Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-99). / Although Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has an empowerment and social inclusion effect in developed countries, it continues to create a digital divide in developing countries. This thesis is premised on the argument that, despite the disjuncture between ICT, social-cultural and developmental needs in a developing country, computer literacy training should continue to be offered and young people from economically and academically disadvantage backgrounds endeavour to acquire computer literacy skills. The objective of this study is to answer the question "Why do economically and academically disadvantaged young learners choose to engage with ICT and what role do they see for computer literacy?" Thus, the purpose of the study is to unfold learner agency in constraining conditions.

Yes / He X and Sheriff RE (Eds.) Employing ICT in Homes and Cities for the Health and Well-Being of Older People. Workshop Proceedings of ICT4HOP’16. 15-17 Aug 2016. Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. / British Council, Researcher Links, Newton Fund, NSFC

This document introduces indicators' limitations and suitability which are nowadays used for evaluating ICT investments. For better understanding of indicators' application and their limits there was used a specific practical example. As a solution, the author suggests to use value management, specifically the universal theory of value for a customer. This theory was converted to be applicable for ICT and as such eliminates and minimizes problems and limitations of before listed indicator. To fulfill the theme, the author introduces benefits of ICT market and ICT investments from the macroeconomic point of view on behalf of Czech Republic.

This thesis debates differences of an ICT coordinator's work in different countries. In its theoretical part, it examines work of an ICT coordinator and If and how this role could be separated to methodical (pedagogical) work and coordinating work and emphasizes how important it is to separate this role from a work of a technician. This work also brings results of various international researches from this field and compares them with a research done in the Czech Republic. Comparing the results reveals that situation of Czech ICT coordinators does not differ in most points from their international counterparts. The two areas that show differences is that the Czech coordinators are more often expected to cover work of a an IT technican and more issues with quality of hardware and internet connection. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The challenge for educators is to prepare students for life in a technological advanced society that will continue to change exponentially. Work requirements have changed and computer skills have become a basic requirement for a majority of jobs. As computers have become more prevalent in everyday life and in the work place, their use has gained in importance around the world. Kuwait, like other countries, has recognised the need to increase the technological background of its students to compete better in world markets. This research recognises the importance of ICT in Education and realises the difficulties involved in its effective adoption. For that reason, it presents an empirical study of the ICT adoption process by examining perceived innovation attributes, and the relationship of individual characteristics in this process. The theory that supports the research effort is Rogers' theory of Diffusion of Innovation, which was used as the theoretical framework to hypothesise a model of ICT adoption. This model is called the ICT ARABIA Model (ICT Adoption using Rogers' model, and Bringing In Addition), and was designed to elicit the relative importance of the perceived innovation attributes in influencing ICT adoption in Mathematics education. The empirical context of the research is 259 participants in mathematics departments, which are analysed using quantitative and qualitative research approaches. Results indicated that the ICT ARABIA Model was most useful in explaining ICT adoption by mathematics departments. The relative importance of each factor of the ICT ARABIA Model was determined by rank ordering the mean importance scores for each factor. However, an additional factor emerged, and this was leadership. Also, demographic characteristics were found non-significant predictors of ICT adoption. These findings highlighted many issues for further study. The main concern was regarding the importance of the perceptions of innovation attributes in influencing the ICT adoption in mathematics education; however, leadership was also an influential factor, which resulted from interviews. Those interested in programme innovation and change in educational departments may need to focus on finding a strong leader to help in the process.

The educational policy environment in Australia explicitly supports the integration of information and communications technologies (ICT) through targeted initiatives covering infrastructure, equipment, electronic learning materials and professional development. However, for all the energy expended to encourage teachers to use ICT, it is reported that few teachers take full advantage of the significant opportunities that ICT present. A number of reasons have been cited to explain this, the most compelling of which are bound up with teachers’ knowledge and skills in harnessing ICT and their beliefs about ICT and teaching itself. This research presents a three year longitudinal study of a cohort of 35 beginning teachers located in Western Australia. The focus on beginning teachers is purposeful. It is suggested that this segment of the teaching profession can provide useful insights into the affordances and risks that teachers face in harnessing ICT. Beginning teachers may also provide a window into how ICT will be taken up in the future. The aim of the research, therefore, is to describe and explain beginning teachers’ beliefs, knowledge, dispositions and skills in using ICT within the context of their school environment(s). The research literature characterises beginning teachers as having positive self-perceptions of their ability to use ICT, and embracing contemporary, student-centred theories of learning. Given these preconditions, it might seem likely that beginning teachers would seek to integrate ICT into their teaching in innovative ways. The seven research questions that underpin and guide the research are aimed, at least in part, at confirming or challenging this assertion. The study adopts a mixed method approach in seeking to understand and interpret the dynamic nature of participants’ beliefs about teaching and their knowledge, dispositions and skills in using ICT within their socio-cultural context. A rich data set, gathered over three years and using qualitative and quantitative techniques, is presented to provide evidence in relation to the study’s research questions. The longitudinal nature of the study provides opportunities to interpret this data set over time, adding to the strength and credibility of the research. Participants articulated pedagogical beliefs that aimed to engage students in active meaning making. However, the way in which participants used ICT was generally limited to presentation-style teaching, completion of worksheets using a narrow range of productivity software and the use of the World Wide Web for simple inquiries or reinforcement. There was a clear mismatch between the ideals that participants claimed to hold to be important and their capacity to use ICT to help realise these ideals. Four interrelated factors are posited to explain this: lack of clarity over beliefs and how ICT can support these beliefs; variability of perceptions within schools of the affordances and risks of using ICT; embedded structural constraints that stall the creative use of ICT; and, deficiencies in technological-pedagogical-content knowledge. The study may interest educational policy-makers, school leaders, managers, teachers and other learning professionals that are considering how to conceptualise, plan, implement and/or enhance the use of ICT within their local context. A model is presented to help educators grapple with the implications of using ICT in the classroom and explore its transformative potential.

As companies of the 21th century are getting more and more globalized it is important for companies to stay ahead of their known and unknown competitors. Knowledge is a key factor for many companies. Knowledge cannot always be transmitted effectively between employees in companies. Large sized enterprises have adopted various information and communication technologies (ICT) in order to transmit knowledge fast and efficiently. Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have according to previous research, not been able to apply ICT to their business as well as large sized firms The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the gap, which exists between the usage of ICT and knowledge sharing in Swedish SMEs. In this dissertation, a deductive approach will be used as the theories are existent but are lacking empirical data. The research was performed through qualitative studies, and the method that was used was case studies. The case studies were performed in four companies, which belong to the production/service industry, all the companies fall into the category of SME. A model was constructed from existing theories made by Hendriks (2001) this model was analyzed and tested thoroughly. In the analysis of this dissertation, the model was developed as new factors were discovered to have an influence on what is affecting managerial perception of ICT and how it is being used for knowledge sharing. Our findings suggest that ICT use is affected by an influence, which exists in an external layer. This influence consists of legal requirements. Legal requirements seem to have a large impact on how ICT is being used in some companies, which are operating in a knowledge-based industry.

This diploma thesis focuses on the information system ISAD owned by ISIT a.c. Primary part of the project is composed of analysis of the system and used technologies. Another part is concentrated on integration of the system for given customer and possibilities of enhancement. Project also contains proposals of new and enhancements of current functionality of the system.

This paper reports on the investigation of ICT adoption of tourism SMMEs in Ngaka Modiri Molema District of the North West Province in South Africa. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 200 tourism enterprises with the response rate of 68%. The results indicate, that the level of adoption of ICT is highly influenced by the perception of ICT adoption of tourism SMMEs. Most of the tourism SMMEs use ICT for business purpose and factors such as size of enterprise; location of enterprise; knowledge among owners; improvement of business performance in terms of revenue and financial resources and initial ICT costs have an impact on ICT adoption by tourism enterprises. / Thesis (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2011

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