Teachers and headmasters felt that they lacked sufficient time to be a part of the changing process in a changing society. Several of the teachers felt they had no time to manage their ordinary work and still they had to develop new ways for teaching due to the new tool, the computer. Other ongoing changes required skills of the teachers to work in teams and several traditional subjects were to be incorporated in an individual lecture. This new way of planning tasks for the students included most of the subject fields and was perceived by the teachers as taking extra time from ordinary work. School management judged that there was inadequate time to educate the teachers about how to use the computer as a pedagogical tool. It is also worth noting that teachers felt that they didn't get enough support when computers and computer programs broke down. The consequence was that it was "less time" for introducing the computer to the students.
Teachers who had started to use the computer had learned how to use it primarily at home, taught by their own children. Some of them had attended basic courses in how to use the computer, but they felt they needed specific courses in how to use it as a tool. Ninety percentage of the teachers answered that they felt they needed further education in how to use the computer in class. An additional problem was the lack of pedagogical programs available on the market. However, they felt that this situation was changing because teachers had begun to make and sell their own "home made" programs.
The majority of the teachers answered that they thought the schools that managed to start using the computer had at least one enthusiast in the area and a headmaster and colleagues who supported the work. Those teachers and students who had more experience and skill were identified as the vital resource.
A majority felt that a good solution would be to provide every teacher with a computer so they could use it regularly and not have to share it with colleagues and students. The purpose would be that they could work and learn how to use the computer and the programs at their own pace.
The teachers felt threatened that their role was changing to become also computer technicians, because of all the problems with the break downs. Most of the teachers said they needed to be educated in how the computer could be used as a pedagogical tool and parallel to that, they needed support from technicians.
Some of the schools had chosen to slow down the use of computer by not using the Internet. Most of the headmasters felt pressure from society e g parents and
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Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: Human-Computer Interaction:Communication, Cooperation, and Application Design.
Contributors: Hans-Jörg Bullinger - Editor, Jürgen Ziegler - Editor.
Publisher: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Place of publication: Mahwah, NJ.
Publication year: 1999.
Page number: 409.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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