PurposeSelf-efficacy is one's belief in one's ability. In this context, information and communication technology (ICT) self-efficacy is the judgment of one's capability to use ICT – the familiar and effective teaching tools for the 21st century classrooms. The purpose of this empirical study was to investigate the correlation between teachers' ICT self-efficacy and perceived ICT infrastructure in school.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a descriptive survey method within ex post facto research design by taking 100 purposively selected Indian government run secondary schools and 400 teachers as participants. The data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially. A correlation analysis was conducted between teachers' ICT self-efficacy and their perception of ICT infrastructure to determine the relationship between the two.FindingsFindings revealed that the participant teachers' overall ICT self-efficacy along with its three domains – technological efficacy, pedagogical efficacy, integration efficacy – was moderately low and their perception of ICT infrastructure in their respective schools was also far below the expected level. The investigation finally found a moderately high and positive correlation between teachers' ICT self-efficacy and their overall perception of ICT infrastructure. All three domains of efficacy also found positively correlated with the three selected domains of ICT infrastructure.Originality/valueThis paper reports an original empirical survey conducted in India and the write-up is based strictly on the survey findings only. The authors believe this is a new approach to view ICT integration in school pedagogy and recommendations that enhanced teacher efficacy accelerates strengthening ICT infrastructure, improving apposite culture and understanding of the pedagogical value of ICT integrated teaching.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of blended learning on students’ academic achievement, to study teachers’ perception of working in the unconventional blended atmosphere, and finally to infer on its potential in underprivileged elementary classrooms. Since this study was conducted in an unconventional set up with researchers acted as agents of change, design-based research methods were used with 50 children from a fifth standard class in an Indian elementary school. These methods included gathering and analyzing data in two cycles—preblended implantation stage and postblended stage. A mixed-method approach was followed for data collection. Quantitative data were collected through an achievement test and qualitative data were gathered from interviews with the teachers. Findings revealed that there were significant differences in achievement level between the two cycles, in favor of the postblended implantation stage, and this difference was found gender-neutral. Interviews with three teachers were also conducted to collect information about their experiences of introducing and implementing blended learning in their classrooms. The study concludes that blended learning ambiance increases students’ academic achievement levels in elementary classrooms when teachers were supported with necessary policies and proficiencies. Overall, the time spent in blended learning had a positive effect on children’s achievement irrespective of gender and these effects emerged during 10 weeks even in a school with poor technological infrastructure and underprepared yet willing teachers.

This study reports an empirical investigation of the effects of school teachers’ self-efficacy and self-concept on their perceived ICT usability. It employed a descriptive survey method within an ex-post-facto research design taking 300 teachers as samples from purposively selected 50 Indian schools. The findings revealed that self-efficacy and self-concept discretely had a positive effect on teachers’ perceived ICT usability although self-concept was found to have a deeper impact in comparison to self-efficacy. But the two variables operated simultaneously had a more significant and stronger positive effect on the teachers’ perceived ICT usability. For every 1 standard unit increase in self-efficacy and in self-concept, the perceived ICT usability will be increased by 0.95 standard units. Based on this regression output authors proposed the TAM3+ as an extension of the TAM3 by adding a new domain as users’ ‘subjective self’ encompassing self-efficacy and self-concept significantly affecting their perceived ease of technology use.

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The purpose of this empirical study was to investigate the effect of two important factors, self-efficacy and ICT infrastructure, on the teachers’ ability of ICT use in school pedagogy. The study employed a descriptive survey method within an ex-post-facto research design taking 400 teachers as samples from hundred purposively selected Indian secondary schools. Data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially. Results revealed that perception of self-efficacy and infrastructure were significant predictors of the teachers’ ability of ICT use. The two independent variables were found to have a high collective prediction on the teachers’ ability. Though, separate analyses revealed that self-efficacy having a deeper prediction on the teachers’ ICT ability than the infrastructure. The findings support the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model (an extension of TAM) and made a further extension with two selected factors, one included in the facilitating conditions and the other in the users’ behavioral intention in the original UTAUT model.