Factors affecting secondary preservice teachers' computer knowledge

Abstract

An “introduction to computers in education” course was taken by 376 student teachers as part of their Diploma in Education programme at the Institute of Education in Singapore. Each possessed a bachelor's degree on admission to the programme and would be expected to teach in secondary schools and junior colleges on graduation from teacher training. A major objective of this study was to determine both the preservice teachers' level of computer knowledge as well as factors determining this level. A 54-item computer literacy questionnaire was used for this study. It was hypothesized that a group of 9 independent (exogenous) variables would have an effect on how well a student performed (the dependent variable) on the computer knowledge questionnaire. Pre-and post-test results were analyzed using a multiple regression model. It was found that four factors were significant in determining the students' scores both in the pre and post-test. Pre-test factors were (1) owning a computer, (2) sex, (3) number of computer courses, and (4) “O” level mathematics scores. Post-test analysis revealed that pre-test factors 1 and 4 above were still significant but that two additional significant factors emerged: university honours degrees and university major. The uniqueness of this study is that it involves an unusually large cohort of preservice teachers studying computer education. With many nations planning massive computer education courses for teachers, these results may prove to be beneficial.