Research Article
Nduduzo Brian Gcabashe, Abueng Rachael Molotsi
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 18, Issue 2, Article No: ep639
ABSTRACT
Teachers in different contexts continue to integrate technology into their classrooms to enhance their instructional practices. However, teachers in rural villages encounter several challenges when incorporating technology in their classrooms. Therefore, this qualitative study explores the strategies adopted by teachers in schools in rural villages to overcome the challenges associated with technology integration. This study is located within the interpretive paradigm and a case study research design was adopted. The diffusion of innovation theory was employed as the theoretical lens of this study, while interviews were used to collect the data. Twelve grade 9 teachers from the secondary schools in Bojanala District in the North-West Province were selected purposefully. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The study revealed that teachers devised different strategies to overcome challenges they encounter when integrating technology into their classrooms. From this, the study concluded that teachers have accepted technology and that it adds value to their classroom instruction, hence they devise strategies to overcome the challenges associated with technology integration. Based on this, the study recommends that the government should intervene and eliminate the infrastructural challenges that teachers encounter when integrating technology into their classrooms. The study also suggests that schools should adopt peer mentoring in order to entrench technology integration among the teachers.
Keywords: challenges, instructional practices, strategies, teachers, technology integration
Review Article
Huu Tong Duong, Minh Dung Tang, Xuan Mai Vo, Tien-Trung Nguyen, Muhammad Noor Kholid, Nga Thi Hoang, Phuong Uyen Bui, Minh Triet Viet Le
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 17, Issue 4, Article No: ep598
ABSTRACT
Many studies have been conducted on in-service mathematics teachers’ beliefs and instructional practices regarding integrating information and communication technologies (ICTs) into teaching. This systematic review study investigates in-service mathematics teachers’ beliefs, instructional practices, and the relationship between them in integrating ICTs into their instruction. Based on the systematic review methodology and the guidelines for preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, with descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis data processing methods, 15 studies published from 2014 to 2023 were selected to perform the analysis. These results indicate that many studies show teachers’ positive beliefs about ICTs, including their ability to facilitate teaching and learning, improve students’ understanding, and promote student-centered learning. At the same time, teachers use multiple forms of technological tools in many different teaching activities. However, difficulties in practice, from teachers’ technological skills and knowledge to pedagogical skills in classroom management, are also analyzed from selected studies. Furthermore, this study shows that the conclusions about a correlation between beliefs and instructional practices in integrating ICTs into teaching in previous studies are relatively diverse. From these results, the study offers recommendations to stakeholders on professional development for in-service mathematics teachers, indicates its limits, and identifies potential future research areas.
Keywords: beliefs, ICTs, in-service mathematics, teachers, instructional practice, systematic review