3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/45
Browse
2 results
Search Results
Item Teachers' perceptions of the pedagogical use of information and communication technologies (ICTS) and principals' technology leadership.(2013-10-01) Cloete, Zelna JanetThe purpose of this research is to develop a better understanding to why South African educators embrace or resist Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in teaching and learning by exploring the complex interplay between teachers’ pedagogical beliefs, their efficacy beliefs, their context beliefs and their use of computers in the classroom. The study hypothesises that teachers’ behavioural intention, whether and how to use ICTs in the classroom, is determined by a set of teacher-related variables, which include, their pedagogical beliefs, selfefficacy beliefs and context beliefs. The specific teacher-related variables that are of significance for this study include: teachers’ pedagogical beliefs, self-efficacy beliefs, computer self-efficacy beliefs and computer anxiety. A correlational analysis was performed to determine the complex relationships amongst these thinking processes and their effect on the utilisation of ICTs. In addition, teachers’ perception of their principals’ technology leadership was investigated. Four interrelated dimensions were investigated, that is: (a) vision, planning and management; (b) staff development and training; (c) technology and infrastructure support; and (d) interpersonal and communication skills. A mixed method of quantitative and qualitative research was employed to collect data at a secondary and primary ex-model C school in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town. Convenience sampling was applied in this study. A total of 23 teachers participated voluntarily in the research project. The results of the study suggest that teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, computer self-efficacy beliefs and computer anxiety directly affect their computer use, while the principal’s technology leadership only has an indirect effect on their computer use via the mediating variables: self-efficacy beliefs and pedagogical beliefs.Item Factors enabling and constraining the pedagogical integration of ICTs in a South African school.(2013-01-11) Seegobin, TarishmaAs ICTs become more and more ubiquitous in institutions of education, schools are faced with the challenge of integrating ICTs pedagogically. More schools in South Africa have ICT resources available; however, their integration levels have not advanced at the rate that technology is progressing (Pan African Research Agenda on the Pedagogical Integration of Information and Communications Technologies, 2008). There are several enablers and constraining factors that have an impact on the schools’ capacity to pedagogically integrate ICTs. This is a case study of an ex-model C primary school in the Gauteng province. The school under study is one of the ten South African institutions from which the Pan African Research Agenda on the Pedagogical Integration of ICTs (PanAfICT) collected data in 2008 stored in its observatory. The UNESCO model (2002) was used to position this school at a specific level based on factors affecting the teachers’ propensity to integrate ICTs pedagogically. The findings of this study suggest that the school has been in the applying (second) level, since 2008 and has not made much progress in the implementation of ICT pedagogical integration. It also emerged from this case study that the enabling factors (the availability of a wide range of ICT resources and teacher training in basic ICT application skills) are not enough to enable the school to progress to the next level. It is the quality of technical support, relevance of training, proactive leadership in ICT integration and provision of time, above availability of resources that determine progression in the use of technology in the classroom. The literature selected covers mainly the national ICT integration environments and general views of authors in this field. On the basis of these findings, it is proposed that there is a need for the Department of Education to address the lack of progress in ICT pedagogical integration in schools by monitoring the process and developing strategies that will improve quality in the implementation despite the constraining factors.