"Η εφαρμογή της Εξ Αποστάσεως Εκπαίδευσης στην Προσχολική Εκπαίδευση: Δυσκολίες και εμπόδια κατά τη χρήση των ΤΠΕ από τους Νηπιαγωγούς"

Abstract

Introduction: The introduction of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Education has offered new perspectives to the learning process. However, the introduction of ICT in Pre-Primary Education has not followed the same pace as in the other educational bands. This situation came to be reversed, after the influx of the pandemic, which made Distance Learning imperative due to the sanitary conditions. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis was to research the way ICT have been implemented in Distance Learning, during the pandemic period, and to pinpoint the difficulties and obstacles the Pre-primary school teachers had to overcome in using ICT. Method: Bibliographic review and in-the-field research using questionnaires was used. The research was conducted among a sample of one hundred and twenty one (121) PrePrimary school teachers of B΄ Athens Primary Education Directorate, in the period between 10 and 30 June 2021. The statistical analysis was based on the SPSS statistical program. Results: The research showed that 72.7% of the Pre-primary school teachers are certified users of the Information and Communication Technologies and that 95.9% of them comprise the New Technologies in the teaching process. Regarding distance learning, 75.2% of the Pre-primary school teachers stated that they had applied both the asynchronous as well as the synchronous one. The e-tool they had used the most for the asynchronous distance learning, was the e-class and the e-mail, while for the synchronous one, the e-platform of Cisco Webex was the one most frequently chosen. The main difficulties which arose from using distance learning, were due to its sudden implementation (57%) and its inefficient support mechanism (44.6%), as well as the lack of technical means and resources (44.6%). In the carrying out of the distance learning curriculum, what proved to be most perplexing to the Pre-primary school teachers was the planning and the putting-together of the educational activities (60.3%), the implementation of the educational activities themselves (54.5% ), and the flow of students' feedback (53.7%). Finally, 59.5% of the surveyed Pre-primary school teachers in order to overcome the above difficulties, suggested the in-depth training of the educators (49.6%), and the provision of computing tools to the schools (9.9%). Discussion: During the distance education, the Pre-primary school teachers managed, despite the difficulties and the obstacles, to respond and to perform their educational work, while capturing their students' interest.