ABSTRACT
The introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Senior High Schools has been recognized as a medium of revolutionizing the teaching and learning process. This ideology has led to the introduction of computers and internet access in some Senior High Schools in Ghana. This research reports on a study conducted to investigate the use of ICT for teaching and learning in Senior High Schools in Ghana specifically, Nungua Senior High School and Presbyterian Senior High School, Teshie. The study focused on the availability of ICT infrastructure in both schools, the perception of teachers and students on the use of ICT tools as well as the computer literacy skills of teachers and students. The survey research method was adopted for the study. The sample size used was 342, made up of 138 teachers and 204 students. Questionnaires were the main instrument used to obtain information from the respondents. The results revealed that majority of the students and teachers did not use ICTs during normal classes. They only had access to computers during ICT lessons. They also lacked access to functional computers for private studies, training, and recreation. The researcher concluded that the students and teachers could not confidently and creatively use ICT for teaching and learning. It was recommended among others that the schools extend ICT application to other subjects. The research identified some current knowledge gaps pertaining to the barriers and strategies of technology integration, and offers pertinent recommendations for future research. These results are of particular importance to policy makers and school leaders and shed light on the process of ICT integration into teaching and learning in Senior High Schools in Ghana.
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The sudden rise in Information and Communication Technology has introduced a phenomenal change in contemporary society which has affected the demands of present-day civilization. It is an undisputable claim that Information and Communication Technologies play a crucial role in the advancement of every country these days. “The importance of technology to modern concepts such as e-commerce, teleconferencing, e-governance, and telecommunication have all arisen as a result of the application of technology in almost every aspect of human activity” (Amoaful, 2011). Countries all over the world, including Ghana have identified the pivotal role ICT plays in all aspects of human endeavour of which education forms a part. To counter the industrial and societal development, individual nations are drafting programs and guidelines that integrate the application of ICT or computer technologies into education. Several nations have set up national policies that show a synopsis of how ICT should be implemented to improve the educational system in the various countries (Komza, 2003).
There is therefore an increasing demand on educational establishments to apply ICTs in teaching and learning and to equip students for the modern day job market. In education, the application of computer technologies can improve teaching and learning and several studies have confirmed this assertion. As posited by Fathima (2013), the use of ICT in learning environment can bring about a rapid change in the student‘s performance. The ideology that ICT can for a fact improve educating and learning has compelled the Government of Ghana to draft guidelines geared towards the integration of ICT in education. Having noticed the impact of ICT on education towards national development, the Government in 2007 introduced a new educational reform
which stressed on the requirement for more significance on ICT and education. This prompted the incorporation of ICT in both the Basic and Secondary School’s educational module where the subject is presently an examinable one.
The essential capacity of most instructive approaches is to furnish institutions with the needed accoutrements such as computers, information and communication related technologies, and to a lesser degree, the expert improvement of educators (Jones, 2003; Owston, 2007).
Education is at the core of every developing and developed nation. It has contributed immensely to the increase in development of knowledge and providing a conducive atmosphere for advancement and in building human capital needed for a possible development in the economy. ICT is considered a basic tool in equipping and teaching students with the required abilities for the worldwide work place. Amoaful (2011) posits that we are now living in a world of revolution. This revolution is termed the computer revolution or information revolution in history books. In this revolution, the computer is the agent transforming the way people do research, business as well as teaching and learning. Opoku, Badu, & Alupo (2016) noted that the rate at which ICT is developing and its impact on socio-economic activities cannot be overemphasized. According to him, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) expressed that ICT has been characterized to incorporate the full scope of electronic advancements and strategies used to manage information and innovations. Notwithstanding all the benefits ICT has got to offer, the system is fraught with challenges and one of the major problems associated with the integration of ICT in an academic environment is the inadequacy of ICT infrastructure to improve teaching and learning. Other challenges against the use of ICT by students and teachers are the lack of requisite skills necessary to operate computers and ICT gadgets in education. Similar studies have also indicated that, such barriers include network
problems, user unfriendly programs and inadequate access to the internet contribute to the disadvantages of ICT integration in education.
NUNGUA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Nungua Senior High School is situated in the heart of the Nungua Township along the Accra- Tema beach road. It was founded in the year 1958 by Nii Daniel Quaye Tawiah, a native of Nungua, known in private life as Nii Quaye Nungua. In 1960, the government of Ghana absorbed it as a public secondary school. The school is within the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Assembly and is mandated to formulate policies and programs in line with the Ghana Education Service Act 1995 which regulate pre-tertiary education. The school currently has a staff strength of one hundred and seven (107) out of which seventy-three (73) are teaching staff. The total student population from form one to form three is one thousand, six hundred and ninety-seven (1697) out of which seven hundred and ninety (790) are males and nine hundred and seven (907) are females. The school has a well-furnished ICT laboratory with three professional ICT teachers assisted by two National Service personnel. In the year 2013, the government of Ghana under the Better Ghana Agenda ICT project donated fifty (50) MGS-ONE Netbook computers to the school to enhance the integration of ICT in the school’s curricular. (Source: Five Year Strategic Development Plan (2016-2020), Nungua Senior High Scool).
PRESBYTERIAN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, TESHIE.
Presbyterian Senior High School, Teshie was established by the Old Boys and Girls Association (AGABOT) in 1981. The school used to be Teshie Middle Boys‘ Boarding School and through the hard work of some of the Old Boys such as Dr. T.A. Osae, Mr. J.M Akita, Mr. E.M Boye, and Dr. E.A. Kwei, the school was converted to a secondary school in 1984 and was absorbed by the Ghana Education Service, and became a Government Assisted Secondary School. The School currently offers five programs namely; General Arts, Visual Arts, Business, Home
Economics and General Science. The student population stands at one thousand six hundred and fifty (1650). The staff population which is made up of teaching and non-teaching staff also stands at one hundred and thirteen. The school is under the Ledzokuku-Krowor Educational Circuit of the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Assembly. The Ledzokuku-Krowor Educational Circuit is under the jurisdiction of the Ghana Education Service.
The Ghana Education Service is in charge of the co-ordination of the authorized national policies and projects relating to pre-tertiary education which originates from the Ministry of Education. The overall objective of the Ministry is to give relevant and quality education for all Ghanaians which will enable them obtain the competence that will make them practically literate and productive in order to mitigate poverty and advance the fast financial development of the nation. In line with the new educational reform of 2007, ICT was integrated into the Ghana Education Curricula in 2010.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The introduction of ICT as an essential instructive standard, standout amongst the most powerful developmental strategies in this era of revolution (Aviram and Tami, 2004) and portrays an emitting worldview originating from a desire to better equip people for life after school. The rate of ICT revolution has caused an exceptional and accelerated advancement in the method of teaching and learning, impacting ways students and teachers engage in the instructive framework. These advances remain a crucial aspect of teaching and learning at all levels of education in our Ghana. The Ghana Education Service has made some attempts at attaining the objective of enhancing the nature of education through the use of ICT with the help of some
policies and adaptation of ICT as an examinable subject. Programmes such as the two month training for ICT teachers which was held at Academic City University College, Circle-Accra were organized by the Greater Accra Regional Director of Education in collaboration with Academic City University College in August, 2017. The training was aimed at improving teachers‘ knowledge in the use of ICT tools and in turn impact it onto students. In spite of every one of these ventures on ICT infrastructure, equipment and expert advancement to enhance teaching in Ghana, it is evident that potential for ICT to help students’ learning has not been achieved. Therefore the inadequacy of ICT tools in second cycle institutions, lack of the requisite skills on the part of the teachers as well as lack of interest on the part of most teachers in the use of ICT tools have led to this study. This study seeks to investigate teachers and students’ perceived usefulness and ease of use of ICT in teaching and learning, to identify possible challenges in ICT integration in teaching and learning and to come up with solutions to enhance effective and efficient use of ICT to enhance teaching and learning to improve secondary education.
THE PURPOSE/AIM OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of ICT as a tool for teaching and learning in Nungua Senior High School and Presbyterian Senior High School, Teshie.
OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH
- To determine the availability of ICT infrastructure for teaching and learning in Nungua Senior High School and Presbyterian Senior High School, Teshie.
- To investigate the computer literacy skills of students and teachers of both Nungua Senior High School and Presbyterian Senior High School, Teshie.
- To find out the perception of teachers and students on the use of ICT tool for teaching and learning in Nungua Senior High School and Presbyterian Senior High School, Teshie.
- To determine the level of awareness and usage of some selected computer applications and programs available to students of Nungua Senior High School and Presbyterian Senior High School, Teshie.
- To assess the challenges related with the use of ICT.
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE OR CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The theoretical framework of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) developed by Mishra and Koehler (2006), was adopted for this study. The theory developed as a generally established framework to give interpretation of teachers’ task in using ICTs for teaching (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). It is a theory that emerged to describe the set of intelligence that teachers must poses to effectively teach their students using ICTs. The TPACK framework explains the use of ICT for teaching and learning from a knowledge context. It classifies three basic forms of knowledge that must be available in any ICT integrated class: Technological Knowledge (TK), Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) and Content Knowledge (CK). The TPACK model has introduced a new structure that guides the use of ICTs for teaching and learning
purposes and how it fits into the structure of the classroom to enable quality educational practices when using ICT.
The use of ICT for teaching around a particular topic desires creating sensitivity to the dynamic, value-based connection between these segments of learning arranged in special settings. Instructors, grade-level, school-particular elements, socioeconomics, culture, and different elements guarantee that each circumstance is exclusive, and no single blend of substance, innovation, and instructional method will apply for each educator, each course, or each perspective of educating. The TPACK model puts forward two basic arguments;
- Mindful interweaving of technology, instructional method and content knowledge is required by the educator to guarantee a beneficial utilization of ICTs in teaching and learning.
- There is no single mechanical arrangement that applies for each instructor, each course, or each perspective of educating. (Mishra & Koehler, 2006)
include the general mission and vision of education as well as values and aims of education. Pedagogical Knowledge deals with understanding the way and manner in which students attain knowledge as well as understanding general classroom administration skills and student evaluation (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).
Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is the first intersections created by the overlapping of pedagogy and content knowledge. Fundamental to Shulman‘s conceptualization of PCK is the presumption of the revolution of the topic for educating. In the words of Shulman (1986), this transformation takes place as teachers teach a particular topic, adapting several strategies of describing teaching materials and also presenting lessons that suits students’ understanding. PCK covers the foundation of business of instructing, learning, educational programs, appraisal and revealing, for example, the situation that advance learning and the connections among educational programs, evaluation, and teaching method (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).
Technological Content Knowledge (TCK) is the second intersection which originates from the overlap between technology and content. It deals with the importance of understanding the influence of technology on specific content or subject. A comprehension of the way in which technology and substance impact and compel each other. ―Teachers need to master more than the subject matter they teach; they must also have a deep understanding of the manner in which the subject matter (or the kinds of representations that can be constructed) can be changed by the application of particular technologies. Teachers need to understand which specific technologies are best suited for addressing subject-matter learning in their domains and how the content dictates or perhaps even changes the technology—or vice versa‖ (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).
Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK) forms the intersection between technology and pedagogy. This intersection deals with how instructing and learning can change when specific innovations are utilized in specific ways. Diverse types of technology can empower the improvement and use of various types of instructional method. Then again, extraordinary academic techniques will require diverse types of technology.
Technology, Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (TPACK), is the use of technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge that when adopted into teaching and learning leads to effectiveness and enhances the educational process. TPACK is the framework that involves the use of technologies in teaching and learning and this requires the representation of ideas using ICT. Pedagogical techniques also uses ICTs to teach content while information of what makes ideas problematic or simple to learn and how innovation can help review a portion of the issues that students confront; knowledge of students’ earlier information and hypotheses of epistemology; and information of how technologies can be utilized to expand on existing learning to grow new epistemologies or reinforce old ones (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).
Shulman (1986) indicated that PCK is an exclusive model of teachers’ intelligence that incorporates the teacher’s PK and CK to guide students in closing the gap that exist in understanding a subject. It could be in the form content-specific or topic-specific instructive methodologies (Graham, Borup, & Smith, 2012). In the same way, TPK is an exclusive scheme of PK that is linked to the use of ICTs. TCK involves the use of ICTs to represent content knowledge that was not meant for teaching. Finally, TPACK refers to the coordinated type of learning that can be made through various mixing of the six types of knowledge. This type of information is made through educators or instructive technologists’ outline effort when they produce new practices to incorporate ICT into classroom instructing (Tsai, Chai, Wong,
Hong, & Tan, 2013). Presently, the idea of TPACK is spreading and being received by numerous educational institutions worldwide to comprehend and improve instructors’ capacity to coordinate ICT into educating and learning (Chai, Koh & Tsai, 2013)
In today’s world, ICT is coming up with improved methods to gain and process knowledge in every aspect of life. ICT is also improving teaching by providing improved methods to involve students.
