Coping with change in ICT‐based learning environments: newly qualified Rwandan teachers' reflections

Abstract

The overarching aim of this study is to investigate how newly qualified Rwandan teachers can contribute to the creation of theoretical and practical knowledge for professional development with information and communication technology (ICT). Questionnaires, focus groups and interviews were used for data collection. The findings show that novice teachers are motivated to acquire ICT and that they succeed in situations where school administrators grant easy access to computers. The novice teachers expressed a strong desire to be trusted and be allowed time to use computers and related skills in their learning and teaching. These views are discussed in terms of learning conditions created in schools so that participants become active, responsible and committed practitioners. We assume that such attitudes can be a model for their future roles in fostering change in social practice. For example, this study shows that gender equity becomes an aspect of change in an ICT-learning environment, which creates new opportunities for continuous education. To achieve this, as revealed by the findings, there is a need to develop school-based curricula, appropriate pedagogy and teacher professional development in the area of ICT literacy, which allows the teachers to develop a critical mind to the new tools.

Cascading the use of Web 2.0 technology in secondary schools in the United Kingdom: identifying the barriers beyond pre-service training

“…Research findings align the successful integration of technologies in the secondary classroom with developing appropriate pedagogy enabling criticality, a propensity to see the value of technologies in the classroom and suggesting that the interaction of the pre-service teacher and the environment is pivotal (Galan and Blanco, 2004;Mukama and Andersson, 2007;Davis, Preston and Sahin, 2008;Hammond et al, 2009;Granberg, 2009). Larose et al (2009) argue that practices observed by pre-service teachers during training might optimise the chances of these future teachers using technology in their own classrooms, while Bingimlas (2009) drawing on existing literature including Grabe and Grabe (2007) identified a range of barriers to the integration of ICT in education, some of which resonate with findings by Meyer et al (2011).…”

“…This is also reflected by Mukama and Andersson's (2007) study, which indicated that teachers needed time to become able to use ICT critically in their practice, and also in the study by Kilbourne and Alvarez who found that pre-service teachers found it difficult to integrate information technology critically into their classrooms (Kilbourne & Alvarez, 2008).…”

“…In the literature review the authors also referred to the findings of others that the knowledge of how and when to use technology in the classroom, together with an understanding of the pedagogy, and opportunity to reflect critically, provided pre-service teachers with an inclination to use ICT, or a propensity to see its value in the classroom (Mukama & Andersson, 2007); Hammond et al, 2009). …”

What happens as student teachers who made very good use of ICT during pre‐service training enter their first year of teaching?

“…However a third of the sample became 'resistant' users of ICT. In a related study (Mukama and Andersson 2007) new teachers in Rwanda were keen to use ICT but needed more support in terms of training and, at a wider level, the rationale for using ICT needed to be made clearer.…”

Teachers’ concerns towards change in Lebanese private schools and their relationship to gender, experience and type of change

“…Many international studies investigated teachers' concerns as a function of gender, experience and/or type of change (Mukama and Andersson 2008;Sarafidou and Nikolaidis 2009;Meyer et al 2009) and, as a result, recommended models and approaches that could be used by supervisors or principals to manage teachers' resistance or concerns. Other studies used the concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) for evaluating teachers' concerns towards adopting different kinds of change in schools (Hargreaves et al 2003;Christou et al 2004;Leung 2008).…”