Masaryk University Faculty of Arts
Technology-related Challenges for Teachers
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Technology-related Challenges for TeachersIt is often observed that teachers and students occupy different sides of the technological divide. Evans, for example, states that: ‘a hiatus currently exists between the technological expertise of the teacher and the techno-confident student’ (2009, p. 149). Teachers can find it challenging to adjust to rapidly emerging technologies as fast as students do for many reasons, including the lack of ICT training, insufficient theoretical basis or time and financing required to incorporate them into teaching. In spite of this, studies have shown that teachers who do not initially feel comfortable with technology in class tend to embrace the blended approach once they begin to appreciate its potential and see the positive effect it has on students (Evans, 2009, p. 77). From the practical standpoint, e-learning courses require a higher degree of technological confidence than blended ones. In e-learning, teachers have to make the best use of the ICT skills they have already acquired professionally and personally as well as to develop new ones. Also, the failure to overcome technological challenges has more serious implications online than in classroom because teachers cannot immediately substitute a deficient or not perfectly designed element with their presence and comments. To ensure the effectiveness of an online course, teachers have to aim to prevent and subsequently eliminate as many technological issues as possible. Especially valuable in this respect could be tutors’ and e-technicians’ assistance with more immediate and straightforward tasks, while the teacher can concentrate on the matters of the higher order, such as course design, management and student support. Successful prevention and elimination of technology-related issues cannot take place without sufficient training in the ICT area. Jung (2005) proposes that teaching as a profession puts increasingly higher demands on educators not only because of rapid knowledge expansion but also due to the need to incorporate modern technologies into the delivery process. Indeed, in addition to standard training requirements, teachers are expected to be able to operate ICT in and outside of classroom. In 2005, the infoDev report claimed that the ICT component in teacher training was almost never compulsory. Further, only one third of students in the EU were taught by teachers with formal ICT training. Interestingly, the report adds, that a significant majority, around 70 per cent, of teachers expressed notable interest in ICT and devoted their personal time to the development of relevant skills (Trucano, 2005). Today, nine years later, Europe 2020 agenda recognizes that ICT teacher training is still rarely compulsory and, hence, sees this as an obstacle to the full exploitation of technological potential in education. (‘ICT in education,’ 2013). In this respect, the UNESCO ICT CFT project can be brought to attention as an example of an initiative undertaken at the highest level to promote advances in ICT teacher training. CFT stands for Competency Framework for Teachers and provides general guidance along with practical advice on the implementation of ICT for teachers, teacher trainers, educational stuff working in the ICT area and educational policy makers. This framework is the result of collaboration between UNESCO, CISCO, COL, INTEL, ISTE and Microsoft and is available online for free (‘What is ICT CFT,’ n.d.). Undoubtedly, the fact that recognition of the importance of ICT for education has reached all levels, including the highest one, is an optimistic sign. However, a profound change typically takes a long time to occur and requires cooperation on all levels, including intergovernmental, governmental, institutional and individual, which should not be underestimated. Indeed, in the end, it is individual teachers who work with students and apply framework guidelines to reality. Carlson and Gadio (2002) suggest that teachers take proactive approach to this situation and engage in professional development workshops, acquire self-study training manuals and use a ‘hands-on experiential’ approach (p. 129). Further, teachers’ limited access to infrastructure can negatively affect the design and management of an online course. Here, limited infrastructure is understood as non-adequate access to computers and technical support (Trucano, 2005). Online teaching entails more time spent in front of the computer with the Internet access than a blended approach. Thus, teachers need such technology at hand for most of the day; alternatively they can enlist tutor/s to help with immediate tasks, in which case the responsibility of being online is delegated to tutor/s. Thanks to the high level of digitalization of society, in particular in developed countries, always staying connected is not deemed as something out of the norm. In Europe in 2012, 49 per cent of mobile service users owned smartphones that allow mobile and/or wireless access to the Internet (‘Mobile economy,’ 2013); tablets, not included in this report, also support these Internet access standards. This means that almost a half of all users of mobile phones (79 per cent of the population in 2012) were able to go online at almost any moment of the day and from almost any place. However, sophisticated mobile technology can be costly, mobile Internet bandwidth is often too narrow to comfortably work online and ubiquitous free wireless access off campus is yet to become reality. Thus, teachers and tutors are not always able to access the Internet on the go; in addition, hectic lifestyle may not allow them to stay near desktop or laptop computers for long periods of time. Also, as teachers are mainly qualified in their scientific or scholarly field, they require additional training in ICT, as discussed above, or the support of technical staff especially in design and maintenance of online courses (Limniou & Smith, 2010). Ideally, teachers and tutors should be able to collaborate with computer support teams but, in reality, they may have to carry out many tasks themselves. The aforementioned Carlson and Gadio (2002) suggest that teachers take matters in their hands and seek manuals or online tutorials on how to operate VLEs if other options are limited. The age factor is also perceived as having influence over teachers’ experience with ICT in their professional lives. PewReport (2013) reveals that teachers over 55 years old (44 per cent) are less likely to describe their user level in digital technologies as ‘very confident’ than teachers under 35 (64 per cent). Younger teachers are also more likely to have students use online learning tools, participate in online discussions, collaborate and create content than teachers 55 and over (the ratio is approx. 45 to 34 per cent for each case). At the same time, teachers under 35 constitute a minority in the European Union at the secondary level and above. The European Commission report on teachers in Europe (‘Key data on teachers,’ 2013) claims that a ‘high percentages of European teachers are in the older age groups’ (over forty) in all countries except for Belgium, Ireland, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta and the United Kingdom (2013, p. 90). Moreover, In more than half of European countries, the age group under 30 represents not even 10 % of serving teachers. Over 40 % of the teachers are over 50 in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Norway and Iceland. (p. 90) Based on this data it is possible to suggest that one of the reasons why currently ICT in education is not being used to its full capacity is that the majority of teachers is in the age group that for the most part does not have enough experience with ICT to it see as a facilitator and not as an obstacle. In spite of this, teachers in the older age group should not be perceived exclusively as slowing down the innovations. Provided a constructive dialogue exists between different generations of educational staff, extensive experience of working with students can be combined with digital proficiency, thus, contributing to all-round enhancement of teaching. Teachers can experience the pressure to maintain a position of authority in relation to students when it comes to ICT proficiency. Especially when teaching happens fully online, teachers simply have to exercise a high degree of technological competence. However, there is a range of objective factors that could obstruct the development of ICT skills relevant for teaching, such as the lack of initial ICT training and the difficulty to combine it later on with teachers’ professional development in their main field, the impossibility to always combine presence online with hectic lifestyle or the inexperience with computer technology as such. Subjective factors as low motivation or hesitancy often come from unfamiliarity with the advantages of ICT in teaching and can decrease with practice. It is also important to recognize that students, teachers, institutions, governmental and intergovernmental organizations do not stand against each other or against technology when it comes to enhancement of the learning process. Collaboration and dialogue hold the key to, what is indeed a common goal, a creative, engaging and efficient learning.
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