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Teachers and ICTMarket Research

Greg Black

CEO, education.au

Objectives of the Research

• Identify the user needs of educators• Identify which sources educators currently

access to utilise the services they require• Ascertain the preferred methods of delivery of

these services• Determine the level of awareness of

education.au and the services it provides and the satisfaction levels of those who use them

• Determine how the services provided by education.au could be improved

Methodology

• The qualitative research was conducted in Adelaide, Melbourne and Murray Bridge in October 2007.

• The quantitative research was conducted via an online survey which was hosted by McGregor Tan Research February to May 2008 with 1127 respondents

Limitations

• Some bias towards educators already comfortable with technology

• Under-representation of independent schools and secondary teachers

• Over-representation of VET practitioners

Research Findings

Current use of computers, Internet, on-line services:

• widespread among all groups – most had computers at homes

• 85% used computers daily in their work

Research Findings• virtually no practical help provided to learn

how to use computers, Internet or how to search effectively

• biggest complaint: we don’t have time to master the systems – time is the biggest barrier

• most rely on Google - a high number use Wikipedia as starting point

Research FindingsReasons for going on-line:

• Research, basic administration, communication etc

• to encourage students to use Internet for research in class – but this is subject to provision/availability of computers

• mostly for project work and assignments (software to check for plagiarism)

• teachers use Internet to plan projects and prepare lessons – to get ideas

Research Findings

• problem for many is that many sites are blocked on school and TAFE computers – can be a problem in some subject areas

• teachers also use it for professional development• some uni lectures delivered on-line to off-shore clients

– on-line tutorials• VET and university lecturers live a part-time transitory

life between home and place of work – limited personal inter-action

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

% of respondents

Research (e.g. subject or discipline, education policy)

Finding learning resources for your students

Professional development

Interacting with colleagues

Teaching and communications with students

Administration (e.g. assessment, reporting)

Other 5%

54%

55%

61%

64%

80%

83%

MTR (Ref: 8163)

Q9. For what professional purposes do you mainly use the internet?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

% of respondents

Poor infrastructure, bandwidth, equipment reliability, accessibility of logins or permissions

Blocking/ filtering of Internet content

Limited access to computers or internet connection

Limited confidence or expertise in the use of computer technologies or software

Lack of relevant resources on the Internet

Other

None 22%

7%

12%

20%

21%

40%

41%

MTR (Ref: 8163)

Q10. What barriers do you experience in using online technologies for teaching and learning?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

% of respondents

Proficient - confident in use of ICT to support learning outcomes

Transforming practice - new ways of engaing students within and beyond the classroom/ learning environment

Emergent - using ICT to support teaching and learning

Foundation - developing my ICT skills

Not applicable for my role 7%

7%

24%

27%

36%

MTR (Ref: 8163)

Q13. Which of the following statements best describes your current use of information and communicationstechnologies (ICT) in your current work or teaching practice?

Summary• It was very apparent that a considerable number

of participants lacked confidence in using modern technology, and many said they did not know how to search, other than to Google.

• This ties in with the feeling expressed by participants that it takes too long to find what they want on the Internet.

• They added that, with teachers under constant pressure, they did not have the time to properly learn how to use the Internet.

Summary

• Problems with access bandwidth and related infrastructure need to be addressed

• Blocking of access to web based services is a serious concern

• More investment is needed in assisting teachers to embed technology in their teaching

• More effort is needed by education.au to inform educators about edna and myfuture.