Abstract
Abstract: The purpose of the study was to establish how educators integrate instructional technologies during teaching in Malkerns primary schools, located in the Manzini region of the Kingdom of Eswatini. The main focus of this study was on the training and support that educators receive towards the integration of instructional technologies in teaching as well as strategies to be put in place in order to curb the challenges faced. The study employed a qualitative approach and a descriptive research design in which face-to-face interviews and focus group discussion were used to collect data. Purposive sampling was used to select the five head teachers, ten educators as change leaders and two computer educators from five selected schools in the Malkerns cluster. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. The main conclusions of the study were that the availability of instructional technologies in schools does not mean that they are integrated during the teaching process. The study also concluded that educators have inadequate technological training and inadequate support which hinder effective instructional technologies integration in teaching. It is recommended that appropriate training programmes for educators, establishment of fully-fledged computer laboratories and an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policy to support instructional technologies should be put in place to ensure successful integration of instructional technologies in teaching.
Keywords
References
- Adams, D., & Zabidi, Z. (2018). Educational leadership for the 21st Century. International Online Journal of Educational Leadership, 1(1), 1-14.Google Scholar ↗
- Allinger, P. (2017). Revealing a hidden literature: Systematic research on educational leadership and management in Africa.Educational Management Administration & Leadership.doi:10.1177/1741143217694895. Retrieved 10 October, 2021.DOI ↗Google Scholar ↗
- Al-Madani, F. M., & Allaafiajiy, I. A. (2014). Teachers’ Professional Development on ICT Use: A Saudi Sustainable Development Model. Proceeding of the 2nd International Conference on Social Sciences Research ICSSR 2014, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.Google Scholar ↗
- Almeida, F., Faria, D., & Queirós, A. (2017). Strengths and Limitations of Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods. https://www.researchgate.net/scientificcontributions/2132915507_Andre_Queiros. Retrieved 22 January, 2021.Google Scholar ↗
- Bhebhe, S., & Maphosa, C. (2018).Integrating information and communication technologies in instructional delivery in Eswatini schools.International Journal of Informatics, Technology & Computers, 1(1), 139-149.Google Scholar ↗
- Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2011). Research Methods in Education (7th ed.). London: Routledge.Google Scholar ↗
- Creswell, J. W. (2008). Educational research, (3rd edition). New Jersey: PearsonGoogle Scholar ↗
- Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design. London: Sage.Google Scholar ↗
- Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2011). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (2nd Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar ↗
- Dinwoodie, D., Masmore, W., Quinn, L., & Rabin, R. (2015). Navigating change: A leader’s role. European Journal of Integrative Medicine, 7(5),460-466.Google Scholar ↗
- Dlamini, B. S., Bhebhe, S. & Dlamini, P. A. (2018). The unfolding competency-based education in Swaziland 2010-2017.Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 23(2), 27-41.Google Scholar ↗
- Drucker, F. (2014). Management challenges for the 21st century managing in the next society. The Daily Drucker Post, pp, A1, A4.Google Scholar ↗
- Gage, N. (2011). The paradigm wars and their aftermath: A historical sketch of research on teaching since 1989. In M. Hammersley (Ed.), Educational Research and Evidence based Practice. London, England: Sage. New York, NY: Educators College Press.Google Scholar ↗
- Haddad, W. D., & Jurich, S. (2002). ICT for education: prerequisites and constraints. In W. D. Haddad and A. Draxler (Eds.), Technologies for Education: Potential, Parameters and Prospects. For UNESCO by Knowledge Enterprise.Google Scholar ↗
- Harris, J., & Hofer, M. (2009). Instructional planning activity types as vehicles for curriculum-based TPACK development. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, 49(1), 4087–4095.Google Scholar ↗
- Hatcher, R. (2005). The distribution of leadership and power in schools. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 26(2), 253-267.Google Scholar ↗
- Kurt, S. (2018). TPACK: Technological pedagogical content knowledge framework. Educational technology, 7, 78-97.Google Scholar ↗
- Makruf, I., Muharom, F., Buchori, A., Aryani, R., & Suhendri, S. (2020). Providing Incentives to Improve and Develop the Performance of Teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 29,675-680.Google Scholar ↗
- Mathevula, D., & Uwizeyimana, D. E. (2014). The challenges facing the integration of ICT in teaching and learning activities in South African rural secondary schools. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 5(20).Google Scholar ↗
- Mdletshe, C. (2013). School overcrowding a ‘alarming’ levels, http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2013/02/12/school-overcrowding-at alarminglevels. Retrieved11 March, 2020.Google Scholar ↗
- Ministry of Education and Training, (2020). National education ICT Report. Mbabane, Eswatini.Google Scholar ↗
- Mishra, P. & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers college Record, 108(6), 1017- 1054.Google Scholar ↗
- Mndzebele, N. (2013). Educators’ readiness in using ICT in the classroom: The case of a developing country. International Journal of Information and Education Technology,3(4), 79-99.Google Scholar ↗
- Sardar I.T. (2018). Changing role of educators in the 21st century! https://medium.com/@itsardar/changing-role-of-educators-in-the-21st century5acb47a23a33.Retrieved 20 November, 2020.Google Scholar ↗
- Shafika, I., Farrell, G., & Trucano, M. (2007). Survey of ICT and education in Africa: A summary report based on 53 country surveys. The University of Johannesburg.Google Scholar ↗
- Strydom, H. (2013) “Sampling and Sampling Methods,” In: A. S. De Vos, Ed., Research at Grass Roots: For the Social Sciences and Human Service Professions. https://www.scirp.org/(S(i43dyn45teexjx455qlt3d2q))/reference/ReferencesPapers.aspx?ReferenceID=759093. Retrieved 22 January, 2021.Google Scholar ↗
- Swaziland Government. (2018). The Swaziland Education Sector Policy. Mbabane: Eswatini.Google Scholar ↗
- Tamim, R. M., Bernard, E., Borokhovski, P. S., & Abrami, R. F. (2011). What forty years of research says about the impact of technology on learning: a second-order meta-analysis and validation study. Review of Education Research, 8(1), 4-28.Google Scholar ↗
- Tichapondwa, S. M. (2010). Trends in distance education research in Southern Africa. International Journal of Open Distance Learning, 3,33-35.Google Scholar ↗
- Williams, M. D. (2009). Introduction: What is technology integration? M D Williams (Ed.) Integrating technology into teaching and learning: Concepts and applications. Singapore: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar ↗
- Willis, G. (2010). Interpretive research.IS- Oslo University.Google Scholar ↗