Accelerating learning through technology use: Are primary school teachers on the right track?

• Main Authors: Ibrahim, Amlus, Ramayah, T., Jasmine, Yeap Ai Lean
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2004
• Subjects: LB Theory and practice of education
• Online Access: http://repo.uum.edu.my/2827/1/paper6amlus.pdf; http://repo.uum.edu.my/2827/

Using a structured questionnaire, responses were elicited from teachers of English for mathematics and science for Standards 1 and 2. A total of 1766 teachers responded to the survey. The findings indicate that a majority of teachers use personal computers (PCs) to prepare exam questions, students’ biodata, entering marks, student exercises and to prepare meeting minutes. It was found that less than 47% indicated that they prepare notes for students using a PC. Most teachers have been using PC’s for more than 3 years and a few times a week with an average of 1 hour per day. Sadly, only approximately 40% have access to the Internet, out of which only 8 percent access from school. The majority of teachers have been using the Internet for less than 2 years indicating that the Internet craze is relatively new amongst them. The daily frequency used is merely less than an hour among the majority of school teachers. The extent of PC usage was relatively higher for the word processing package and other basic applications. This suggests that the needed software to execute their daily tasks is utilized, while an exploration of other packages is limited. Thus efforts should be expanded to accelerate the adoption among the teachers before an impact will be evident among the future generation.