Examining Teachers’ Awareness of the Digital Content to be Integrated in the School Curriculum; the Case of Homa Bay County, Kenya

Abstract

With current changes in the curriculum of Kenya from 8-4-4 to Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), it emerged that digital literacy was a core competency for both teachers and learners. The purpose of this study was to establish the awareness levels of public primary school teachers in using and integrating technology in teaching and learning. The study was conducted in selected public primary schools in Homa Bay County where teachers were sampled from the six sub counties of Homa Bay. It was based on one study objective: To establish teachers’ knowledge of video, audio, images, texts and graphics. Data was randomly collected using questionnaires and interviews. Some 362 teachers from a population of 3620 public primary school teachers in Homa Bay County were sampled. Results showed that majority of the sampled teachers (22.9%) were aware of the general digital content such as video, audio, images and texts. On awareness of specific digital components, the results showed that 57(16.1%) respondents regarded video as the only component of the digital content. Another 10 (2.8%) respondents cited audio as a component of the digital content. Some 46 (13.0%) respondents identified images as the only component of the digital content. Text as a component of the digital content was selected by 37(10.5%) respondents. The study revealed that 30 (8.5%) respondents mentioned graphics as the sole component of the digital content. It was concluded that teachers needed more hands on experience with technologies to improve their digital competence. Ethical issues such as confidentiality and respect were observed during the study.

Keywords

• Competency Based Curriculum
• digital content
• awareness
• technology
• teachers

Examining teachers’ awareness of the digital content to be integrated in the school curriculum; the case of Homa Bay County, Kenya

Abstract

With current changes in the curriculum of Kenya from 8-4-4 to Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), it emerged that digital literacy was a core competency for both teachers and learners. The purpose of this study was to establish the awareness levels of public primary school teachers in using and integrating technology in teaching and learning. The study was conducted in selected public primary schools in Homa Bay County where teachers were sampled from the six sub counties of Homa Bay. It was based on one study objective: To establish teachers’ knowledge of video, audio, images, texts and graphics. Data was randomly collected using questionnaires and interviews. Some 362 teachers from a population of 3620 public primary school teachers in Homa Bay County were sampled. Results showed that majority of the sampled teachers (22.9%) were aware of the general digital content such as video, audio, images and texts. On awareness of specific digital components, the results showed that 57(16.1%) respondents regarded video as the only component of the digital content. Another 10 (2.8%) respondents cited audio as a component of the digital content. Some 46 (13.0%) respondents identified images as the only component of the digital content. Text as a component of the digital content was selected by 37(10.5%) respondents. The study revealed that 30 (8.5%) respondents mentioned graphics as the sole component of the digital content. It was concluded that teachers needed more hands on experience with technologies to improve their digital competence. Ethical issues such as confidentiality and respect were observed during the study.

Keywords

• Competency Based Curriculum
• digital content
• awareness
• technology
• teachers

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