Assessment of Nigerian Teacher Educators’ ICT Training

Abstract

Introduction Informal observation reveals that there have been considerable (though uncoordinated) ICT-training efforts of late both at personal and institutional level among teacher educators. The purpose of these trainings is making teacher educators ICT skilled both in personal activities and day-to-day professional practices. The problem has been that these trainings don't impact the integration of ICT into teacher educators' classrooms. At best teacher educators use the Internet and in few cases use computers for word processing. Thus teaching with ICT in Secondary and Primary Schools still becomes impossible to achieve. This is because serving teachers did not experience ICT immersed curriculum in their professional preparations and they pass on what they receive. Student teachers that will use computers and ICT in later teaching practice must have observed their teachers using computers. (Jegede 2006, Jegede & Adelodun, 2003).The most critical factor in the successful integration of ICT into education is the extent to which teacher educators are able to prepare teachers with the required knowledge and skills to utilize ICT effectively (ICT in Education, 2004). Oliver (1994) identified the needs for student teachers to experience models of ICT use in their own learning before they can go ahead to implement same in their later profession. Teacher education institutions may either assume a leadership role in the transformation of education or be left behind in the swirl of rapid technological change (UNESCO, 2002). It becomes imperative therefore then to answer the following questions: What nature of training did teacher educators themselves received? Who trained the trainers? What nature of training delivery will produce the best effect in classroom practice? And does the ICT- use level of teacher educators bear significant relationship with the nature of training(s) received? What do teacher educators themselves perceive as necessary ICT skills for contemporary teacher education programme? Answers to these questions will identify possible deficiencies in teacher educators ICT training efforts in Nigeria which will enable the inclusion of the type of competences that will impact classroom ICT integration rather than mere general ICT skills. Thus enabling the delivery of appropriate ICT integrated curriculum necessary for pre-service teacher education programme. Methods The study is a survey design with 500 teacher educators randomly selected from 12 teacher training institutions (6 Colleges of Education, 6 Universities) participating in the study. The selection cut across all disciplines and professional cadre. Three research instruments were used to elicit needed information from the respondents; The Teachers ICT Questionnaire (TICTQ), the Teachers ICT Use Checklist (TICTUC) and the Teachers ICT Competence Scale (TICTCS). TICTQ enquired on ICT training background of the teacher trainers as well as what they perceived as needed contents in teachers ICT training curriculum. The Teachers ICT Use Checklist (TICTUC) was originally developed for use with Singapore teachers by Soh (1998). It consisted originally of 13 items out of which 11 items were adopted, 2 items were removed based on judgment that they are not needed by teacher's Educators are to indicate how often the computer has been used for a specific purpose in the past three months. The scores were organized into four sub-scores and described as Data Processing, Word Processing, Communication (i.e. using Internet for searching teaching materials and sending messages to others) and Instructions using ICT. The items were scored as Never=1, Occasionally = 2, Sometimes = 3, Often = 4, Very Often = 5. TICTCS consists of 21 items, the items covered Internet skills, teaching with ICT and basic computer skills, respondents were to indicate their ICT competence on a 5-point scale of Very well=5, Well=4, Fairly well =3, Slightly =2, Not at all=1. …