Investigating variables predicting Turkish pre‐service teachers’ integration of ICT into teaching practices

Abstract

Pre-service teachers need to acquire information and communications technology (ICT) competency in order to integrate ICT into their teaching practices. This research was conducted to investigate to what extent ICT-related variables-such as perceived ICT competence, perceived competence in ICT integration, attitudes toward ICT, anxiety around ICT usage, external barriers to ICT integration, ICT-related courses, pedagogical knowledge, and prior experience concerning the use of ICT-predict the dependent variable "integration of ICT into teaching practices" for pre-service teachers. Data were gathered from 599 pre-service teachers from the subject areas of Turkish language, social sciences, elementary mathematics, and science in their fourth year of training programs. The study indicated that pedagogical knowledge, ICT-related courses, and perceived ICT competence significantly predicted integration of ICT into teaching practice. These three variables predicted and accounted for 17% of the integration of ICT into teaching practices. The findings of this study showed that pre-service teachertraining programs, especially pedagogical knowledge and ICT-related courses, have a significant effect in enabling pre-service teachers to use ICT in their teaching practices. IntroductionTeachers facilitate student learning, creativity and innovation by using their knowledge of the subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology (ISTE, 2008). In this regard, information and communications technology (ICT) plays an important role in enabling teachers and students to teach and learn more effectively. The integration of ICT into education necessitates teachers to be competent in the use of ICT. In other words, teachers are required to have adequate ICT competencies to make use of ICT for education (Goktaş, Yildirim, & Yildirim, 2009). Thomas and Knezek (2008) point out that, teachers in both real and virtual schools and classrooms must be equipped with technology resources and skills to provide learning experiences effectively. These teachers will have the ability to develop innovative ways of using technology to enhance the learning environment, and to promote technology literacy, knowledge deepening, and knowledge creation (UNESCO, 2011a). The effective integration of ICT into education can be thought to enable effective citizens and workers to acquire functional and critical thinking skills such as information literacy, media literacy, and ICT literacy in the 21st century (Partnership, 2015). For that reason, one of the goals of the schools systems in many countries is to ensure that students

Influencing Factors and Integration of ICT into Teaching Practices of Pre-service and Starting Teachers

“…Gender is a contradictory issue in teachers' use of ICT in education. Aslan & Zhu (2016) found out that gender is not a significant variable to predict teachers' use of technology in education. It can be deduced that the differences among male and female teachers with regard to use of technology in education are decreasing and teachers seem to use technology in their teaching practices regardless of their genders.…”

“…In this study, the instruments aiming at investigating the variables predicting Turkish pre-service teachers' integration of ICT into teaching practices in the study by Aslan and Zhu (2016) were used. The instruments consist of two parts, namely "teachers' ICT competence" (TIC) and the "integration survey" (IS).…”

Starting Teachers’ Integration of ICT into Their Teaching Practices in the Lower Secondary Schools in Turkey

“…The conceptual model of the current study is based on the relevant research in the Turkish context regarding teachers' integration of ICT into teaching practices (Aslan & Zhu, 2017).To further validate the research findings, the present study focuses on the starting teachers who have been teaching for not more than three years. As they are new graduates, they can evaluate the effectiveness of the teacher training programs to acquire and apply ICT competence in their teaching practices.…”

“…Therefore, it is crucial to investigate to what extent they are using ICT in their instructions to understand and identify the factors affecting teachers to use ICT in their teaching practices. Aslan and Zhu (2017) found out that the subject teaching programs (e.g., Turkish language, social sciences, elementary mathematics and science teaching) significantly affect pre-service teachers' use of ICT in their teaching practices. The current study investigates whether this finding is valid for those graduates of the abovementioned programs as well.…”

“…In this study, the survey instruments developed and validated by Aslan and Zhu (2017) were used. The aim of these instruments is to investigate the variables predicting Turkish pre-service teachers' integration of ICT into teaching practices.…”