computer use, possession of personal computer and having Internet at home proved as influential factors for ICT usage frequency in teaching. The survey results were analyzed using SPSS 19, Excel and Amos Graphics 18.

Keywords

• ICT knowledge and skills,ICT in teaching,modeling with structural equations

References

1. Atanasova-Pacemska, T. (2012). Structural equation modeling and application in data analyzing.In: Invitation lecture, January 2012, University of Zagreb – Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology. Goktas, Y., Yildirim, Z., & Yilidrim, S. (2009). Investigation of K-12 Teachers’ ICT Competencies and the Contributing Factors in Acquiring these Competencies. The New Educational Review, 17(1), 276-294. Grace, J. (2006). Structural Equation Modeling and Natural Systems, Cambridge Univ. Press. Iliev, D.., Atanasova Pachemska, T. (2012). Teacher Competences between Yesterday and Tomorrow-Macedonian Case Study, 4th World Conference on educatioanal sciences (WCES 2012) 02-05 February 2012 Barcelona, Spain. Ministry of Education and Science. (2005). Draft program for the development of ICT in education (2005-2015). Retrieved from: http://www.npro.edu.mk/dokumenti/PROGRAMI/IKT.pdf Primary Education Project PEP USAID, Retrieved from: http://www.pep.org.mk/en/ict/ict_index.htm Teacher ICT skills: evaluation of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) knowledge and skills levels of the Western Australian government school teachers. (2006). East Perth WA, Department of Education and Training. USAID. (2006). Survey on the use of computers and Internet in Macedonia, Skopje. Retrieved from: http://macedonia.usaid.gov/Documents/Internet%20and%20Computer%20Usage%20Report%206%20MK.pdf Vitanova V., Atanasova-Pachemska T., Iliev D., Pachemska S. (2014). Factors affecting the development of ICT competencies of teachers in primary schools, WCES 2014, presented and accepted for publishing at Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences Journal (ISSN: 1877-0428).