SKILLS COMPETENCE AND ICT INTEGRATION IN TEACHER EDUCATION
ABSTRACT
The study looked into the level of skill proficiency and the use of ICT in teacher education. The descriptive survey design was used for the research. The study population consisted of the entire student body of the faculty of education at the University of Lagos–Akoka.
The total study population was divided into 80 junior undergraduates, 80 senior undergraduates, and 80 postgraduate students from the Faculty of Education’s various departments. For data collection, a self-structured questionnaire with open-ended and closed items was used.
The collected data was analyzed by addressing three research questions and testing three hypotheses. The results of a careful data analysis show that: Students were more proficient in the use of MS Word, Internet search tools, and E-mail application tools, but weaker in the use of Microsoft Excel.
Internet search tools, Microsoft Word, and e-mail are the most integrated ICT application tools, while IWB, MS Excel, and SPSS are the least integrated. In the faculty of Education, a very strong positive correlation was established between skill proficiency and the pattern of ICT integration.
In order to improve the effectiveness of ICT integration in Teacher Education, the study recommended that the use of MS Excel, IWB, and SPSS application tools be better integrated into the Curriculum content, Assignments, Teaching practicum, and Lesson presentation. Finally, lecturers and in-service teachers in the educational system should be encouraged to use ICTs in their classroom lessons.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the problem
Because of its inevitability, change is widely regarded as the most permanent thing in the world. The world is not a static entity. All human endeavors, like the weather, are subject to change. Education is not immune to the phenomenon of change, whether in policy formulation, implementation, or operation.
We live in an era of advanced information and communication technologies (ICT). The world has shrunk to the size of a village. This makes what is happening anywhere in the world known and accessible to the rest of the world. Teaching and learning are a worldwide phenomenon.
Effective teaching and learning lead to the acquisition of relevant knowledge. Without the use of advanced ICTs, teaching and learning cannot be effective in today’s world.
According to Rai (2006), new information and communication technologies are changing the world we live in and how we learn to live. He believes that ICT transforms teaching and
learning because of its potential as a source of knowledge, a medium for transmitting content, and a means of interaction and dialogue. According to Rai (2006), ICT is both a cause of change and a means of achieving change, particularly in education.
For the last five decades, information and communication technology (ICT) has been an integral part of our daily lives. The dramatic adoption of ICT has, in turn, prompted education reforms at various levels in order to create an enabling educational environment for future generations to function effectively in the digital era.
As a result, teachers’ ability to integrate ICT into their teaching practices is critical to achieving the goals of the education reform. In this regard, teacher education institutions (TEIs) have worked hard to create a new ICT curriculum (or course) or to incorporate ICT components into their existing curriculum.
Furthermore, UNESCO recognizes that any educational reform in a country is meaningless unless it is supported by those at the heart of education, so teacher development is at the heart of such programs.
However, teacher professional development should not be viewed in isolation, but rather within the context of broader educational reform, which includes the development of supportive policy, infrastructure, and curriculum.
Despite this, schools are notorious for being resistant to change and innovation
(Kearsley, 2004), the spread of ICT is beginning to influence how teachers teach (Reid, 2002). One of the current issues concerning ICT use in Nigerian schools is the disparity in ICT use between private and public schools.
Despite a growing emphasis on computer education in Nigerian curricula at all levels since the 1990s, the full impact of ICT on education has yet to be realized.
Several factors can be blamed for the problem, including a lack of skilled personnel, a mismatch in curriculum, poor policy implementation, inadequate funding, and a lack of infrastructure.
Schools expect graduates of teacher education programs to have a reasonable understanding of how to use ICT, because curriculum documents provide arguments for introducing ICT in the school setting.
Montgomerie and Irvine (2001) However, Oren, Mioduser, and Nachmias (2002) argue that most current teachers’ pre-service preparation and subsequent in-service courses were designed with traditional educational technology and settings in mind.
As a result, course participants are unfamiliar with the processes, interaction patterns, features, and possibilities of technology-mediated educational transactions. (Consequences of these studies,
This study aims to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of ICT integration into teacher education in order to substantiate the claim made by Oren, Mioduser, and Nachmias (2002) that current teacher pre-service preparation and subsequent in-service courses were designed in reference to traditional educational technology settings.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
This study serves as an evaluative tool an evaluation of ICT integration into the Teacher Training Programme at the University of Lagos’s Faculty of Education
It has been observed that the majority of graduate teachers in Nigeria lack the skills required to function in a modern work environment. This situation frequently leads to a skills gap in the labor market.
Furthermore, there is frequently an emphasis on quantitative expansion in education, with the government building more schools but often with no corresponding increase in the quality of teachers and educational facilities.
This problem is exacerbated by the fact that students born in or after 1982 are members of the “Net Generation,” and are accustomed to communicating, gathering information, and analyzing data in a digital environment (Oblinger, 2004), they frequently lack information
literacy skills and have poor critical thinking abilities (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005). The issue is that students “do not always understand how their use of technology affects their literacy or learning habits” (Barnes, Marateo, & Ferris, 2007, Independence, Autonomy, and Learning).
As a result, as knowledge experts, teacher educators must keep up with current inventors, research networks, and innovation in the world of education education. This knowledge can only be expanded by making effective use of ICT resources.
1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The goal of this study is to determine the level of skill competence and ICT integration in the teacher education program at the University of Lagos’s Faculty of Education. Primary sources will be used to collect relevant data as well as secondary sources The study aims to accomplish the following:
i. Determine the level of basic ICT skill proficiency in students enrolled in the Teacher Training program at the Faculty of Education.
ii. Research the pattern of ICT integration in various programs at the Faculty of Education.
Determine whether there is a link between skill proficiency and the level of ICT integration in the faculty of education.
1.4 RESEARCH PROBLEMS
The following issues will be investigated:
How well do students know how to use basic ICT application software?
How do lecturers contribute to the integration of ICT into Teacher Training Programs?
Is there a link between students’ skill levels and the level of ICT integration in the Education faculty?
1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
In order to locate, The following hypotheses will be tested in this study to determine the level of skill competence and ICT integration in various programs at the Faculty of Education:
1) Ho: There is no statistically significant relationship between students’ ICT proficiency and academic level.
2) Ho: There is no statistically significant relationship between ICT proficiency and undergraduate program exposure to teaching practice (Groups 1 & 2).
3) Ho: In the faculty of Education, there is no significant relationship between ICT proficiency and the type of study program (G3 & G2)
1.6 SIFNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The researcher hopes that the study’s findings will benefit the following organizations in the following ways:
Students: To encourage student teachers’ self-efficacy in acquiring ICT skills.
To project, teacher educators
Relevant ICT skills are required for the delivery of ICT curriculum.
Employers: To assist in closing the ICT skills gap in the teaching profession for both the domestic and international labor markets.
Graduate teachers: To educate newly qualified teachers on the importance of relevant ICT skills in the labor market.
Administrators: To draw attention to some of the flaws associated with ICT integration in teacher education.
Teacher Educators: to serve as a needs assessment report on the development of ICT skills in teacher education.
1.7 The study’s scope
Teacher education is available in a variety of settings, including colleges of education, universities, technical colleges, on-the-job training, and other in-service programs. The content and duration of these programs vary, and they are intended to be relevant to various levels of the educational system.
The abilities of Nigerian universities provide both undergraduate and postgraduate teacher education programs aimed at improving teaching and learning at all levels of the educational system.
Thus, the scope of this study includes the Undergraduate, Postgraduate Diploma, and Master’s in Education programmes, as well as those enrolled as full-time and part-time students at the University of Lagos’ Faculty of Education.
Students enrolled in the Undergraduate program take two ICT courses, one in the first and one in the second year. In the third year, undergraduates complete their teaching practicum. They are preparing to complete and submit their research project by the end of the fourth year.
In the first semester of the Post Graduate Diploma programme, students take one ICT course and their second semester, I will be teaching a practicum Master’s students in the faculty are expected to have completed some ICT training as undergraduates or postgraduate diploma students, as well as their teaching practicum.
As a result, the study’s scope includes the entire population of students enrolled in the Faculty of Education at the University of Lagos-Akoka.
The level of Skills proficiency is the dependent and output variable, while the level of Integration of basic ICT application soft wares is the independent and input variable at the faculty of education, University of Lagos-Akoka.
1.8 LIMITATION
The study has some limitations that must be considered when interpreting the results and designing future studies that were discovered during the course of conducting this research. There was no actual skill test given to the participants
The participant’s self-assessment of skill competence was used. It is possible that some participants overestimated or exaggerated their level of competence in using various ICT software applications.
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1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS
ICT (Information and Communication Technology)
In this study, ICT refers to a set of technologies used in the collection, storage, editing, retrieval, and transfer of information in various forms.
ICT encompasses both soft and hard ware used for educational purposes. Competence in Information and Communication Technology
In this study, the concept of Skills competence refers to the degree to which a potential user can manipulate an ICT gadget and the corresponding software
Integration of ICT in Teacher Education
The application of ICT is referred to as ICT integration.
for a variety of educational purposes, including:
Interaction in the classroom, lecture presentation, assignments, and document preparation
Communication and various research projects that occur during Teacher Education programs.
An explanation of Teacher Education
Teacher Education refers to various programs designed for the development and production of teachers in Nigeria’s various tertiary institutions.
SKILLS COMPETENCE AND ICT INTEGRATION IN TEACHER EDUCATION
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