This particular article is written for all the ICT innovators out there with education-based innovations, who wish to see teachers and schools integrate their products into teaching practices. It’s an article that seeks to probe a little bit on factors that determine how teachers and schools adopt and integrate ICT and ICT products. They include but are not limited to; personal limitations, or better still teachers’ attitudes that eventually measure their level of acceptance. They are believed to be determined by age, gender, level of education, training, leadership, and technical support offered.
Professional development and productivity go hand in hand with the acceptance of using ICT in classrooms. Several studies have satisfactorily agreed that ICT training programs improve teachers’ competency in computer use and influence teachers’ attitudes and acceptance to adopt ICT for their work. Training programs that concentrate on pedagogical ICT training rather than technical training on the same, help teachers apply ICT in teaching and learning. This means quality professional ICT training makes it easier for teachers to implement ICT and ICT products (Brinkerhoff,2006).
Gender; as much as this aspect has been subjected to an array of research to affirm and counter the same, determines the adoption of ICT whether for teachers or in other professions. According to studies carried out over the years, women are believed to have ‘lower’ use of computers due to limited access to ICT and technology as a whole, skills, and general interest in the same. Other studies like (Kay 2006) showed there were significant differences in technical ICT capabilities between men and women, with men scoring higher than women. That helps explain why innovators need to carry out an informed assessment before, during, and after the adoption of ICT and ICT products in schools. However, over the years, studies have shown that more women are taking up ICT and are more consumers of ICT products compared to the early years.
Teacher workload influences their acceptance of the adoption and integration of ICT in their teaching practice. Whereas ICT and its products are supposed to reduce the class workload, the brand promise sometimes is not well implemented as basic practice. Most of them come in as a complimentary package and not something the teacher requires for their daily work. This inhibits the uptake and to some extent seems like an added burden. It leads to teachers easily choosing to forego as they will still achieve their teaching goals, without the ICT product. This has been the case scenario even now with our schools due to the fact that our education is still very traditional. Manual scripts and processes are still more accepted than ICT systems in our education sector.
General leadership and ICT leadership in schools determine how far teachers go into adopting ICT for teaching and learning. According to (Lai & Pratt,2004) strong leadership drives a good technology plan in schools and motivates teachers to adopt ICT in teaching. And this is true in many schools. The school leader sets the tone for how well the teachers adopt ICT and ICT innovations. In our engagements with schools, we have noted how schools with open-minded leadership, a leadership willing to try, inquisitive and curious, have skills in ICT, and a futuristic vision, make it easier for ICT implementers. That leadership easily supports teachers in the adoption and continuation of the ICT integration. With a leader willing to promote teachers’ goals for teaching, provide individualized support, and create high-performance expectations, coupled with a strong school culture of excellence, integrating ICT becomes easier and a must-have tool.
Inadequate ICT and technical skills which determine confidence in teachers and a trust that the system presented to them would be useful in their work, dictate/shape their acceptance of ICT and ICT innovations for teaching. With our schools having teachers and the education sector from all generations, even some that never had an introduction to ICT as a unit in their training, it becomes harder to support them to fully embrace ICT integration in their teaching. Our education system remains very traditional and requires a lot of training and motivational perks to mentally stimulate teachers to accept ICT. With this realization, innovators need an intentional approach that will ensure teachers gain enough confidence with the systems and fully accept adoption.
How far a teacher perceives success in using ICT or self-efficacy that affects confidence in their ability to use ICT goes a long way to inform their decision to adopt ICT as a tool for teaching or not. And without an opportunity for constant practice due to inadequate infrastructure, teachers abandon the whole initiative altogether. The general perception of an innovation predicts its future success and use. Most importantly, understanding teachers’ perception of your innovation goes a long way in its success and adoption (Rogers, 2003). As an innovator, let the teachers see the compatibility of ICT with the tasks they carry out, the ease of use and the end results, and how they improve their daily work as a conviction. Let them know how ICT experience in or outside teaching is beneficial to them, their teaching, or their learners each day.
Breakdown of computers and ICT infrastructure or delayed technical support frustrates teachers and prompts abandonment of using or adopting ICT in schools. Unsuitable or non-all-around educational software still leads to schools’ refusal to adopt ICT in their teaching practice. This is evident in most of our schools where ICT support is unavailable and takes weeks or months to repair or tend to ICT and ICT innovation issues. We have been to schools with broken, nonfunctional rooms full of unattended ICT infrastructure. We have been to schools that have told us how innovators cut them off once they buy and implement an ICT innovation, leading to utter disillusionment and a decision to shun anything else that knocks on their school gates.
In conclusion, ICT implementers and ICT innovators need to work together in collaboration, to ensure that all factors that make schools not adopt ICT and innovation are taken care of, subsequently. If this means on the policy level or on the school level, is a discussion that requires immediate attention, to rescue teachers from hard manual processes in this time and era.
Reference
International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT), 2012, Vol. 8, Issue 1, pp. 136-155.
