ICT Skills: Tools for Quality Teacher Development and Continuous Improvement

Enerio E. Ebisa, Ph.D.

Abstract
This study explored the Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
skills. Specifically, it determined the demographic profile of teachers and their ICT
competence which also established significant relationships among the variables.
Challenges encountered were also considered in order to strengthen teachers
development and continuous improvement with the use of technology. A quantitative
and qualitative mode of research was employed using complete enumeration with a
total of fifty three respondents. A structured teachers questionnaire on ICT was
used in data collection including guide questions for Focus Group Discussion.
Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and exploratory multiple regression analysis
were used to develop single index of variables and investigate influence on ICT
competence.
In terms of ICT knowledge and skills, most teachers were familiar with word
processor, e-mail and Internet as ICT applications yet registered generally low in their
overall ICT competence index. All demographic characteristics, except teacher rank
and grade level taught, had a statistically significant relationship with a teachers ICT
competence index. Among these demographic characteristics, number of years in the
service, age and gender exerted greater influence on the ICT competence of teachers.
In general, teachers considered time and expertise as common challenges they have
encountered in engaging with technologies. Moreover, teachers confessed that using
technologies would just slower down their pacing since no school policy existed as to
the utilization of resources.

Keywords: Information & Communication Technology, ICT skills, teacher

development & continuous improvement

Introduction

ASEAN 2015, 21st century, DCP, SBM, ICT integration, K to 12 curriculum,

among others are some of the terms each of the school heads nowadays should get
acquainted with. These broad terms are embodied in the mantras of education and
should be given preferences in order to cope up with the changing times. The drive to
integrate technology in education is the imperative concern of teachers, school heads,
and DepEd partly due to the onset of the information and communication era and
because of the need to make education relevant in the 21st century.
Todays learners are living in a highly digital environment filled with
computers and laptops, mobile phones, and the World Wide Web. Learning in the
traditional classroom setting consisting of a plain blackboard, wooden chairs, and
printed textbooks is very far from exciting compared to accessing the entertaining
virtual world of Youtube, Edmodo, Quipperschool, Facebook, among others. There is
no denying the great divide between the pupils technologically enriched life outside
school and their technologically lacking existence inside the classroom. Closing this
gap by empowering teaching and learning through technology is the crucial goal.
Technology also changes the way teachers teach, offering educators effective
ways to reach different types of learners and assess student understanding through
multiple means. It also enhances the relationship between teacher and student. When
technology is effectively integrated into subject areas, teachers grow into roles of
adviser, content expert, and coach. Technology helps make teaching and learning
more meaningful and fun (Nuez, 2010).
Cognizant to DepEds integration of technology in the curriculum, the study
desires attuning teachers pedagogies to the 21 st century. The issue is not on what the
teachers know, but what the teachers could know. With the schools available
resources as recipient of the DepEd Computerization Program and with private
sectors partnership, integration of technology is but close at hand. Notwithstanding, of
the 53 teaching personnel in the school, only 4% has engaged with it.

These equipment have equipped schools to deliver activities geared towards

the development of the children. Teachers as well are doing some innovations through
ICT use in the classrooms. However, their skills should be addressed in order that
these resources would serve its purpose. It is therefore among the thrusts of this study
to determine the ICT skills of teachers in the different software applications to gauge
the necessary ICT related-activities that can be crafted to empower teachers in using
ICT.
Specifically, the study aimed to answer these questions:

What ICT knowledge and skills do teachers possess?

Is there a significant influence of the profiles of teachers on their ICT

competence?

What are the challenges encountered by teachers relative to ICT utilization?

What teachers development and continuous improvement can be initiated

from the results of the study?

Brief Review of Literature

The investments of the government and private sectors in ICT have indeed
contributed to young Filipinos access to quality education. Using ICT tools is
fundamental in mining class topics, and in doing school assignments, research work
and other scholastic activities (Manaog, 2012).
With the onset of ICT integration, todays teachers, need to acquire new skills
that will enable them to maximize the potentials of ICT and the Internet. Basic skills
include the use of e-mail, designing lesson presentations, making grades on
spreadsheets, creating simple letters and programs, research work and even online
content development.
According to Ronda (2011), public school teachers provided with computer
laptops and basic computer skills training are using it for administrative clerical tasks,

but not to enhance their teaching. Teachers newly equipped with basic computer skills
and trained in ICT are using their new skills mostly for administrative tasks such as
preparing DepEd-required reports, calculating grades and typing lesson plans. Only a
few teachers use computers in the classroom to actually improve the learning
experience of the students in the core subjects of English, Math and Science. Another
challenge was the lack of funds for recurring costs such as for electricity use,
supply of consumables such as paper and ink, and hardware repair.
The theoretical model applied in this study is the general educational studies
on ICT, traditionally distinguish three dimensions of analysis namely:

intended;

implemented and achieved. The intended dimension refers to the learning goals or
objectives of education or ICT use in education. The implemented dimension refers to
the educational processes happening at the school level. It is usually described in
terms of the learning opportunities offered to students and depends on curricula,
educational standards, assessment and other implemented structural arrangements of
schooling. The achieved dimension refers to the learning outcomes achieved by
students as a result of their learning experiences. It is usually described in terms of the
main capabilities or other more specific qualities that students are expected to
demonstrate as a result of successful learning.
In order to get a comprehensive understanding of ICT literacy policies and
practices in specific contexts, all three dimensions should be investigated as reflected
in Figure 1. In the intended dimension, ICT literacy is both a part of policy for ICT
introduction into education and a part of general literacy policy. These two
perspectives can be used as a starting point for the analysis of ICT literacy policies. In
the implemented dimension, ICT literacy is a part of ICT development at a school.
Models of ICT development reflect approaches to the teaching and learning of ICT
literacy. Thus, they can be adapted and used for the analysis of curricula, standards,

assessment and other practical arrangements for ICT literacy enhancement. In the
achieved dimension, expected and observable students' ICT literacy capabilities and
learning experiences reveal learning outcomes. Key perspectives regarding ICT
literacy key elements and outcomes can be employed for the analysis of students' ICT
literacy learning results. Taken together, these three dimensions reveal the links
between the initial goals of ICT literacy development; teaching and learning practices
at a school and students' expected learning outcomes.

Figure 1: The main analytical dimensions and perspectives of ICT literacy

Based on the foregoing theoretical model, this study adopted the model on the
Input Output Outcome framework presented in figure 2.
On the input variables are teachers profiles which include the gender, age,
number of years in the service, rank, grade level taught, highest educational
attainment, availability of computer and internet access at home, number of
experience in using computer, access to professional development and application of
ICT in the classroom. On the other hand, application of ICT in the classroom reflects
the frequency of students use of ICT to achieve learning goals and the teachers
utility of ICT tools to some purposes.
The output variables involve the procedures in computer system such as the
ICT competence of teachers in word processing, spreadsheet, presentation tools, e

mailing, World Wide Web/internet, computer file navigation, and database. It also
includes the challenges encountered by teacher when integrating ICT. The outcome is
reckoned in terms of the results of the study which are the teachers enhancement
training program and continuous improvement on the utilization of ICT resources.
These teacher development and continuous improvement highlight the study as the
process involves training, evaluation, and assessment.
INPUT
PROFILES

OUTPUT
ICT SKILLS

CHALLENGES

OUTCOME
TEACHER
DEVELOPMENT

Figure 2. Schematic Diagram

&
CONTINUOUS
IMPROVEMENT

Methodology and Research Design

This study utilized the quantitative and qualitative modes of research. There
were fifty - three (53) teachers as participants using complete enumeration. The
instruments were blend of questionnaires taken from UNESCO (ICT Survey
Questionnaire), Department of Education and Training Western Australia (ICT
Teacher Survey), and Department of Education (ICT Inventory). Different software
applications were taken into account to gauge the ICT competence of teachers like
word processing, spreadsheet, presentations, e-mails, World Wide Web/Internet,
computer file navigation, and database. Another guide questions for FGD were crafted
in deepening teachers challenges in terms of their ICT engagement.
Descriptive statistics were used to describe and summarize the properties of
the mass of data collected. A general linear model was utilized to analyze the effects
of the variables taken simple on the ICT competence. The principal components
analysis was used to obtain a single numerical index for ICT competence of each
teacher. The PCA results show that the first eigenvector or principal component

represents 67.9% of the total variance. This is sufficient to represent all variables that
measure the ICT competence.

Results and Discussions

Table 1. Teachers Usage of ICT Applications (N=53)
Application
Frequency
Percent
Word Processor
47
89.0
Email
41
77.0
World Wide Web / Internet
39
74.0
Spreadsheets
35
66.0
Presentations
32
50.0
Computer File Navigation
27
51.0
Database
15
28.0
Table 1 indicates that most teachers used word processor, e-mail and Internet
as ICT applications. Only 28% of teachers had ever used database. The result
indicated insufficient knowledge of teachers on database maybe because they were
not oriented on the use of the software in acquiring knowledge. The result is in
agreement with those of Cuckle et al. (2000) and Jegede et. al. (2007) who found
teachers to be most competent in word processing compared to other applications.
Moreover, teachers used word processor in making hand outs, test papers and the
likes while Internet and e-mail were among the most common software applications
they used in acquiring supporting data in teaching.
Table 2. Five-Number Summaries of the Teachers ICT Knowledge and Skills
Application

Minimum

Word processor
Spreadsheets
Presentations
Email
World Wide Web/Internet
Computer file navigation
Database
ICT competence index

1.0
0
1.0
0
0
0
0
0

First
Quartile
7.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
6.54

Median
13.0
2.0
6.0
3.0
3.0
1.0
1.0
11.14

Third
Quartile
16.0
6.3
13.0
6.0
6.0
4.0
1.0
17.76

Maximum
16.0
14.0
21.0
9.0
10.0
11.0
10.0
32.18

The distribution of the extent of ICT knowledge and skills of teachers as

reflected by its five-number summary are shown in Table 6. The results show that
most teachers were familiar with word processor since the median score (13.0) is
closer to third quartile score (16.0) than the first quartile score (16.0) and the third
quartile and the maximum scores are the same. This result is somewhat consistent
with the study of Genc (2011) when she found out that the most common uses of ICT
include word processing, PowerPoint, the Internet, and educational software. The
figures of other applications suggest that the distribution of teachers ICT knowledge
and skills is skewed to the right. This implies that most teachers had low ICT skills
and knowledge in spreadsheets, presentations, e-mail, Internet, computer file
navigation, and database.
The overall ICT competence index of teachers show that they had generally
low ICT competence since the median score (11.14) is closer to the first quartile score
(6.54) than the third quartile score (17.76). The limited ICT training to teachers
contributed to the low competence of teachers. This indicates that teachers do not
have enough orientation on the different benefits of ICT that can be of used in the
classroom setting.
Table 3. Level of ICT Competence of Teachers
Low
(<4.83)
ICT Competence

*Median

f
9

Median Absolute Deviation=11.14

%
16.0

ICT Competence Level*

Average
(4.8317.45)
f
%
31
58.0

High
(>17.45)
f
13

6.31

To aid in the description of the wide range of skills and knowledge of teachers,
the ICT competence index has been divided into three broad groups, as shown in
Table 3. Sixteen percent of teachers had low ICT competence index, approximately
58% had average ICT competence and the remaining percent had high index.

%
25.0

Table 4. Influence of the Demographic Factor on ICT Competence

Variable
Gender
Age
Teacher rank
Number of years in the
service
Grade level taught
Educational level
Availability of computer at
home
Availability of internet
access at home

Coefficient
-9.22
-3.00
-.14
-3.25

R-square
.338
.433
.019
.457

F-value
40.80
73.11
.109
83.73

p-value
<.001
<.001
.741
<.001

1.12
4.21
3.74

.076
.186
.174

1.42
11.35
9.94

.235
.001
.002

2.87

.180

10.67

.001

All demographic characteristics, except teacher rank and grade level taught,
had a statistically significant relationship with teachers ICT competence index. Males
were more likely to have higher ICT competence scores than females. ICT
competence scores decrease as teachers age increases. ICT competence scores
decrease as the duration a teacher has taught in a school increases. This is not
surprising due to the relationship between age and teaching experience. Teachers with
advanced degrees had higher ICT competence scores than those with only bachelors
degree. Teachers with computer and Internet access at home were more likely to have
higher ICT competence scores than those without such.
Among these demographic characteristics, number of years in the service, age
and gender exerted greater influence on the ICT competence of teachers than the other
characteristics as indicated by the high R-square values. In general, teachers
considered time and expertise as common challenges they have encountered in
engaging with technologies. Several mentioned that they were bombarded with their
subject loadings and using technologies in teaching would just slower down their
pacing. Others responded that no such school policy existed as to ICT integration and
teachers were not encouraged to use the available resources in school.
Conclusions

This study investigated teachers profiles, ICT skills, challenges, and the
relationship of their profiles to competence. Teachers computer knowledge and
experience are especially important for effective usage of ICT in their classroom. The
results of the study showed that (84.6%) of teachers owned computers and they had
high levels of computer access, especially at their homes. Computer access in
classrooms is important for the successful adoption of computers in using
instructional purposes (Tella et al, 2007). If teachers are aware of computer
technologies and have opportunity to access computers, their level of using
technology in the learning areas might increase.
Teachers reported that only few of them attended ICT-related trainings. It is
the responsibility of administration to provide school with a social environment that
includes these attributes of innovations. The findings revealed the need for training in
the utilization of technology since teachers have resources in the school.
The study showed that most teachers were familiar with word processor. This
implies that most teachers had low ICT skills and knowledge in spreadsheets,
presentations, e-mail, Internet, computer file navigation, and database giving a low
ICT competence index of teachers in general. All demographic characteristics, except
teacher rank and grade level taught, had a statistically significant relationship with a
teachers ICT competence index. The use of ICT in the classroom and service rooms
should be strengthened so that available resources in the school will serve its purpose
for enhancing instruction thus would generate teachers continuous improvement.
Using ICT in education should not be understood as using it as a tool to
transfer instructional material and rehearsal but as a medium for learning, discovering,
sharing and creating knowledge. However, the infrastructure issues are given more
importance than in improving learning and teaching (Becta, 2008) and often
investment is done in the latest technologies without considering the target groups
needs and interests (Albirini, 2006). For this to be realized the teachers must be

supported with instructional materials and teaching models. Finally, further researches
that specifically use qualitative methods are needed to validate and elaborate
quantitative findings.
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