ICT in teacher education in an emerging developing country: Vietnam’s baseline situation at the start of ‘The Year of ICT’

Abstract

In many developing countries, integration of ICT is a key component of an educational reform agenda. These countries can draw on a tradition of research in the developed world on factors determining integration of ICT in education. In this tradition, this study investigates the current situation of ICT integration in teacher education in Vietnam, an emerging developing country at the beginning of integrating ICT in education. 783 educators of five Vietnamese teacher education institutions completed a questionnaire. This analysis illuminates teacher educators’ access to ICT, their intensity of use, their related skills, and their confidence in using ICT, as well as their conceptions of learning. Exploratory multiple regression analysis addresses the importance of these different factors at the level of the educator for use of ICT in teaching practice. Even though teacher educators adhere to a constructivist approach to student learning, the use of ICT applications in teaching practice remains limited, mostly replacing traditional teaching practices. The factors currently determining the use of ICT in teaching practice are ICT skills (β = .522) and computer confidence (β = .158). Suggestions are provided for the country to move beyond an access and skills based approach of integration of ICT in education and for emerging developing countries to cease the promise of ICT for education.