Percepcija nastavnika o primeni informaciono- komunikacionih tehnologija u nastavnom procesu

Пут до бољег образовања води преко заинтересованих, обучених и мотивисаних наставника. У последњих неколико деценија наша земља улаже много у интеграцију информационо-комуникационе технологије (ИКТ) у образовно-васпитни процес, укључујући и организацију обучавања наставног кадра у школама. Међутим, мало се зна о перцепцији наставника о примени ИКТ у наставном процесу код нас. Ова студија има за циљ да утврди перцепцију наставника о примени ИКТ у раду са децом са сметњама у развоју, узимајући у обзир и однос са одређеним социодемографским карактеристикама. За процену перцепције наставника о примени ИКТ-а у наставном процесу са децом са сметњама у развоју коришћена је Скала перцепције наставника према ИКТ-а у наставном процесу (Perceptions towards ICTs in teaching-learning process scale; Baş, Kubiatko, & Sünbül, 2016) која се састоји од 25 ајтема. Скала је подељена на три субскале: субскала Ставови (Attitude scale – АТТ), субскала Применљивост (Usage scale – US) и субскала Уверења (Belief – BEL). Узорком је обухваћено 52 запошљена Школе за децу са сметњама у развоју "11.Октобар" у Лесковцу, уједначен по полу и старости испитаника. Анализом резултата је утврђено да наставници имају позитивну перцепцију и уверења према употреби ИКТ у наставном процесу, али сама имплементација није на задовољавајућем нивоу, јер је јако мали број наставника користи у раду. Разлике у прецепцији према употреби ИКТ у односу на социодемографске карактеристике не постоје. У раду су детаљније представљени резултати истраживања, као и ограничења, а дате су и препоруке будућим истраживачима.The way to better education leads through interested, trained and motivated teachers. In the last few decades, our country has invested a lot in the integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in the educational process, including the organization of training teachers in schools. However, little is known about the perception of teachers about the application of ICT in the teaching process in our country. This research has got the objective to determine teachers' perceptions of the use of ICT in working with children with disabilities, taking into consideration the relationship with certain sociodemographic characteristics. For assessment of teachers' perceptions of the use of ICT in the teaching process with children with disabilities, the Teachers' Perception Scale towards ICT in the teaching process was used (Baş, Kubiatko, & Sünbül, 2016). consisting of 25 items. The scale is divided into three subscales: the Attitude (ATT) subscale, the Usage (US) subscale and the Belief (BEL) subscale. The sample included 52 employees of the School for Children with Developmental Disabilities "October 11th" in Leskovac, equal in gender and age of the respondents. The analysis of the results has showed that teachers have a positive perception and beliefs towards the use of ICT in the teaching process, but the implementation itself is not at a satisfactory level, because a very small number of teachers use it in their work. There are no differences in perception towards the use of ICT related to sociodemographic characteristics. This paper presents the results of the research in more details, as well as the limitations, and gives recommendations to future researchers

Connecting the Echo Dots: An Exploratory Ethnographic Study of ‘Alexa’ in the Classroom

Educational research literature regarding epistemic curiosity and voice technology could not be found to answer a burning question of, ‘Why aren’t my students curious?’. The aim of the study was therefore to critically analyse teachers pedagogical approaches and how voice technology was used by students as a more knowledgeable other and the extent to which it affected students’ epistemic curiosity. Using an exploratory ethnographic approach, Amazon’s Echo Dot voice technology was studied in lessons at Hillview School. Data was collected through participant observation, informal interviews and recordings of students’ interactions with ‘Alexa’. Students asked questions to Alexa in large numbers. Alexa was asked 87 questions during two lessons suggesting that Alexa was a digital more knowledgeable other. Types of questions asked to Alexa, such as ‘Can fish see water?’, were epistemic questions and suggestive of epistemic curiosity. Teachers used the Echo Dots infrequently and in a limited number of ways. Teachers relied upon a pedagogical approach and talk oriented around performance which overlooked students’ learning talk. The answer to why students might not be curious was not found. However, evidence to understand how and why they might appear not curious was revealed. The study makes contributions to knowledge through the novel use of the Echo Dots to collect data and through a new data visualisation technique called ‘heatmaps’. The study contributes to knowledge by proposing three tentative notions that emerged inductively from the research: ‘performance-oriented talk’, ‘metricalisation’ and ‘regulativity’. The study aims to make a further contribution to knowledge by suggesting evidence of a ‘pedagogy of performance’. The study recommends ‘learning-oriented talk’ and development of Alexa ‘Skills’ as a way to disrupt the pedagogy of performance and as an area for further research

Factors Influencing Information and Communication Technology Implementation in Government Secondary Schools in Kuwait

Over the last few decades, Information Communication Technology (ICT) has become increasingly important in all organisations in modern societies including schools. Expectation about ICT and its role in developing and transforming the educational process through its inclusion in the daily school environment is increasing in many developed and developing countries. Many researchers and practitioners are involved in exploring and investigating ICT implementation in the learning and teaching process in secondary schools. This research explores and investigates influential factors and barriers surrounding ICT implementation in government secondary schools in Kuwait from the perspectives of students, teachers and expert educators. The study is executed through two phases: an exploratory pilot study, (see Appendix 11), and this deep investigating study. The exploration and investigation process of this study focuses on six main areas: the ICT policies and strategies in the Ministry of Education, the readiness of school environment for ICT implementation, teachers' views regarding ICT, surrounding socio-political factors, other main barriers to ICT implementation and, finally, the main requirements for better ICT implementation. The research has adopted a sociocultural approach whereby research problem has been explored and investigated through different individuals in different contexts that are related directly or indirectly to ICT implementation in government secondary schools. Data, as well, has been collected through a wide range of probing methods such as documents, self-managed questionnaires and interviews in order to answer the research question. The pilot study explores the research situation through 52 students and four teachers and in this main study 306 teachers were investigated through questionnaires and 15 teachers and expert educators were interviewed. The findings indicate that Government of Kuwait and the Ministry of Education have a strong intention to implement ICT in secondary schools and have already executed many related practical steps. The study also reveals that most teachers have positive views towards ICT. However, findings also show that the school environment is not yet ready for ICT implementation and that policy and decision-making processes are suffering from a lack of clear vision and instability. The surrounding socio-political factors have a negative impact on educational policy in general and ICT policy in particular. This research also identifies some other barriers to ICT implementation and, finally, highlights some requirements for improving the implementation of ICT