Teacher's Attitudes towards ICT

Some teacher's lack the skills and knowledge to effectively use technology. Due to new, evolving technologies, teacher's may have a negative attitude towards using ICT in the classroom. Although most children are now digital natives, some teacher's may not be. They therefore do not have the confidence to teach using technology. With guidance, teacher's will be able to gain the technological knowledge and skills needed to integrate learning about technology into the learning environment.

Some teacher's can see new technology as too complex and therefore refuse to use it or learn the necessary skills to use it. In the widely disputed technology acceptance model (Davis, Bagozzi and Warshaw, 1989) it highlights that people perceive technology depending on the usefulness and ease of use. Therefore teacher's are unlikely to use technology in their classroom if they are too complex to learn and use. Koehlar and Mishra (2009) indicate that if teacher's do not have the combination of technological, pedagogical and content (TPACK) knowledge they will therefore not have the ability to effectively teach and integrate technology into the classroom.

As a student teacher I can see the importance of having a controlled and calm environment to teach. Teacher's need to be in control of their class at all times, as without this control the classroom would be very disruptive and inconducive to learning. When using technology in the classroom some teacher's see this as taking away their control as the children are then in charge of the technology. Rotter's (1954) locus of control highlights how people either have an internal or external locus of control. A person who has an internal locus of control may get frustrated by the technology due to their lack of control. Whereas a person who has an external locus of control would be more passive and accepting of these new technologies. The behaviour and personality of a teacher can determine whether they will accept new technologies within their classroom.

How do we change these negative attitudes?

We need to create a culture, which is more accepting of technology. This can be through training days for teacher’s so they can their develop basic ICT skills. These training days will build confidence, which will enrich their trust, safety and security in the use of ICT. Another way to increase positive attitudes towards ICT is by teacher’s who are confident to give guidance and support to those who are not.

Even though I have mentioned that negative attitudes can be linked towards the teacher's personality types, we need to ensure the teacher have the right support and guidance to be able to emit a positive attitude to their students. 

REFERENCES:

Davis, F., Bagozzi, R. and Warshaw, P. (1989) "User Acceptance of Computer Technology: A comparison of Two Theoretical Models", Management Science, 35(8), pp. 982-1003. doi: 10.1287/mnsc.35.8.982.

Koehlar and Mishra (2009). What is Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Eduation, [online] 9 (1), pp. 60-70. Available at: http://www.ctiejournal.org.articles/v9i1general1.pdf [Access 19 March 2016)]. 

Koehlar and Mishra (2009) [image] Available at: http://www.ctiejournal.org.articles/v9i1general1.pdf [Access 19 March 2016)]. 

Rotter, J. (1954) Social learning and clinical psychology. New York: Prentice-Hall.