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Journal of Continuing, Open and Distance Education 231 J ournal of C ontinuing, O pen and D istance E ducation Volume 2, Issue 1, July 2012 ISSN 2074-4722 A Publication of the School of Continuing and Distance Education UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI 232 Integrating ICT into Teacher Education Curriculum Published by The School of Continuing and Distance Education University of Nairobi P. O. Box 30197-00100 Nairobi KENYA www.uonbi.ac.ke © School of Continuing, Open and Distance Education All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the Editor, Journal of Continuing, Open and Distance Education. Printed by the College of Education and External Studies Kikuyu Campus, University of Nairobi ISSN 2074-4722 Business Address: The Editor Journal of Continuing, Open and Distance Education P. O. Box 30197-00100 Nairobi KENYA [email protected] Journal of Continuing, Open and Distance Education 233 iii Preface This third issue of the Journal of Continuing, Open and Distance Education (JCODE) contains eight articles covering various themes in the field of continuing, open and distance education and e-Learning. The first article by Yeba Judith Sama Mouokuio Meno seeks to establish whether there is attitudinal gender bias towards girls in the use of computers in selected schools in Central Africa based on the theory of socialization. The author collected quantitative and qualitative data from the PanAf observatory (Indicators 4.4.3, 4.4.4, 4.4.5, and 4.4.6) which is an open knowledge-sharing resource for research on the pedagogical integration of ICTs established by the PanAfrican Research Agenda on the Pedagogical Integration of ICTs. The target population consisted of eleven schools from Cameroon, Central African Republic and Congo. The findings demonstrate that there is an attitudinal gender bias towards girls in computer use due to the female students’ perception of themselves, ignorance, public opinion and their parents. The second article by Angeline Mulwa, Kyalo Ndunge, Omondi Bowa and Guantai Mboroki explores the relationship between ICT infrastructure and readiness to adopt e- learning in secondary schools in Kitui District Kenya. Data was collected from 15 provincial and 36 District schools selected through stratified random sampling. Two way ANOVA at 0.05 and regression analysis results showed that institutional factors such as infrastructure (connectivity, sources of energy and e-equipment) have a significant influence on readiness to adopt e-learning. They recommend that government should address the issue of e-learning infrastructure, human resource capacity and the attitude of secondary school principals, teachers and students towards the adoption of e-learning in secondary schools before embarking on full scale implementation. The third article is a study by Nkehsera Claire Massano Ndangle who investigated the use of ICTs in selected higher teacher training colleges in Africa. The purpose of the study was to identify the level of ICT knowledge among teacher trainers, find out how they use this ICT Knowledge and establish the challenges ICT usage posed. Data was collected from the Pan African Research Agenda on the Pedagogical Integration of ICTs observatory, (www.observatoiretic.org). The author concludes that there is high need for the teacher trainers to receive at least 50 hours of professional 234iv IntegratingAnalysis of ICTInstructional into Teacher Effectiveness Education Curriculum training that includes ICT integration. She also recommends the inclusion of ICT integration in teacher education curriculum. The fourth article by Laban Ayiro investigated students’ skills and practices of using information and communication technologies (ICT) in ten Kenyan Universities. One hundred and fifty students responded to a self-report questionnaire. From the analysis, three constructs that represented these students’ interactions with and perceptions on ICT emerged. These are: computer assisted learning makes the learning process more meaningful and motivates learners towards further learning; competence and intensive use of ICT at home and networking with expert cultures and tutoring other people to improve their ICT skills and intensity of using ICT which is determined by the availability of equipment and the extent to which ICT is used rather than by a student’s expertise in ICT. The fifth article by George Musumba, Robert Oboko and Elisha Opiyo report results from an experimental study where they developed a prototype that implements an adaptive presentation of course content under conditions of intermittent Internet connections. The prototype was tested on two groups of undergraduate students studying a database systems course. One group used it online and a control group used it offline. This study found out that it is possible to have learner models that can adapt to learner characteristics such as learner’s level of knowledge and that learners can be able to learn under in both on-line and off-line modes with adaptation working correctly. The sixth article by Harriet Kidombo, Christopher Gakuu and Anne Ndiritu examines the function of school principals as institutional managers and the role they play in the adoption and integration of Information and Communication Technologies in teaching and learning in ten selected Kenyan schools. The authors analysed quantitative and qualitative data from the PanAf observatory, an open knowledge-sharing resource for researchers on the pedagogical integration of ICTs in education. The research used a mixed methods approach where both qualitative and quantitative data was collected using a variety of tools to achieve the benefits of triangulation. They conclude that the development of ICT skills and knowledge among school principals is slow and may explain the low levels of ICT integration in the selected schools. JournalJournal of of Continuing, Continuing, Open Open and and Distance Distance Education Education 235 v Issifu Yidana and Casmir Maazure, in this seventh article, present results of a study on faculty perceptions of their technology professional development needs and how these needs relate to faculty use of instructional technology in two Ghanaian teacher education universities. 132 teacher education faculty members were selected purposively. The study used survey methodology supplemented by interviews. The study found no significant relationship between faculty perceptions of their technology professional development needs and faculty use of technology for teaching and learning. However, the authors explain that this insignificant relationship could be due to limited technology knowledge and skills, limited participation in the technology innovation decision process, and inadequate opportunity for faculty to have hands-on experimentation with technology in instruction because of limited technology resources in classroom settings. This study by Gerald Kimani, Augustine Kara, Lucy Njagi and Margaret Ruinge, which is the eighth article, examined students’ experiences and perceptions of Master of Business Administration offered through distance methods at Kenyatta University. The sample consisted of 40 students enrolled in the programme. They report that majority of the students are adults with social and professional responsibilities and enroll largely because of future career prospects and flexibility of the programme. However, challenges related to irregular and untimely supply of the modules, poor coordination, delayed examination results and poor record keeping were cited. The need to improve on provision of high quality study modules, instructor – student interaction and students’ support services are recommended. Editor vi236 AnalysisIntegrating of ICTInstructional into Teacher Effectiveness Education Curriculum Call for Papers The School of Continuing and Distance Education, University of Nairobi, Kenya wishes to call for research papers to be published in its Journal of Continuing, Open and Distance Education (JCODE). The vision of JCODE is to become the leading journal on current adult and continuing education, open and distance education discourse. To achieve this vision, the journal will publish high quality peer reviewed papers which meet international standards. Recent empirical studies are encouraged on the following areas: 1. Adult education and community development 2. Open and distance education policy and practice 3. E-learning, online learning and ICT integration in education 4. Cross-cutting issues in open, distance and e-learning - gender and socio- cultural factors The Journal will be published bi-annually, in January and June of every year. Deadlines for Submission a. Deadline for submission of completed papers is on 31st October of every year for the January issue and 30th March for the June issue. b. The editorial board reserves the right to reject or accept contributions by authors and will communicate the decision to the respective author (s). c. Email your articles to the addresses below: - [email protected] OR Dr. Harriet J. Kidombo - [email protected] OR [email protected] Dr. Joyce Mbwesa - [email protected] Dr. Omondi Bowa - [email protected] JJournalournal ofof Continuing,Continuing, OpenOpen andand DistanceDistance EducationEducation 237 vii Notes to Contributors The Journal of Continuing, Open and Distance Education accepts articles in English from all over the world especially Africa on issues related to the advancement of the state of knowledge and practice