A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, August, 2014. / The research described in this thesis is a case study of the factors influencing teachers’ use of
computers for teaching at a private secondary school in South Africa. Two problems motivated the
study. Firstly, teachers were not using ICT for meaningful learning despite the South African Education
Department's emphasis on the use of ICT in education. Secondly, teachers were not coping with the
demands of a new school curriculum involving innovative practices and new content. The case study
school had purchased a software package for the sciences which claimed to be suitable for the new
South African curriculum. The software package was evaluated as part of the study, to investigate its
usefulness for supporting Life Sciences teachers to teach new content during a period of curriculum
change. The study comprised two phases, one before and one after the school introduced an
innovation promoting the use of ICT for instruction.
In the absence of a suitable model to underpin the investigation a literature-based mind-map was
constructed to provide a conceptual framework to guide the study. An analysis of 48 papers reporting
on the factors affecting teachers’ use of computers led to the identification of 43 factors, which were
classified into categories and sub-categories in the form of a hierarchical map showing the
relationships between the factors, and providing the framework used to structure the investigation of
factors. This was later developed into a holistic model showing the relationships between the factors,
based on the theory of planned behaviour, but modified by the addition of knowledge and skills, which
were found to influence teachers’ computer usage directly, as well as impacting on teachers’ beliefs,
attitudes and behavioural intentions about using technology. This model could be useful for
stakeholders to identify factors that could be used to promote the use of ICT in ways that benefit
learning.
During the first phase factors were identified using participant observation recorded by means of a
researcher’s journal and semi-structured interviews with four teachers, with open-ended checklists
being used for the software evaluation. Five categories of teacher-level factors (factors within
teachers' control) were identified which affected their use of ICT: teachers’ perceptions of the
effectiveness of ICT; teachers’ attitudes towards ICT; teachers’ level of innovativeness; teachers’
technological knowledge; and teachers’ level of ICT proficiency. Five categories of institutional factors
(beyond teachers’ control) also emerged: the availability and accessibility of computer hardware; the
availability of suitable software; the level of technical support available; the provision of training; and
the amount of time available to plan for and use technology for teaching and learning. The biodiversity
section of the software package purchased by the school was evaluated in terms of supporting
teachers with teaching this new section of content required by the new curriculum. Five features of
software design were evaluated: the extent to which the software promoted seven of the nine new
classroom practices required by the new South African curriculum, the extent to which the package
covered the content needed to teach biodiversity and the pedagogical strategies used to teach this
content, how effectively the user interface conveyed messages to users, and the multimedia strategies
used in the software package to promote effective learning. The software evaluation aspect of the
study led to the development of several open-ended checklists to evaluate different relevant
curriculum-related criteria, and a new model for the context-based evaluation of software which could
be useful for designers of instructional software.
iii
The introduction at the case study school of an innovation promoting the use of ICT for instruction
allowed the study to enter a second phase extending the sample for investigating factors affecting ICT
use, and focusing on teachers' use of computers in response to being provided with more ICT
resources and being required to set computer-based tasks for learners to complete at home on
dedicated technology days (DigiDays). During this phase multiple online questionnaires were
administered to a sample of 29 teachers, semi-structured interviews were conducted, and 33 ICTbased
tasks set by the teachers were reviewed using content analysis, to see whether they used
technology effectively. The innovation allowed three obstacles which had emerged during the first
phase of the study to be investigated in more depth. Firstly, the setting aside of time for computerbased
work addressed the lack of time for using computers in lessons, mentioned by teachers during
the first phase of the study, and permitted an investigation of whether this alleviated the time
pressures teachers associated with using computers. Secondly, the effect of the training provided for
using Moodle on DigiDays was investigated to see whether it adequately prepared teachers to use
computers in ways which enhanced learning. A lack of training which met teachers' needs had
emerged during the first phase as a major factor hindering teachers' use of computers. Thirdly, the
influence of teachers’ levels of innovativeness on their computer use outside of the mandated usage
on DigiDays was investigated. Teachers were classified into groups based on Rogers’ adopter
categories (Rogers, 1962, 2003), but using additional features to just the rate of uptake of an
innovation, used by Rogers. A quick and easy method involving a questionnaire and associated key
for placing teachers into adopter categories was developed. This method could facilitate the
classification of teachers into adopter categories and the tailoring of support aimed at promoting the
rate of uptake of ICT, based on the characteristics of the different adopter groups.
Case studies of selected teachers were carried out to better understand why they were using
computers in certain ways. Based on the model of Donnelly et al. (2011) the selected teachers were
grouped according to whether they were using ICT for teaching in instructivist or constructivist ways,
and whether or not they showed discerning use of ICT for teaching. A number of subgroups emerged,
highlighting the need to understand the complex reasons underlying teachers' behaviours relating to
using ICT and underscoring the importance of designing training programmes based on why teachers
use ICT for teaching in a particular way.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/16919 |
| Date | 06 February 2015 |
| Creators | George, Ann Zeta |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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