ICT Usage of Pre-service Teachers: Cultural Comparison for Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2013; EDAM-Education Consultancy Limited; Volume: 13; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2148-7561
Autores Tópico(s)Education and Technology Integration
ResumoAbstractThe importance of ICTs has become the undisputed in the present century. Studies have been conducted to investigate the use of ICTs with the goal of increase in quality of teacher education for a long time. This study is a cross-cultural comparison in terms of pre-service teachers' level of ICT usage, ICT knowledge and attitudes. The study was conducted in three different universities, two in Turkey and one in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A total of 709 pre-service teacher participated in the study, 385 from Turkey and from 324 Bosnia and Herzegovina. To this end, three different questionnaires were used: the ICT usage for educational purposes scale (ICT-U), the ICT knowledge scale (ICT-K), and the Internet attitude scale (IAS). According to the results significant differences were found between two countries in terms of ICT usage. ICT knowledge was determined as the most explaining variable for the level of ICT use. Culture is also found to be predictive. The study results revealed the need to take into consideration cultural differences in ensuring the integration of ICTs.Key WordsICT Usage, ICT Integration, Pre-service Teachers, Cultural Comparison, Teacher Education.Anahtar KelimelerICT Kullanimi, ICT Entegrasyonu, Ogretmen Adayi, Kulturel Karsilastirma, Ogretmen Egitimi.Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), which constantly revolutionize with innovations, affects a nation's institutions, economies and processes of political determination. Hence, all of the countries around the world are socially and economically under the influence of ICT developments according to the United Nations Development Program's Report (United Nations [UN], 2000). Most of the countries are aware that one of the keys to becoming a sophisticated society is to carry out investments in ICTs (Rice, 2003). In this context, ICTs have become an inseparable actor in current educational systems. Particularly in Turkey, the Information Society Strategy of the Ministry of Development stated ICTs as one of the main tools of the educational process and set targets to ensure the effective use of these technologies by students and teachers (Devlet Planlama Teskilati [DPT], 2006). The high-budget Fatih Project, launched by the Republic of Turkey's Ministry of National Education (Milli Egitim Bakanligi [MEB], 2012) is considered to be a reflection of this. On the other hand, Bosnia and Herzegovina's Council of Ministers (CMBH) approved the Action Plan for the Development of the Information Society (CMBH, 2012) containing the decisions regarding the necessary capacity and scope of the policy decisions. Parallel to this, in order to overcome the shortcomings of issues, such as equipment, the SCORE project carried out studies under five separate main headings (eBusiness, eGovernment, eLearning, eHealth, and Environment- Energy) in the field of ICTs (Community Research and Development Information Service, 2012). However, even if ICTs move in to the classroom as hardware, actualization of teacher's ICT integration in their classroom seems to be insufficient (Yildirim, 2007). This situation requires a transformation of understanding to exploit ICTs in the field of education. This transformation should be carried out to provide education with technology. In other words, the design of educational environments to provide learning through ICTs is important.Studies that take into account the universal dimension and different components of the issue have a particular significance in terms of decision-makers and process designers. Studies completed with the individuals who have critical roles in education offer important information for decisions to ensure the integration of ICTs. Considering teachers have one of the critical roles, significant differences in teacher education should not be underestimated. This is because the approaches toward multi-dimensional contributions to the teaching-learning process (Zarotsky & Jaresko, 2000) and the effects of integration (Zhao, Hueyshan, & Mishra, 2001) are not an immediately realized situation for individuals. …
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