A comparison of perceived importance of educational technology competencies between pre-service and in-service teachers

This study follows the line that effective teachers should possess a large repertoire of competencies and focuses on the contribution of educational technology in effective teaching. Considerable researches in the literature have proved that the incorporation of educational technology have positive effect in teaching and learning : reducing length of time of teaching; positive attitude towards learning; enabling individualized learning etc. Despite the knowing of such contributions towards teaching and learning, however, the success of it depends much on the teachers whether they are able to apply the skills and knowledge of educational technology in their daily teaching. Therefore, it is of great interest to derive competencies which are considered to be the neediest and the most important ones concerning educational technology in a teacher preparation programme. Statement of the Problem: This study aims to review 69 teacher competencies related to educational technology which were identified from groups of media specialists, teacher educators, administrators and experienced teachers as important for teacher preparation programme in a similar study in Alabama by Ernest and S. Patricia in 1982. Comparison was also made to examine the difference in perceived importance between two groups of teachers : the pre-service and in-service teachers. Thus, the following questions were investigated in the study: What educational technology competencies are identified as most important by a group of pre-service teachers ? What educational technology competencies are identified as most important by a group of in-service teachers ? Are there any significant differences in the perceived importance of these competencies between these two groups of teachers ? Are there any significant gender differences in the perceived importance of these competencies ? Methodology: Instrument: The Inventory of Teacher Competencies Related to educational technology by Ernest and S. Patricia in 1982 was adapted in this study. It consisted of three parts: (a) demographic data of the respondents, (b) structured items to measure the respondent's perception of the importance of educational technology competencies (c) open ended questions to solicit other educational technology competencies not mentioned in part (b). The competencies were classified into 7 categories: Visual/Aural/Computer Literacy (5 items); Production Techniques (15 items); Equipment Operation (11 items); Selection and Utilization Principles (19 items); Communication Principles (4 items); System Approach/Instructional Design (9 items); Evaluation of Media, Instruction (6 items). To determine the degree to which respondents felt each competency was important in the teacher training programme, the respondents were asked to respond on a 4-point Likert Scale with the following options: 1 = not important; 2 = somewhat important; 3 = moderate important; 4 = very important. Data analysis: The rank orders of the competencies and the 7 categories were calculated utilizing the items means and the group means within categories. The significance of the differences between groups was then determined by t-test at .05 level. Results: The instrument has been administered with 101 pre-service teachers while the investigation on the in- service group has not been conducted. Analysis of the items in the pre-service group revealed that the ratings were not high. Most of the items fell into the "somewhat important" range. The three most important categories of competencies as perceived by the pre-service group were Visual/Aural/Computer Literacy, Production Techniques and Equipment Operation respectively which were quite different from the views of experts in Alabama study. Concerning the gender difference, only two items were found to be significantly different between male and female pre- service teachers. The same procedures will be administered to the in-service group in the coming academic year. The data so collected will then be compared with those in the pre-service group. Also in the following study, new items not mentioned in the instrument may be generated in the in-service group. This study serves as a preliminary investigation to solicit the views on important educational technology competencies between two groups of teachers. The results may further help to develop an instrument with local context and more up to day items. In the next stage of the study, the actual provision of such competencies in local teacher education programmes will be investigated.