Instructors’ patterns of Ict use and the associated factors at a public University in Ethiopia
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Date
2015-04
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Addis Ababa Univerisity
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore instructors’ patterns of ICT use in the teachinglearning
process and to examine what factors influence such patterns of ICT use. The study
was conducted at one public higher education institution in Ethiopia. The study site was
selected based on its relatively earlier adoption of ICT in the teaching-learning process. The
theoretical framework that was used in this study was a composite of three theories: Rogers’
diffusion of innovations theory, the model of teacher thought and action by Clark and
Peterson, and the theory of reasoned action. Empirical evidences from previous studies were
also used to guide this study. Exploratory research question, mixed methods research
question, and confirmatory research question, which require the application of a mixed
methods research approach, were addressed in this study. Semi-structured interview and
observation were used to collect qualitative data. The Academic Vice President,
Representative of the ICT Directorate Office and 14 instructors participated were interviewed.
Questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data. It was distributed to 300 randomly
selected instructors. Out of these, responses from 230 instructors were used for analysis.
Thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. Descriptive and multiple
regression analyses were used to analyze the quantitative data. Five categories of instructors’
patterns of ICT use in the teaching-learning process emerged from this study: ICT as a course
preparation tool, ICT as a presentation tool, ICT as an information-exchange tool, ICT as a
collaboration tool, and ICT as a cognitive tool. The study also identified variables that
influence instructors’ patterns of ICT use in the teaching-learning process. Six variables were
found to have significant contribution to explain variance in instructors’ patterns of ICT use.
These variables included instructors’ competence in ICT use, instructors’ age, instructors’
personal innovativeness in the domain of ICT, instructors’ pedagogical belief, instructorperceived
nature of course, and instructor-perceived readiness of students to use ICT in their
learning. Two major conclusions were drawn from this study: (1) Instructors’ patterns of ICT
use in the teaching-learning process fall in a continuum between use of ICT as a course
preparation tool and use of ICT as a cognitive tool; (2) Instructors’ patterns of ICT use can be
predicted by their age, competence in ICT use, pedagogical belief, level of innovativeness in
the domain of ICT, perception about nature of the course they teach in relation to ICT use,
and perception about readiness of students to use ICT in their learning. This study has made
three major contributions. One of the contributions of the study is the development of a model
that helps to illustrate instructors’ patterns of ICT use in the teaching-learning process. The
second is the development of a regression model that can be used for predicting instructor’s
patterns of ICT use. The third contribution is the development of a model that explains
variance in instructors’ patterns of ICT USE.
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Keywords
ICT, Pattern of ICT use, ICT as a cognitive tool, personal innovativeness in the domain of ICT, Pedagogical belief.