Teachers perceptions of the use of ICT as an instructional tool in Mathematics and Science

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1 Teachers perceptions of the use of ICT as an instructional tool in Mathematics and Science Janice CH Sim & Lau Bee Theng, Swinburne University of Technology, Sarawak Campus, Malaysia. Abstract: The study set out to examine teachers current use of ICT, their perceptions of training and support needs, and factors influencing the uptake of ICT in classrooms. The data were collected through a 70-item survey among 212 Science and Mathematics teachers from 18 secondary schools in Kuching, in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. The results revealed that Science and Mathematics teachers generally perceived themselves to be competent in the use of computer, and have made regular use of ICT for classroom instruction. However, factors such as lack of time, lack of technical support and limited knowledge to integrate ICT fully in teaching have been hindering further uptake of ICT in classrooms. Teachers generally considered school-based professional development and ICT seminars/conferences to be important channels for improving their ICT skills. In response to the suggestion of the researchers to develop a statewide website, namely the e-blackboard for sharing of information, resources and good teaching practice, three quarters of the respondents considered it to be a suitable recommendation in promoting collaboration among teachers and improving the level of ICT use in classrooms. INTRODUCTION The government s decision to reinstate English as the medium of instruction for the teaching of Science and Mathematics in all national schools in Malaysia began in To facilitate the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English, ICT tools which involve primarily laptops and courseware had been introduced in all government schools in Malaysia. To ensure smooth implementation of this programme, the government has allocated RM5 billion from years 2002 to 2008 for teachers training, providing launching grants to schools as well as for educational aids which include the purchase of laptops, LCD projectors and other ICT equipments. Now that the project is in its fifth year of implementation, several issues and challenges have been raised pertaining to the use of ICT in Science and Mathematics teaching. This study seeks to find out teachers perceptions, attitudes, and concerns that relate to the use of ICT in the teaching of Science and Mathematics. OBJECTIVE OF STUDY The aims of this study is to find out how ICT is being used in the teaching of Science and Mathematics, how competent teachers feel themselves to be, their views on their own needs, their priorities for further development, and factors which hinder the take-up of ICT in classrooms. It also examined the benefits perceived by teachers in their uptake of a wide range of ICT including portable ICT devices, school networks, web-based resources and common office applications such as spreadsheets, word processing and databases. LITERATURE REVIEW Look (2005) cited that a review of 219 studies on the use of technology in education consistently found that students in technology rich environments experienced positive effects on achievement in all subject areas. A research report produced by Becta (2003) highlighted that ICT provide fast and accurate feedback to students, and speed up computations and graphing, freeing students to focus on strategies and interpretation. The use of interactive multimedia software also motivates students and leads to improved performance. Further, research studies showed that more students finish high schools and many more consider attending college when they routinely learn and

2 study with technology (Becta, 2003). Rockman (2000) in a study found that teachers with routine access to computers tend to employ teaching practices that put students at the center of learning. They focus their lessons on discussion and emphasizing thinking skills, thus lower dropout rates and motivate more students to continue to college. Despite the apparent benefits of the use of ICT for educational purpose, a number of factors were found to be hindering the effective uptake of ICT in schools. Guha (2000) in a study on teachers perspective of the use of computer revealed workload and time management as barriers to implementing computer in classroom instruction. Further, lack of technical support was reported to be another factor inhibiting the use of ICT in classroom (Preston, 2000). According to Bradley and Russell (1997), recurring faults, and the expectation of faults occurring during teaching sessions, are likely to reduce teachers confidence and cause teachers to avoid using the technology. On the other hand, literature on teachers perception of training needs highlighted teachers preferences for learning basic computer skills before integrating technology into the curriculum (Snoeyink & Ertmer, 2001). METHODOLOGY The study deployed a survey method to collect basic data on the current practice of ICT in the teaching of Science and Mathematics at secondary schools, and to investigate teachers needs for training and support in relation to the effective use of ICT. The study focus on the Science and Mathematics teachers who are currently teaching at 21 government secondary schools in Kuching, Sarawak. 250 copies of questionnaires were randomly distributed to Science and Mathematics teachers from 18 government schools located in Kuching, and 212 filled questionnaires were returned. This gives a response rate of 85%. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ICT usage The overall picture which emerges is a positive one. Majority of the respondents considered themselves to be generally competent in the use of computer. As depicted in Table 1, respondents perceived themselves to be either good or excellent in the use of word processing (71%), presentation tools (50%), courseware (63%), internet browsing (47%), spreadsheets (39%) and statistical tools (23%). Table 1: Teachers Computer Competencies / Skills Response (%) Excellent Good Fair Low Capability No Capability at all NR Word processing Presentation tools Internet browsing Courseware Spreadsheets Statistical tools NR No Response Respondents were also asked to indicate how ICT is being used in accomplishing their professional tasks. As shown in table 2, ICT is frequently used, either on daily or weekly basis for teaching and instruction (75%), classroom management activities (49%) and communication (26%). However, use of ICT for teachers personal development is relatively lower (12%). Thus, mechanisms need to be put in place to ensure that teachers utilize ICT for further development, such as seeking peer-to-peer advice or participate in online professional development.

3 NR No Response Table 2: Use of ICT for Professional Tasks Response (%) Daily Weekly Monthly Occasionally Never NR Teaching and instructional support Classroom management activities Communications Personal development Further, respondents indicated that the ICT applications commonly used by them, at least some weeks were courseware (73%), presentation tools (43%), internet browsing (53%), spreadsheets (32%) and graphical visualizing tolls (24%). The frequency of use is however, relatively lower in the daily or weekly use of online demos (7%), hypermedia/multimedia (22%) and simulation programmes (14%). The result suggests that teachers need training in a wider range of ICT applications to make full use of technology in teaching. Programmes like simulation for example, enable teachers to show experiments that would not otherwise be possible, and have great educational potential to enhance teaching (McFarlane and Sakellariou, 2002). Table 3: Use of ICT Applications Response (%) Daily Weekly Monthly 1 2 times a year Never NR Teaching Courseware Presentation tools Online demos Graphical visualizing tools Spreadsheets Internet browsing Hypermedia / Multimedia Simulation programmes NR No Response Teachers perceptions on the use of ICT in classrooms Respondents attitudes towards the use of ICT were examined in the survey by series of statement reflecting positive and negative attitudes towards ICT to which respondents indicated their agreement and disagreement. In general, the respondents broadly agreed that utilization of ICT makes them more effective in their teaching (75%), and more organized in their work (80%), rely less upon textbooks (37%), and better able to meet the varying needs of students (48%). While 39.2% of the respondents broadly agreed that with the uptake of ICT they need longer blocks of time for instruction, 43.4% of them disagreed that they give up too much instructional responsibility with the use of technology. In general, respondents broadly agreed that with the use of internet and technology, their lesson plans are richer (55%), and the way they organize classroom activities has changed (56%). A further positive sign is 85% of them indicated that they would like to integrate more ICT applications into their teaching. Table 4: Teachers perception on the effects of using ICT for professional tasks Response (%) Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree NR Using ICT makes me more effective in teaching ICT helps me to organize my work Lesson plans are richer with information from internet I have changed the way I organize classroom activities I rely less upon textbooks I am better able to meet the varying needs of students I would like to integrate more ICT into my teaching I need longer blocks of time for instruction I give up too much instructional responsibility NR No Response

4 Overall, a high 87% of the respondents perceived ICT as important tool to accomplish their professional tasks, and 69% of them felt that amongst the various stakeholders, teachers (as classroom practitioners) should have a greater voice or say in how ICT is being used in schools. Table 5: Teachers perception on the importance of ICT to accomplish their job Very Important Somewhat Important Neutral Somewhat Unimportant Unimportant at all NR Response (%) Table 6: Teachers view - who should have a greater voice in how ICT is used in schools? Teachers Students Principals Parents District administrator NR Response (%) Another positive development is observed when 64.2% of the respondents stated themselves to be either confident or very confident in engaging students with technology in class. Table 7: Level of confidence in engaging students with technology in class Very Confident Confident Neutral Not very confident Not confident at all NR Response (%) Obstacles faced and training needs Respondents were also asked to indicate their reasons for not using a broader range of ICT in classrooms. 205 teachers responded to this question, many of them citing more than one obstacle. The numbers of survey responses for each item are as follows: Table 8: Obstacles faced in the use of ICT in schools Lack of technical support when things don t work 122 Lack of time in school day 118 Limited knowledge on how to make full use of ICT 81 Limited understanding on how to integrate ICT into teaching 69 Lack of software or websites that support state standards 67 The results suggest that lack of technical support was perceived by most teachers as an ICT barrier in schools. This is consistent with the findings of a study by Cox et al. (1999) which reported lack of technical support as the school-level barrier in the uptake of ICT in teaching. According to Cuban (1999), the lack of available technical support is likely to lead to teachers avoiding ICT, for concern of a technical fault occurring cannot be rectified, and lessons being unsuccessful. Mechanisms therefore, need to be put in place to ensure that teachers have adequate access to technical support. It is suggested that a teacher with ICT competency be appointed as ICT coordinator in each school to provide technical and pedagogical support to teachers. This is crucial in order to support teachers to make full use of ICT in classroom, and not losing time fixing configurations or other technical problems. As depicted in Table 8, lack of time was reported by the respondents as another strong ICT barrier in schools. The result confirmed the findings of Fabry & Higgs (1997), and Preston et al. (2000) who found the lack of time to exploring ICT and preparing ICT resources for lessons as a teacher-level barrier in the uptake of ICT in schools. Teachers are sometimes unable to make full use of technology because they lack the time needed to prepare ICT resources for lessons. Time is also needed for teachers to become better acquainted with hardware and software (Fabry and Higgs, 1997)

5 In addition, respondents considered themselves having limited knowledge to make full use of ICT, or to integrate ICT fully into teaching. As depicted in Table 9, respondents rated schoolbased professional development (80%) and ICT seminars/conferences (64%) as important channels for improving their ICT skills. In response to this finding, it is suggested that school leaders initiate industry-teachers partnerships to deliver ICT training that is appropriate to teachers needs. Other than courses organized by the central agency, more effective ICT training could be obtained locally through smart partnership with industry and institutions of higher learning. Table 9: Teachers perception on the importance of the ICT training and support Response (%) Very Somewhat Neutral Somewhat Unimportant NR Important Important Unimportant at all School-based professional development course ICT seminars/ conferences Release time for exploring School-based ICT support personnel Teachers who responded to this survey have also given some useful ideas on improving ICT usage in schools as listed in Table 10. Table 10: Comments from teachers on how to improve ICT usage in schools 1 Classrooms well-equipped with ICT facilities like laptop, LCD, internet access and local area networks. 2 Wireless Internet access at school so that teachers can find information besides books and courseware. 3 Centralized database available to all. ICT network for teachers to share materials on the internet, and to post important announcement, events and results. 4 Provide more teaching materials to teachers, e.g. cds, PowerPoint to replace textbook/ hand notes. 5 Organize more courses and seminars to help to change the mindset of the teachers by exposing them to current development in the ICT field. On top of the useful ideas given, most of the teachers responded to this survey have also suggested one way he/she thinks teacher can be more involved with ICT decisions within their school and district as recorded in Table 11. Table 11: Teachers ideas on how they can get more involved with ICT decisions 1 Provide suggestion box and suggestions are to be read by principals during staff meetings and proper actions to be taken. 2 Questions and answers about ICT through s; Discussion through school web site 3 Organize staff development programs regularly, sharing skills and ideas among staffs. 4 Conduct monthly meetings on discussions regarding ICT use (ATK ICT) 5 Teachers cooperate among themselves within school and district and always discuss together. Teachers were also asked to indicate the areas where they would like to learn more about, many of them citing more than one aspect. The numbers of responses for each item are as follows: Table 12: Areas where teachers would like to learn more about. Making charts and graph, enhancing documents with pictures. 121 Getting lesson plans and activities form electronic/internet sources 113 Making slide presentations to share information with students. 105 Using internet to participate in discussions about teaching and learning. 105 Creating a website to share classroom activities. 102 Getting information and research about best practices for teaching. 100 Using electronic encyclopedias and dictionaries. 99 Sharing documents electronically with others. 93

6 RECOMMENDATION In response to the above findings and to promote the level of ICT usage at school, the researchers have put forward a proposal to develop a statewide website for all government school teachers in Sarawak namely the e-blackboard. The responses of the teachers to this suggestion were documented in Table 13. Overall, 75% of the respondents considered this suggestion as suitable to their need. Table 13: Teachers perception on the proposed statewide website, e-blackboard for government school teachers in Sarawak Very suitable Suitable Somewhat suitable Not suitable at all No comments Responses (%) The e-blackboard will be hosted by the Education Department of Sarawak (JPNSAR) where all teachers would be given an account to access to. The e-blackboard allows teachers to upload teaching materials, record grades and attendance, develop online assessments, and make announcements. JPNSAR can enroll all teachers teaching the same subject under one subject code, so that they can share information and materials. This can help new teachers to learn to teach better and at the same time, creating collaborations among schools. Furthermore, JPNSAR can have better control over subjects taught at various schools to ensure consistency. JPNSAR and school principals can also track teachers' works at any time, any where. Teachers can access the e-blackboard at any where and any time too. Any announcements made can also reach both schools and teachers efficiently. One most important fact is that all teachers can go 'electronic' in this digital age, where materials can be produced, updated and replicated easily. Figure 1 The proposed main page of JPNSAR e-blackboard website

7 Specifically, the e-blackboard can be designed to display various sections, e.g. syllabus and curriculum, lesson plans, teaching materials, discussion forum, question banks, research articles communication and announcement, as well as external educational links. Sharing of resources, expertise and advice on the e-blackboard means less duplication of effort, e.g. in the preparation of lesson plans and worksheets. With the sharing of curriculum and teaching materials, either produced within schools or downloaded from the web, teachers can save time and improve pedagogy. Furthermore, discussion on the forum can provide better networking opportunities to teachers, including greater social contact and support. Through sharing of teaching materials, teachers would be able to collect more information than it is otherwise possible. Additional information obtained enable teachers to enrich their teaching, thus improving the quality of the lessons presented. Announcements, notices and exchange of messages posted on the e-blackboard can take place faster at a minimal cost. Furthermore, external educational links allow teachers to share on-line interactive multimedia educational websites so as to enhance teaching and learning. Additionally, questions banks can be utilized to include remedial or enrichment exercises from different sources to meet the varying needs of students. In short, sharing of resources and good practice on the e-blackboard will greatly promote communication and collaboration among teachers. On the other hand, the e-blackboard can also be configured to enable parents to remotely access their children s school records so that they can keep track of their progress. Parents and the community should encourage teachers ICT usage by sponsoring talks by ICT personnel, facilitating the schools participation in ICT-related competitions, and organizing national seminar for teachers to discuss and present their thoughts. A Parent Link website can be developed to promote rapport among teachers-parents and between the teacher, parents and the school, to foster mutual support in shaping the overall character of ICT in teaching and learning. To develop a successful e-blackboard site for teachers in Sarawak as shown in Figure 1, critical security policies covering authentication and passwords, backup procedures, installation of firewalls, and use of licensed software have to be in place beforehand. LIMITATIONS As only 212 teachers from selected schools of Kuching, Sarawak were involved in the study, the findings could not be generalized to the overall population of secondary school teachers in the state of Sarawak. Further, the study was restricted to the use of ICT in Science and Mathematics teaching at secondary school level, and had not taken into consideration differences encountered due to different level of education (Form 1 to 6). In addition, training and support given to the teachers varied from place to place. Hence, the perceptions of the teachers in one state might not be the same as that of another state. CONCLUSION It is hoped that the benefits from the use of ICT in Science and Mathematics teaching are realized and optimized in schools. From the findings of the study, it would appear that future training should be designed to increase teachers familiarity with a wider range of ICT applications, and teachers be encouraged to reflect on, and make decisions about their own ICT development needs on ongoing basis.

8 REFERENCES [1] Becta (2003) What the Research says about using ICT in Maths, British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, Available from [2] Becta (2004) A Review of the Research Literature on Barrieres to the Uptake of ICT by Teachers, British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, June Available from [3] Bradley, G., Russell, G. (1997) Computer experience, school support and computer anxieties. Educational Psychology, 17 (3), pp Available from [4] Cox, M., Preston, C. & Cox, K. (1999), What factors support or prevent teachers from using ICT in their classrooms?, paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, University of Sussex at Brighton, September 2 5. Available from [5] Cuban, L. (1999) The technology puzzle, Education Week, 18 (43). Available from [6] Fabry, D., Higgs, J. (1997), Barriers to the effective use of technology in education. Journal of Educational Computing, 17 (4), pp [7] Guha, S. (2000), Are we all technically prepared? Teachers perspectives on the causes of comfort or discomfort in using computers at elementary grade teaching, paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for the Education of Young Children Atlanta, GA, November 8-11, Available from /0c.pdf [8] Look, D. (2005) Discussion Paper: Impact of Technology on Education, paper prepared for PUSD Excellence Committee, December Available from [9] Mcfarlane, A., Sakellariou, S. (2002) The role of ICT in science education, CambridgeJournal of Education, 32 (2), pp Available from true&_&ericextsearch_searchvalue_0=ej676749&ericextsearch_searchtype_0=eric_ accno&accno=ej [10] Preston, C., Cox, M., and Cox, K. (2000), Teachers as Innovators in learning: what motivates teachers to use ICT, MirandaNet. [11] Rockman et al. (2000), Source: The Laptop Program Research. Available from [12] Snoeyink, R., Ertmer, P. (2001), Thrust into technology: how veteran teachers respond, Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 30 (1), pp Available from 9rlj6mtp1.pdf