What Factors Support or Prevent Teachers From Using ICT in Their Classrooms

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    What Factors Support or Prevent Teachers from Using

    ICT in their Classrooms?Margaret Cox, Christina Preston and Kate Cox

    King's College London, MirandaNet Project University of Surrey

    Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference,

    University of Sussex at Brighton, September 2-5 1999.

    Abstract

    The purpose of this paper is to report on the findings of a small project funded by the

    Teacher Training Agency and Oracle through the MirandaNet project, set up to

    investigate the factors which have contributed to the continuing use of ICT by

    experienced ICT and ICT teachers in their teaching. Evidence has been collected

    through a literature search, teacher questionnaires, teachers' reports and interviews. The

    factors which were found to be most important to these teachers in their teaching were:

    making the lessons more interesting, easier, more fun for them and their pupils, more

    diverse, more motivating for the pupils and more enjoyable. Additional more personal

    factors were improving presentation of materials, allowing greater access to computers

    for personal use, giving more power to the teacher in the school, giving the teacher

    more prestige, making the teachers' administration more efficient and providing

    professional support through the Internet.

    1 Introduction

    This research project was set up to investigate the factors which motivate teachers to use

    ICT and to sustain their use of ICT in teaching. The aim of the project was to use the

    factors identified to inform the professional development requirements of practising

    teachers to enable them to use ICT appropriately in their teaching. The idea from the

    project came from the experience of two projects, MirandaNet, directed by Christina

    Preston, and the ICT and Motivation project, conducted by Margaret Cox to investigate

    the effects of ICT on the motivation of pupils. More details about the project is reported

    in Cox, Preston and Cox (1999).

    The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of the literature review conducted

    by the project and the research results relating to the uptake of ICT in teaching obtained

    http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/
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    from a range of data collected through a survey of ICT and ICT teachers, records of

    MirandaNET members' uses of ICT.

    2 Evidence from previous research

    Over the past 25 years, alongside a series of national and local programmes for thedevelopment of ICT in education, there have been research studies of the uptake of ICT

    in education. These include studies of the effects of teacher training (Cox, Rhodes &

    Hall 1988), levels of resources (Cox, 1993), teachers' pedagogies and practices (Watson,

    1993), and teachers attitudes (Woodrow, 1990). For detailed research papers on many of

    these aspects see Passey and Samways (1997). Many of these studies have shown that

    inspite of teacher training programmes, an increase in ICT resources and the

    requirements of national curricula there has been a disappointingly slow uptake of ICT

    in schools by the majority of teachers. Some of the reasons for this lack of more

    widespread uptake of ICT are discussed in more detail below.2.1 Understanding the need for change

    In a study of projects to promote educational changes in America, Canada and the UK,

    Fullan (1991) found that one of the most fundamental problems in education reform is

    that people do not have a clear and coherent sense of the reasons for educational

    change, what it is and how to proceed. Thus there is much faddism, superficiality,

    confusion, failure of a change programme, unwarranted and misdirected resistance and

    misunderstood reform. They maintain that teachers who resist change are not rejecting

    the need for change but they are often the people who are expected to leaddevelopments when they lack the necessary education in the management of change

    and are given insufficient long term opportunities to make sense of the new

    technologies for themselves.

    2.2 Questioning professional practice

    There are many studies which have shown that teachers are "not given to questioning

    their professional practice" (Underwood, 1997). Once they have finished their initial

    training they do not expect to need much further training therefore do not take the

    initiative to improve their practice and learn new skills. Desforges (1995), in a literature

    review of the shift from novice to expert teachers, found that "many teachers are

    perfectly well satisfied with their practices and are unlikely to question prevailing

    educational processes" (Feiman-Nemser & Buchanan (1985) in Desforges (1995)). In

    order for teachers to make changes to their professional practice, according to Desforges

    "a considerable effort is necessary to create the possibilities of restructuring knowledge

    (about teaching and learning) in the face of experience............... In regard to old

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    knowledge we can speculate that the impact of new experience (e.g. using ICT) will be

    severely attenuated if it is in conflict with teachers' basic ontological categories, e.g. their

    beliefs about the nature of their job or the nature of childhood". Therefore if teachers see

    no need to change or question their current professional practice they may not accept

    the use of ICT in their teaching

    2.3 Pedagogical practice versus technical skills

    Previous studies (Cox et al, 1988, Cox, 1994) have shown that until recently the majority

    of courses offered in the UK to train teachers in the uses of ICT have focused on the

    technical aspects of ICT with little training about the pedagogical practices required and

    how to incorporate ICT in the curriculum. In many ICT professional development

    courses, teachers are not often taughthow to revise their pedagogical practices, how to

    replace other traditional lessons without depleting the curriculum coverage and so on.

    This means that after teachers had attended a course they still did not know how to useICT for teaching pupils, They only knew how to run certain software packages and to

    fix the printer. There were many such courses offered all round the UK which had very

    little long term impact on the uptake of ICT in schools.

    2.4 Support from the whole school

    Much research by Fullan (1991) and others has shown that the most effective way to

    bring about the adoption of an innovation in schools is to engage the whole school in a

    democratic process of planning change. This means that all the teachers are involved in

    the decision to adopt ICT in the school and are supportive of any individual teacher

    going on a course and willing to learn from their new knowledge and skills when they

    return. If the school, and particularly the head teacher, are not committed to adopting

    change and particularly ICT, then if one teacher goes on a course, the rest of the school

    sets up antibodies to any new ideas which the unfortunate teacher brings back into the

    school. The last thing the other teachers will then do is to change their practice.

    2.5 Losing control of the learning

    The majority of teachers first priority is to maintain order in the classroom and to have a

    controlled learning environment. Any suggestion of adopting very innovative teaching

    techniques such as using ICT is therefore seen as threatening this orderly pattern and

    therefore not desirable. There is a genuine fear amongst many teachers about ICT and

    scepticism of its value to their pupils

    2.6 Inadequate resources

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    Even if the above problems are overcome there is often a difficulty for teachers who

    have had some training to be able to use ICT because there are insufficient ICT

    resources in the school or there is not enough time to review then and plan lessons

    incorporating their use.

    In spite of the problems listed above and many others, some positive things have been

    learnt from previous experiences of different initiatives and training programmes.

    Where schools have had the backing of the head teacher and there is a long term policy

    for the school to integrate ICT into the teaching then they have been successful in

    gradually developing the use of ICT in different areas.

    Projects in which individual teachers have been given portable computers to develop

    their own personal ICT skills have shown that teachers then start to use them in their

    teaching as well. (NCET, 1994)

    Teachers who have gone on longer courses, spread over a year have had the time topractice in between sessions back in schools and have had the time to assimilate enough

    expertise and knowledge to be able to continue to use them within their curriculum.

    (Cox, Rhodes & Hall, 1988).

    More recently, studies of teachers who belong to an Internet network of supporting

    teachers, such as the MirandaNet, have shown that the support enables them to use

    them in their teaching even if few other teachers in the school are doing so (Preston,

    1999).

    Lessons from the past have shown us that there are effective as well as ineffectivestrategies for providing professional development for teachers which will lead to their

    successful integration of ICT in their teaching. The next section discusses some of the

    specific skills which teachers need to have to make the best use of ICT in the classroom

    3 Factors contributing to using ICT in the classroom

    As a result of the literature review discussed above and in Cox, Preston and Cox (1999),

    there are a number of factors which have been identified which might influence and

    support teachers in using ICT in the classroom. In order to investigate these factors

    further in relation to teachers' ICT use we have used Ajzen's theories of attitudes andbehaviour (Ajzen, 1988) and Weiner's review of motivation (Weiner, 1990), discussed

    more fully in the other BERA conference paper on motivation (Cox, Preston, and Cox,

    1999). For the purpose of this paper we have considered a wider range of supporting or

    preventing factors, relating these to the theory of Davis, Bagozzi and Warshaw (1989),

    discussed below.

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    Davis, Bagozzi and Warshaw (1989) developed a theory of 'action relating to reasons'

    (Technology acceptance model) based on the work of Fishbein and Ajzen (in Davis et al,

    1989) to investigate the reasons why some people use computers and their attitudes

    towards them. Their model, shown in Figure 1, links the perceived usefulness and ease

    of use with attitude towards using ICT and actual use (system use). They tested thismodel with 107 adult users, who had been using a managerial system for 14 weeks.

    They found that people's computer use was predicted by their intentions to use it and

    that perceived usefulness was also strongly linked to these intentions.

    Figure 1 - Technology acceptance model (Davis, Bagozzi and Warshaw, 1989)

    Firstly we consider the factors influencing the uptake of ICT identified and discussed in

    section 2 in relation to this model

    3.1 External variables

    In Davis, Bagozzi and Warshaw's model, the external variables represent the many

    influences on teachers which come from outside their sphere of control. These will

    include:

    the requirements of a national curriculum or national guidelines;

    requirements in England and Wales of the Teacher Training Agency's ICT skills of

    new teachers;

    the new national opportunities fund for the training of teachers in the UK; the changes in society with the rapid growth in the uses of the Internet and ICT in

    general;

    school policies on using ICT;

    opinions of colleagues;

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    responsibilities of the teacher;

    pressure from parents and pupils;

    the influence of the local education authority.

    Although these have been identified as very important by a number of research studies,in leading teachers to understand the need for change and to question their professional

    practice, discussed earlier, only a few could be investigated within the scope of this

    project. The main focus of our research is on how teachers perceive ICT's contribution to

    teaching and learning, and whether this is in conflict with their pedagogical and

    epistemological beliefs. These factors come within Davis et al's perceived usefulness and

    perceived ease of use components.

    3.2 Perceived ease of use

    From previous studies there are a number of factors which have been identified which

    relate to the perceived ease of use of ICT, which in our case is for experienced practising

    ICT/IT users. The Impact project (Watson, 1993) and other studies identified a wide

    range of skills and competencies which teachers felt they needed in order to find ICT

    easy to use. Some of these are given in Table 1 below.

    Table 1 - Positive and negative factors influencing perceived ease of use

    Positive factors Negative factors

    regular use and experience of ICT

    outside the classroom difficulties in using software/hardware

    ownership of a computer need more technical support

    confidence in using ICT not enough time to use ICT

    easy to control the class is too expensive to use regularly

    easy to think of new lesson ideas insufficient access to the resources

    can get help and advice from

    colleagues

    restricts the content of the lessons

    3.3 Perceived usefulness

    If teachers see no need to question or change their professional practice then according

    to studies discussed in section 2.2, they are unlikely to adopt the use of ICT. However, if

    they perceive ICT to be useful to them, their teaching and their pupils' learning, then

    according to the empirical evidence of previous studies (see also Cox, Preston and Cox,

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    1999) they are more likely to have a positive attitude to the use of ICT in the classroom.

    In our review of the literature we identified a number of factors which will contribute to

    teachers' perceived usefulness of ICT. Some of these factors are given in Table 2 below.

    Table 2 - Positive and negative factors influencing perceived usefulness

    Positive factors Negative factors

    makes my lessons more interesting makes my lessons more difficult

    makes my lessons more diverse makes my lessons less fun

    has improved the presentation of

    materials for my lessonsreduces pupils' motivation

    gives me more prestige impairs pupils' learning

    makes my administration more

    efficientrestricts the content of the lessons

    gives me more confidence is not enjoyable

    makes the lessons more fun takes up too much time

    enhances my career prospectsis counter-productive due to

    insufficient technical resources

    help[s me to discuss teaching ideas Teachers' attitudes to many of these factors will depend upon how easy they perceive

    using ICT to be on a personal level as well as for teaching in the classroom.

    According to Davis et al's technology acceptance model shown in Figure 1, the more

    positive the responses to the above factors of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of

    use, then the more positive the attitudes of teachers will be to the use of ICT and the

    more likely they will be to use ICT in their teaching. One major aim of our research

    project was to investigate the reliability of this model using experienced ICT teachers,and to find out which of the factors were considered to be important to the sample of

    teachers.

    4 The Study

    Informal research by the MirandaNet project began in 1992 with the collection of the

    reports from the MirandaNet members. This was followed by the commissioned study

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    which began in May 1998. The research is now in the final stage of analysis and

    reporting. For a more detailed description of all the research objectives, see Cox, Preston

    and Cox (1999).

    The focus of this paper is on the investigation into the factors which contributed to the

    perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use discussed in section 2. The project

    methodology is discussed briefly below. A more detailed description is given in the

    paper on motivation (Cox, Preston and Cox, 1999).

    4.1 Research methodology

    In order to investigate the factors which influence the uptake of ICT, a range of methods

    were used to collect evidence from practising teachers.

    Stage 1 Literature Search and Examination of MirandaNet Data

    Stage 1 involved: the analysis of a range of paper based and electronically based evidence collected

    from members of MirandaNet since 1992.

    an on-going literature review of other research publications and practical accounts of

    the motivation of teachers to use ICT and other relevant factors about teachers' uptake

    of ICT in their teaching.

    Stage 2 Questionnaire survey

    A questionnaire was designed to collect evidence from teachers and other educators

    about their ICT experiences, expertise and use in teaching, their attitudes to the value ofICT for teaching and learning, the training they had received and, when relevant, their

    reasons for being a member of an association. The main sections in the questionnaire are

    shown in Table 3 below. The complete questionnaire will be provided in the final report

    of the project.

    Table 3 - Main sections of the ICT in education questionnaire

    Section Title of section Type of information requestedNumber

    of items

    1 Personal informationname, age, teaching commitments, subjects

    taught 16

    2Personal use of

    computers

    ownership, type of computer, ICT skills, ICT

    uses, Internet uses 24

    3 Use of computers in number of years used, types of use, use in 23

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    school/institution teaching, Web sites valued

    4Using ICT in your

    teaching

    value and difficulties of using ICT,

    advantages and disadvantages of using ICT 33

    5 Using the Internet inyour teaching

    number of staff with email addresses, useful

    Web sites, Internet services, NGFL issues,

    purpose of using the Internet48

    6Professional

    development

    Types of courses attended, membership of

    professional associations, benefits of

    inservice training, types of training received

    and its location, contribution to the

    professional development of others

    25

    7Using ICT for

    administrationtypes of ICT use, responsibility for task 9

    8Professional association

    information

    purpose of membership, length of

    membership, perceived value of service

    provided25

    Total number of items 203

    The sample who were sent the questionnaire consisted of:

    15 members of MirandaNet, with an extra 2 each to give to their colleagues (total 45);

    15 members of The National Association of Co-ordinators and IT Teachers (ACITT),

    with an extra 2 each to give to their colleagues (total 45);

    15 members of Teachernet UK with an extra 2 each to give to their colleagues (total

    45).

    Two further stages involved designing a framework for the professional development of

    teachers (Stage 3) and a focus group meeting (Stage 4) to consider the issues revealed

    during stages 1, 2 and 3 of the project and to obtain further feedback on these issues and

    our analysis from practising teachers.

    4.2 Research evaluation strategies

    The research evaluation strategies involved:

    (a) Qualitative analyses of the MirandaNet data and evidence from the literature;

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    (b) Design, pilot evaluation and modification of the questionnaire. (The design of the

    questionnaire was reviewed by 10 peers from four different associations and was revised

    in the light of their feedback).

    (c) Quantitative analysis of the questionnaire;

    (c) Evaluation of the framework and recommendations for dissemination

    The focus group of 20 teachers and other educators, many of whom also responded to

    the questionnaire, was used to review the results and contribute to more detailed

    explanations relating to the specific responses to the questionnaire and other data.

    5 Results

    Results relevant to this paper, focusing on the teachers' perceived ease of use and

    perceived usefulness are presented here in three subsections. The first consists of the

    variables describing the sample. The second subsection presents the results relevant tofactors associated with perceived ease of use. The third consists of the relevant factors

    about perceived usefulness. The data from the questionnaire has been analysed using

    SPSS and EXCEL Further results about specific factors regarding the motivation of

    teachers are discussed in Cox, Preston and Cox (1999). The interpretation of the uptake

    of ICT results are discussed in Section 6.

    5.1 Description of the questionnaire sample

    Questionnaires were returned by 82 educators, 60.7% of the total of 135 questionnaires

    that were sent. Table 4 and Figure 2 show the proportion of male and female

    respondents and the distribution of ages respectively.

    Table 4 - Biological sex of the respondents

    Sex Number Percent

    male 44 61.1

    female 28 38.9

    The mean age of the respondents was 42 years, which shows that, for our sample ofexperienced ICT users, the majority were in the middle aged bracket. This is contrary to

    some previous research findings reported in the literature that ICT is mostly conducted

    by newly qualified and younger teachers, although since many of the secondary school

    respondents held senior positions in their own departments, i.e. as IT/ICT co-ordinator,

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    it is not unexpected that they would have several years' teaching experience already and

    therefore be older than the majority of newly qualified teachers.

    Figure 2 - Age distribution of sample

    There were many more males than females in the sample, which could be due to there

    being more male IT teachers and co-ordinators nationally. The detailed reasons for this

    can be investigated at a later stage.

    The majority of the sample were not members of the professional organisations that

    were targeted for this project. 37 respondents were from the three associations, namely

    MirandaNet, ACITT, and TeacherNet, whereas the remaining 45 were their colleagues.

    The distribution of the groups of the respondents is shown in Figure 3.

    Figure 4 below shows the distribution of the phases in which the respondents teach. The

    majority were teachers in secondary schools with just over a quarter from primary

    schools. A very small minority stated that they teach in the 6th form or were involved in

    cross phase work. Some of the respondents were teacher educators or held other

    positions outside of schools. Figure 5 shows the job distribution of the respondents,

    indicating that the largest group were IT teachers or co-ordinators, with 20% being

    other class teachers, and approximately 20% being managers. The remainder (under10%) were in a range of other educational positions, such as librarians, special needs

    teachers and IT technicians.

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    Figure 3 - Distribution of the groups of the respondents

    Figure 4 - Distribution of respondents by education sector

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    5.2 Teachers' perceptions about perceived ease of use

    Data presented here relates to the factors given in Table 1, regular use and experience,

    ownership of a computer, confidence in using ICT. The results are presented in three

    sections, personal home use, administrative use and use in the classroom

    Personal home use

    Figure 6 shows the most frequent uses of ICT at home being word-processing, and Table

    5 below shows that at least 76% of the teachers

    performed a range of IT basic tasks, such as formatting disks and file management at

    home.

    Figure 6 - the forms of ICT use made most frequently at home

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    Table 5 - ICT tasks performed by teachers at home

    TaskNo. of

    respondents

    % of

    responses% of cases

    load software 74 16.2 97.4

    format disks 65 14.2 85.5

    virus checking 59 12.9 77.6

    file management 72 15.8 94.7

    connecting to external devices 69 15.1 90.8

    using help facilities 60 13.1 78.9

    creating sub directories 58 12.7 76.3

    Only three people did not have access to a computer at home with over 75% having

    Email at home, shown in Figure 7 below.

    Similar data were collected from a range of factors relating to the personal

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    use of ICT, indicating that the large majority of the teachers perceived that they had no

    difficulties with using software and hardware and that they were confident in using ICT

    for their personal requirements.

    Administrative use

    Teachers were asked a range of questions about using ICT for correspondence, time-

    tabling, preparing worksheets, pupils records and assessing pupils. The majority of the

    respondents use ICT for many of this tasks with little evidence of any difficulties in this

    use. Most of the respondents agreed that it made their administration more efficient

    Teaching use

    A list of all the questions relating to the teachers' opinions about how easy it was to use

    ICT in the classroom are provided in Appendix A. The results are also correlated with

    each other and with the teachers' extent of ICT use. These results show that many of the

    factors reported in previous studies as deterring teachers from using ICT and given in

    Table 1, were not found to be prominent amongst our sample of experienced ICT and IT

    teachers. Some of these results are given in more detail below.

    Figure 8 - Responses relating to the extent to which using ICT makes it difficult to

    control the class

    Figure 8 shows that the majority of the sample disagreed that using ICT in a lessons

    made the class more difficult to control. Similar findings were obtained for other ease of

    use factors, with less agreement in some cases:

    ICT makes the lesson more difficult for me - majority disagreed

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    ICT makes preparing the lessons more difficult - majority disagreed, but with a

    significant minority agreeing;

    Hardware and software problems often disrupt lessons - majority agreed;

    Using ICT in teaching is expensive - majority agreed.

    There were specific aspects still perceived as inadequate, for example Figure 9 shows

    that over 65% of the respondents would like more ICT resources for their teaching.

    Figure 9 - Distribution of teachers wanting more resources

    Although some of the responses given above indicate that there are some negative

    influences on the teachers' perceived ease of use of ICT, they all reported regular use intheir personal life and in their teaching. The results below show the teachers

    perceptions of the usefulness of ICT in their teaching.

    5.3 Perceived usefulness of ICT in teaching

    Analysis of the full list of factors relating to class use shown in Appendix A reveals a

    very positive attitude amongst the majority of the teachers to using ICT in their

    teaching. The majority (85%) agreed that using ICT made their lessons more interesting,

    and 90% thought that ICT made their lessons more enjoyable.

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    Figure 10- Responses relating to the extent to which IT was considered to make

    lessons more interesting

    Figure 11- Responses relating to the extent to which using IT in teaching was

    considered to be unenjoyable

    The responses to other perceived usefulness factors include:

    makes lessons more fun - 75% agreed

    lesson more diverse - 95% agreed

    improves presentation of materials 95% agreed

    and for negative factors:

    makes lessons more difficult 65% disagreed

    reduces pupils' motivation 70% disagreed

    impairs pupils learning 95% disagreed

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    Figure 12- Responses relating to the extent to which using IT in teaching enhances

    their career prospects

    Data were also collected about the teachers' perceptions relating to other benefits of

    using ICT. Figure 12 above shows that s significant minority of respondents believed

    that using ICT enhanced their career prospects.

    Additional factors included:

    ICT gives me more power in school

    About 1/3 said they agreed/strongly agreed with this, although further analysis of this

    result is needed since many of the respondents were already heads of departments ordeputy heads of schools

    ICT gives me more prestige

    Again a substantial minority agreed with this

    Using ICT in teaching has given me more confidence using computers

    most agreed.

    Using ICT in teaching has given me greater awareness of its uses

    again many agreed.Substantial data was collected about the effects of previous training and the types of

    training the teachers had experienced. We also collected data on the teachers' plans for

    extending their uses of ICT to the national grid for learning, as shown in Figure 13, and

    the value of the Internet for a range of supporting uses of ICT in their teaching, an

    example of which is given in Figure 14. Figures 13 and 14 show that even though the

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    teachers in the sample were already using ICT extensively in their teaching and still

    wished for further resources, they still intended to make further uses of ICT in the

    future.

    Figure 13- Responses relating to the extent to which teachers plan to use the NGFL in

    the future for their teaching

    Figure 14 Responses relating to the extent to which teachers value the Internet fordiscussing teaching ideas

    It seems foolish to attempt to work on ICT development in isolation when with a little

    communication, ideas can be shared, discussed and refined

    (Design and Technology and co-ordinator of staff ICT training)

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    6 Conclusions

    The review of the previous literature has revealed a range of issues relating to the

    uptake of ICT in teaching, including specific factors to do with teachers' perceptions

    about the value and use of ICT in their teaching. Davis, Bagozzi and Warshaw's model

    shows that ease of use and perceived usefulness can have a positive influence on

    teachers' use of ICT. Our results have shown that the teachers who are already regular

    users of ICT have confidence in using ICT, perceive it to be useful for their personal

    work and for their teaching and plan to extend their use further in the future.

    The factors which were found to be most important to these teachers in their teaching

    were: making the lessons more interesting, easier, more fun for them and their pupils,

    more diverse, more motivating for the pupils and more enjoyable. Additional more

    personal factors were improving presentation of materials, allowing greater access to

    computers for personal use, giving more power to the teacher in the school, giving theteacher more prestige, making the teachers' administration more efficient and providing

    professional support through the Internet.

    These findings have implications for training other teachers to become regular users

    since as was discussed in section 2, many of the professional development courses focus

    on teachers acquiring basic IT skills. Our research has shown that the perceived

    usefulness factors are probably equally important to teachers, therefore professional

    courses should increase the training of teachers in the pedagogical issues if teachers are

    to be convinced of the value of using ICT in their teaching.

    Acknowledgements

    The project team would like to acknowledge the support for this study from the Teacher

    Training Agency, who funded most of the work, Oracle who funded the focus group

    and other meetings, conference presentations and teachers' on-line communications,

    MirandaNet who initiated the project and whose members provided valuable

    information about their uses of Information and Communications Technologies,

    members of The National Association of Co-ordinators and IT Teachers (ACITT),

    Teachernet UK, and the Learning Circuit who responded to the questionnaire survey

    and attended the focus group meeting.

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