ASSIGNMENT

Barriers to the effective use of technology in education.

It is important for teachers to combine technology into the curriculum to ensure that it is being used effectively to establish new opportunities for student learning (El Semary, 2011).



Combining technology with teaching and learning can be difficult as there are many barriers that can arise. The barriers to the effective use of technology in education can be placed into two groups, teacher barriers and school barriers and these include…

Teacher barriers	School barriers
Lack of time	Lack of ICT equipment
Lack of confidence	Lack of access to equipment
Negative past experiences	Poor equipment
Fear of embarrassment	Lack of support (technical, administrative, institutional)
Classroom management difficulties	Lack of teacher training
Lack of knowledge
Negative perception of technology

(Fabry & Higgs 1997, Pelgrum 2001, Snoeyink & Ertmer 2001, Russell & Bradley 1997, Drenoyianni & Selwood 1998, VanFossen 1999,Yuen & Ma 2002, Preston et al. 2000, Veen 1993)

Lack of equipment tops the charts in terms of barriers and it has been discovered that teachers that included technology in their lessons made a number of complaints about there being a lack of equipment (Pelgrum 2001, Guha 2000).

Teachers who find ICT relevant to their subject will find it effective and the opposite will happen for teachers who find it irrelevant for their subject, teachers who think ICT will be difficult to use may be experiencing a lack of confidence, therefore attitudes towards ICT can be barriers in themselves. (Snoeyink & Ertmer 2001)

Negativity towards change hinders educators’ use of technology in the classroom. This negativity can stem from the worry of embarrassment, and the worry of being downgraded as a teacher because the usual pedagogical skills are not being used. (Larner & Timberlake 1995, Russell & Bradley 1997, Fabry & Higgs 1997)

Another barrier can be seen as the lack of access to technology, though it has been found that even if access to technology is ensured teachers are still not combining technology efficiently thus not fulfilling it’s full potential (Ertmer, 1999 et al.).

How do we overcome these barriers?




“If teachers do not have sufficient equipment, time, training, or support, meaningful integration will be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve” (Ertmer, 1999).

So to help eliminate these barriers teachers will require time to examine models of combined technology use, to be able to be reflective and hold discussions with mentors and peers, and to collaborate with others on tasks to  give them the chance to experiment with their new ideas about the integration of technology with teaching and learning. (Ertmer, 1999).

References

Drenoyianni, H. & Selwood, I. (1998), ‘Conceptions or misconceptions? Primary teachers’ perceptions and use of computers in the classroom’, Education and Information Technologies, 3, pp. 87–99. 

El Semary, H. (2011). Barriers to the Effective Use of Technology in Education: Asian Transactions on Science & Technology, Volume 01 Issue 05 page 22.

Ertmer, P. A., Addison, P., Lane, M., Ross, E., & Woods, D. (1999). Examining teachers beliefs about the role of technology in the elementary classroom. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 32(1), 54-71.

Ertmer, P. A. (1999). Addressing first- and second-order barriers to change: Strategies for technology integration. Educational Technology Research and Development, 47(4), p. 47-61

Fabry, D. & Higgs, J. (1997), ‘Barriers to the effective use of technology in education’, Journal of Educational Computing, 17 (4), pp. 385–395. 

Guha, S. (2000), ‘Are we all technically prepared? Teachers’ perspective on the causes of comfort or discomfort in using computers at elementary grade teaching’, paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Atlanta, GA, November 8–11.

Larner, D. & Timberlake, L. (1995),‘Teachers with limited computer knowledge: variables affecting use and hints to increase use’, The Curry

SchoolofEducation,UniversityofVirginia. 

Pelgrum, W. (2001), ‘Obstacles to the integration of ICT in education: results from a worldwide educational assessment’, Computers and Education, 37, pp. 163–178. 

Preston, C., Cox, M. and Cox, K. (2000), ‘Teachers as Innovators in learning: what motivates teachers to use ICT’, MirandaNet. 

Russell, G. & Bradley, G. (1997),‘Teachers’ computer anxiety: implications for professional development’, Education and Information Technologies, 2 (1), pp. 17–30. 

Snoeyink, R. & Ertmer, P. (2001),‘Thrust into technology: how veteran teachers respond’, Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 30 (1), pp. 85–111. 

Vanfossen, P. (1999),‘"Teachers would have to be crazy not to use the Internet!": secondary social studies teachers in Indiana’, paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Council for the Social Studies, Orlando, FL, November 19–21.

Veen,W. (1993),‘The role of beliefs in the use of information technology: implications for teacher education, or teaching the right thing at the right time’, Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, 2 (2), pp. 139–153.

Yuen, A. & Ma, W.(2002),‘Genderdifferencesin teachercomputeracceptance’,Journalof Technology and Teacher Education, 10 (3), pp. 365–382.