Factors influencing Teacher-Educators' level of Information and Communication Technology integration in teaching in primary Teacher training Colleges in Kenya

Abstract

Educators today face the challenge of integrating information and communication technologies into their teaching to enhance student learning. Modelling appropriate uses of these resources by teacher-educators in the pre-service classroom can give future teachers the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively integrate these tools in their classrooms. Research indicates that there has been considerable progress in this area inmany teacher education institutions in developed countries. However, the status of the . integration of ICTs by teacher educators in Kenyan primary teacher training colleges is largely unknown. This study, thus, sought to determine the factors influencing the level to which teacher educators in public primary teacher training colleges have integrated ICT in teacher preparation. The study was guided the Diffusion of Innovations theory which addresses change levels that educators progress through in technology integration. The simple random sampling technique was used to select six teacher training colleges in Kenya and 169 respondents who participated in the study. Data was collected using a questionnaire, an interview schedule and an observation check list. The data collected was analyzed descriptively with the help of SPSS program version 16.0 for frequencies, means, standard deviation and percentages. The inferential statistics used to determine relationships among variables was the Pearson Moment Correlation. A p-value of less than 0.05 was interpreted as significant. Results indicated that there is a low level of ICT integration in teaching in all teacher training colleges. It also showed that there were significant relationships between teacher educators' level of ICT integration in teaching and their motivation, access to ICTs, attitude, support, expertise, confidence, gender, age, level of education and teaching experience. Based on the findings, it is recommended that: ICTs' integration be made part of undergraduate training in universities in order to equip future teacher educators with ICT skills. The government should equip teacher training colleges with sufficient and modern computers with internet connectivity to enhance access; colleges should provide inservice training on ICTs for teachers; colleges should hire technicians to maintain and service available ICTs; the ministry of education should embrace ICT and demand professional documents from teacher educators be typed and sent online; colleges should not rely only on government funding but earn their own income by initiating lCT training centres to train outsiders in their colleges, and, finally, all college principals should be knowledgeable in ICTs so as to support ICT initiatives in teacher education institutions.