Effects of Demographic Characteristics, Educational Background, and Supporting Factors on ICT Readiness of Technical and Vocational Teachers in Malaysia PDF

International Education Studies; Vol. 5, No. 6; 2012 ISSN 1913-9020 E-ISSN 1913-9039 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education Effects of...

International Education Studies; Vol. 5, No. 6; 2012 ISSN 1913-9020 E-ISSN 1913-9039 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education Effects of Demographic Characteristics, Educational Background, and Supporting Factors on ICT Readiness of Technical and Vocational Teachers in Malaysia Abu-Obaideh Alazzam1, Ab Rahim Bakar1, Ramlah Hamzah1 & Asimiran, S.1 1 Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia Correspondence: Ab Rahim Bakar, Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia. E-mail: [email protected] Received: September 21, 2012 Accepted: October 11, 2012 Online Published: October 16, 2012 doi:10.5539/ies.v5n6p229 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v5n6p229 Abstract The aim of this study was to examine ICT readiness and the effects of demographic characteristics, educational background, and support factors on the ICT readiness of technical and vocational teachers in Malaysia. The questionnaire was administered to 329 technical and vocational teachers who are teaching engineering subjects in Malaysian technical and vocational schools. The questionnaire consisted of items related to ICT knowledge, ICT skills, and attitudes toward ICT. The findings in this study indicated that the teachers’ ICT knowledge was above average, the teachers’ ICT skills were at a moderate level, and their attitudes toward ICT were positive. There was a significant effect of gender on teachers’ ICT readiness in terms of ICT knowledge, ICT skills, and attitudes. No significant effect of teachers’ educational background and support factors on teachers’ overall ICT readiness was discovered. Keywords: ICT readiness, technical and vocational teachers, ICT knowledge, ICT skills, attitudes toward ICT, ICT integration in classroom 1. Introduction Integrating information and communication technology (ICT) in education is an important agenda of all countries because in the world with rapid changes occurring every now and then, no one country is willing to be left out. In fact, ICT is the tool for rapid advancement in the 21st century. Through ICT every part of the world is connected. Thus, the citizens of each country should acquire ICT skills and knowledge to be able to go through the ever changing world. As a result of the explosion of ICT, the world is the classroom and the world exists in the classroom. Students are easily connected to the rest of the world and information is easily accessible with a click of a mouse. Thus, teaching approaches need to be changed and the role of teachers need to be changed too. The classroom itself needs changes to cater for the new way of learning and teaching. It is the vision of Malaysia to be a fully developed country by 2020 and as such Malaysia needs high quality and high skill human capital. Technical and vocational education is one of the avenues that was explored to ensure high skill workforce is produced in Malaysia. As such, technical and vocational education need to bring innovation into teaching in ensuring that its product is capable of making changes to the world of work. One of such innovations is the integration of ICT in the delivery of knowledge and skills to students. The integration of ICT in teaching has been implemented years ago in all areas of education including technical and vocational education. Numerous studies show the importance of the ICT integration into TVE. For example, Moreno, Helenius, and Jarmo (2001) noticed that by the incorporation of ICTs into the TVE programs, schools can be provide good opportunities for students to communicate with the world of work not just outside the school but also around the world. In fact, the integration of ICT in TVE programs enables students and teachers to explore the world of work with ease thereby, makes teaching and learning more meaningful. In the world full of sophistication and connectivity, no one person should be working in silo. The integration of ICT in the classroom enables both teachers and students to connect to the rest of the work with ease. To enable the integration of ICT to be successful, teachers should be equipped with knowledge and skills and importantly, teachers should have the 229 www.ccsenet.org/ies International Education Studies Vol. 5, No. 6; 2012 right attitudes. According to Kumar, Rose, and D’Silva, (2008), the teachers’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward the ICTs are absolutely necessary as they play a significant role during the process of teaching. 1.1 Research Problem Various studies have been conducted related to ICT readiness in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes among the teachers in this country (examples: Paryono & Quito, 2010; Sukri, 2010; Mahmud & Ismail, 2010; Ngah & Masood, 2006; Wahab & Kaur, 2006; Mustapha, 2000; Bakar & Mohamed, 1998). It should be noted that these studies are used to assess the teachers’ basic knowledge and skills about ICT on the presumption that any teacher of any subject would acquire them. However, such types of knowledge and skills are not enough for teachers who are teaching technical and vocational subjects that are specifically related to engineering subjects, as they require different knowledge and skills about ICT, because different situations will call for different technologies as well as different knowledge and skills. Teachers of TVE program need to have different types of ICT skills that are related to courses they teach. TVE teachers must incorporate ICT efficaciously in classrooms; thus, it is of utmost importance to look at teachers’ readiness in terms of their ICT knowledge and skills related to TVE, and attitudes toward the integration of ICT in teaching. 1.2 Objectives of the Study This study attempted to achieve the following objectives: 1) To identify the ICT readiness in terms of ICT knowledge, ICT skills, and attitudes toward ICT among technical and vocational teachers in Malaysia and 2) To determine whether TVE teachers’ ICT readiness is a function of : (a) demographic characteristics (gender, age, and years of teaching experience) (b) educational background (level of qualification, type of ICT training) (c) supporting factors (administrative support, ICT availability). 2. Review of Literature ICT across the education system became very important for most nations; for this reason, ICT has been related to educational purposes during the past two decades, and there has been an increase in research and publication in this area. Previous studies have noted a solidarity in the importance of using ICT in technical and vocational education and specifically in the engineering subjects area (Abdulrasool & Mishra, 2009; Alseddiqi, Mishra & Abdulrasool, 2009; Jamsek & Kocijancis, 2007); these studies indicated that ICT tools could to be used for engineering subjects in technical and vocational schools are: computer-aided drawing and design (CAD), AutoCAD software, simulation products, animation, and multimedia. Although, the integration or the use of ICT in teaching and learning process benefits both students and teachers, its implementation is dependent on teachers readiness in order to be successful. Inan and Lowther (2009) defined teachers’ readiness as teachers’ perceptions of their capabilities and skills required to integrate technology into their classroom instruction, and teachers’ readiness to integrate technology is the most important factor that has a direct impact on technology integration. Carl (2005) stated that the readiness with regard to teaching with technology refers to the ability to demonstrate an understanding of what tools and skills are necessary to integrate technology into teaching. Three aspects of the ICT readiness among teachers (basic ICT knowledge, skills, and attitudes) are worth investigation. A review of the literature (Agyei & Voogt, 2011; Mahmud & Ismail, 2010; Chen, 2008; Levin & Wadmany, 2008; Lau & Sim, 2008; Valcke, et. al. 2007; Tella, et. al. 2007; Hennessy, et. al. 2005; Bebell, et. al 2004; Vannatta & Fordham, 2004; Mustapha, 2000; Bakar & Mohmad, 1998) showed that the integration of ICT in teaching among teachers may not be successful due to reasons such as: the lack of knowledge, lack of skills, lack of teaching experience, lack of ICT availability, lack of training, and lack of administration support. Teachers’ readiness in this study is measured in terms of ICT knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Knowledge and skills are measured based on the Adaptive Control of Thought (ACT) theory, which was proposed by Anderson (1983) through the integration of declarative knowledge into functional units that incorporate domain-specific strategies. It is measured in a form of the teachers’ level of knowledge about system hardware, software, and the Internet. In terms of ICT skills, Anderson (1983) claimed that the skills are a series of procedures related to declarative knowledge. Hence, the following skills in this study refer to the skills on software packages, programming languages, and World Wide Web. The attitudes are measured by the Technology and Acceptance Model (TAM) introduced by (Davis, et. al. 1989). Fundamentally, the attitude is a disposition to respond either 230 www.ccsenet.org/ies International Education Studies Vol. 5, No. 6; 2012 favorably or unfavorably to an object, person, institution, or event (Ajzen, 1988). The disposition may be either a positive or a negative one: Usefulness, confidence, anxiety, and aversion are dimensions of attitudes. 3. Methodology A quantitative survey method was used to determine the ICT readiness among Malaysian technical and vocational teachers. The population of this study was 1666 technical and vocational schools teachers who are teaching engineering subjects in 81 technical and vocational schools in Malaysia in 2011. The sample size for a population of 1666 teachers was 329 teachers selected using a cluster random sampling procedure. 3.1 Instrumentation The instrument comprised four parts—A, B, C, and D—as follows: Part A contains questions about teachers’ demographic variables (gender, age, teaching experience, level of qualification, and type of training) and support factors (ICT availability and administrative support). Parts B and C contain questions related to teachers’ ICT knowledge and skills. Questions related to teachers’ ICT knowledge and skills were developed based on books (1) Understanding Computers Today and Tomorrow by Morley & Parker (2009); (2) Computer Graphics by Sourin (2005); (3) Computer Education for Classroom Teaching by Fook, Sidhu, Baba & Parman (2007); (4) Principles of Multimedia by Parekh (2006); (5) Engineering Drawing and Design by Madsen, Madsen P & Turpin (2007); (6) AutoCAD 2009 in 3D, A modern perspective by Puerta (2009); (7) A Guide to Programming Languages by Cezzar (1995); and (8) Foundations of Programming Languages by Roosta (2003). These were in addition to the instruments that were adopted by (Evaluation and Accountability, Department of Education and Training, Western Australia, 2006; & Jawarneh, EL-Hersh & Khazaleh, 2007). Teachers’ ICT knowledge was assessed using 14 questions. Respondents were required to answer YES or NO to questions related to system software, hardware, Internet, and the Web. Every correct response was given a score of one and every incorrect response was given a score of zero. Teachers’ ICT skills are scored based on a five points Likert scale (unskillful, less skillful, moderately skillful, skillful, and very skillful). Questions were related to software packages that include Microsoft Excel, digital video, animation, simulation, AutoCAD, and CAD), programming languages, and World Wide Web. Part D contains 23 items from instruments adopted by (Wong, 2002 & Cavaz, et. al. 2009) that explore teachers’ attitudes toward information and communication technology. The 23 items asses the usefulness, confidence, anxiety, and aversion. Teachers’ attitudes were scored based on five-point Likert scale, ranging from (strongly agree = 5, agree = 4, moderately agree = 3, disagree = 2, strongly disagree = 1). For negative items, the scoring was reversed (strongly disagree = 5, disagree = 4, moderately agree = 3, agree=2, strongly agree =1). The instrument of this study was validated by a panel of experts in the field. The internal consistency reliability for the instrument was estimated using Cronbach alpha coefficient. The reliability of the items was established at.85 for the ICT knowledge items; 0.97 for ICT skills items, and 0.86 for attitude items (Appendix A, B, and C). 4. Findings A total of 329 teachers participated in this study. Almost 63% of them were male teachers and the other 37% were female teachers. They were between 27 and 57 years old and more than one-third (37.1%) were between the age of 42 to 49 years old. With regard to teaching experience, about 32% have been in the teaching profession for less than 10 years, approximately 31% were between 11 and 18 years and about 11% had been in the teaching profession between 27 and 34 years. The respondents were asked if they attended any ICT related courses. Forty-one per cent of them indicated that they have attended ICT basic course. A little bit more than 39% attended courses related to world-wide-web design, multimedia, and programming. Ten per cent of the respondents attended courses related to ICT integration in teaching and learning and 9.7% of the respondents never attended any ICT related training. The success of ICT integration in teaching and learning process is very much dependent on the administrative support and the availability of the ICT facilities. The majority (75%) of the respondents indicated that they have the support from the administration in the integration of ICT in teaching. With regard to the ICT facilities, 62.9% of the respondents felt that there was highly adequate ICT facilities in their schools, 27.7% thought that the ICT facilities in their schools were adequate and 9.4% thought that ICT facilities in their schools were inadequate. 4.1 ICT Readiness among Technical and Vocational Teachers Descriptive analysis was used to describe the level of ICT knowledge among technical and vocational teachers. Teachers’ ICT knowledge was assessed using 14 questions. Every correct answer was given a score of one and 231 www.ccsenet.org/ies International Education Studies Vol. 5, No. 6; 2012 every incorrect answer was given a score of zero. Table 1 depicts the frequencies and percentages of respondents who answered the questions correctly. Question number 5 was answered correctly by majority of the respondents (287, 87.2%), and question number 7 was answered least correctly by the respondents (171, 52.0%). Table 1. Frequencies and percentages of respondents who gave correct answers to the questions (N = 329) ICT knowledge F Percentage (%) JPEG file format for graphics is considerably more appropriate than GIF for use 246 74.8 as a WWW standard photo format. A Plotter is an advanced computer game. 227 69.0 The Wireless Electronic Tablet allows the teacher to stand at the back of the 215 65.3 room and control a presentation. MATLAB is a convenient environment for simulation. 205 62.3 CAD drawings may be either two dimensional (2D) or three dimensional (3D). 287 87.2 Use MATLAB to create simulation for engineering because of a shorter and 200 60.8 simpler code than other programming languages. The maple worksheet is a computer printing vector graphics and is primarily 171 52.0 used in technical drawings and CAD applications. The Document Camera will enable you to display real engineering materials 208 63.2 and the components. Web-based multimedia refers to sound, video, or animation, text, and images 259 78.7 located on Web pages. Plug-in or helper application is used to provide a sense of motion and touch to 204 62.0 the user motion simulator. Some of the multimedia on the Web is developed in Java. 233 70.8 Macromedia flash is a time sequence of changes of colors. 209 63.5 XHTML is an older version of HTML. 195 59.3 Java is a programming language that is specifically designed for use on the 254 77.2 Internet. Teachers’ ICT knowledge ranged from 0 to 14. The mean score was 9.46 (SD. = 3.17). Their ICT knowledge was divided into three categories (less knowledge, moderate knowledge, and high knowledge). As shown in Table 2, 12% of the TVE teachers was categorized as having little knowledge, 78.1% was categorized has having moderate knowledge of ICT, and 19.6% was categorized as having high knowledge of ICT. Table 2. Level of ICT knowledge among TVE teachers Range of scores Level of knowledge Percentage Less than 6.0 Low 12.8 6 to 12.63 Medium 78.1 More than 12.63 High 19.6% Seven types of ICT skills among TVE teachers were assessed (Table 3). The ICT skills among technical and vocational teachers was found to be at a moderate level (Mean = 2.42, S.D. = 0.64). Among the seven skills that were assessed, it was found that respondents possess the highest skills in AutoCAD Software (Mean = 3.25, SD. = 1.07). They have the lowest skills in Simulation (mean = 1.77, SD. = 0.77). Teachers ICT skills related to the World Wide Web was also moderate (Mean= 2.75, S.D. = 0.81), They were moderately skilful (Mean = 2.62, S.D. = 1.02) in Computer-Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) and Microsoft Excel (Mean = 2.48, S.D. = 0.83). They were less skilful in Digital Video and Animation (Mean = 2.27, S.D. = 0.83), Programming Languages (Mean = 1.83, S.D. = 0.72), and Simulation (Mean = 1.77, S.D. = 0.77). For Microsoft Excel related skills, the highest mean score was 2.82 (S. D. = 0.95). The skill was related to “using lookup and information functions in Excel.” For skills related to digital video and animation, the highest mean score was 2.88 (S.D. = 1.10). It is a skill on creating animation in Power-Point. For skills related to simulations, the highest mean 1.85 (S.D. = 0.90). It is a skill about “Entering a design for simulation with Pspice software”. For AutoCAD related skills, the highest mean was 3.48 (S.D. =1.12). It is a skill about “Drawing lines, polylines, 232 www.ccsenet.org/ies International Education Studies Vol. 5, No. 6; 2012 rectangles, circles, and arcs.” For skills related to Computer-Aided Design and Drafting (CADD), the highest mean score was 2.77 (S.D. = 1.13). It is a skill about “Creating a new drawing and a wireframe and solid model.” For skills related to programming languages, the highest mean was 1.97 (S.D. = 0.86). It is a skill about “Parameter entry in Java language.” For skills related to the World Wide Web, the highest mean was 3.36 (S.D. = 1.04). It is a skill about “sending a data file from your computer to other co-workers”. A detailed description about respondents’ ICT skills is in Appendix B. Teachers ICT skills related to the World Wide Web was also moderate (Mean= 2.75, S.D. = 0.81), They were moderately skilful (Mean = 2.62, S.D. = 1.02) in Computer-Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) and Microsoft Excel (Mean = 2.48, S.D. = 0.83). They were less skilful in Digital Video and Animation (Mean = 2.27, S.D. = 0.83) and skills of Programming Languages (Mean = 1.83, S.D. = 0.72), and of Simulation (Mean = 1.77, S.D. = 0.77). Table 3. Means and standard deviations for ICT skills (N = 329) ICT Skills Mean S.D. Microsoft Excel 2.48 0.83 Digital Video and Animation 2.27 0.83 Simulation 1.77 0.77 AutoCAD Software 3.25 1.07 Computer-Aided Design and Drafting 2.62 1.02 Programming Languages 1.83 0.72 World Wide Web 2.75 0.81 Total 2.42 0.64 As shown in Table 4, the attitudes toward ICT in terms of four dimensions (usefulness, confidence, anxiety, and aversion) among technical and vocational teachers was highly positive (Mean = 4.06, S.D. = 0.44). The result indicated that technical and vocational teachers found ICT in the classroom very useful in improving their teaching, and the mean for usefulness domain was at (Mean = 3.79, S.D. = 0.59). The result also indicated that the teachers had great confidence in ICT, and the mean for the confidence domain was at (Mean = 4.02, S.D. = 0.51). These findings outlined the means and standard deviations of items in attitudes (Appendix C). The highest mean of item answered by respondents for attitudes in terms of usefulness was item 1 (M = 3.86, S.D. = 0.70). It states, “The use of electronic mail, Facebook, Twitter and Skype make it easier to communicate with my students.” In terms of confidence, the highest mean score was for item 10 (M = 4.25, S.D. = 0.68). It states, “Using ICT in teaching gives me a headache.” For attitudes in terms of anxiety, the highest mean of item answered by respondents was item number 13 (M= 4.27, S.D. = 0.62). It states, “Using ICT in classroom frustrates me.” For attitudes in terms of aversion, the highest mean score was for item 22 (M = 4.36, S.D. = 0.62). It states, “Using ICT for teaching wastes time.” For anxiety and aversion domains, the means were 4.21 (S.D. = 0.57) and 4.24 (S.D. = 0.61), respectively. Based on these scores, it showed that technical and vocational teachers had low anxiety and aversion toward ICT. Moreover, it can also be observed that the teachers are exhibiting the tendency of usefulness and felt comfortable with ICT. Table 4. Means and standard deviations of four dimensions of attitudes among technical and vocational teachers in Malaysia (N = 329) Dimensions of Attitudes Mean S.D. Usefulness 3.79 0.59 Confidence 4.02 0.51 Anxiety 4.21 0.57 Aversion 4.24 0.61 Total 4.06 0.44 233 www.ccsenet.org/ies International Education Studies Vol. 5, No. 6; 2012 4.2 Teachers’ ICT Readiness as a Function of Their Demographic Characteristics Table 5 presented the effect of demographic characteristics (gender, age, and teaching experience) on ICT readiness in terms of (ICT knowledge, skills, and attitudes) among technical and vocational teachers in Malaysia. Pillai’s Trace test indicated that there were no significant age and teaching experience effects on teachers’ overall ICT readiness (p = 0.92, and 0.25, respectively). Table 5. MANOVA of demographic characteristics on ICT readiness among technical and vocational teachers in Malaysia (N = 329) Effect Pillai’s Trace value F Sig Gender