Examining the influence of ICT-related school and teacher conditions in teachers’ perceived effectiveness of digital technology

Abstract

Background. Little is known about the factors that affect teachers’ perceptions of the benefits of technology for teaching and learning in schools. This state of affairs is problematic since we know that teachers’ perceptions have a high impact on their teaching practices. Instructional benefits are defined here as the contribution of digital technology in several aspects of curriculum development such as the formulation of learning goals, the development of curriculum content and learning activities, the allocation of educational resources, and the adoption of new methods of assessment.

Objective. To develop and test a model of the factors affecting primary and secondary school teachers’ perceptions about the instructional benefits of digital technology in their teaching practices.

Method. This study used survey data gathered from 702 teachers from 356 primary and secondary schools in Spain. A three stage hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed, testing for separate effects and controlling for the other variables included in the model, to assess the contribution of socio-demographic and school-level information, ICT-related school conditions, and ICT-related teacher conditions.

Findings. Hierarchical multiple regression of teachers’ perceived effectiveness of digital technology shows that: a) the teaching area is the only contributing factor among the socio-demographics and the school-level information measures considered; b) ICT-related school conditions (i.e., ICT policy, ICT infrastructure, computer to student ratio, and ICT support) do not improve the explained variance of the model; c) ICT-related teacher conditions (i.e., digital literacy, education ICT training, and frequency of Internet access) are the best predictors among the measures included.

Conclusions. These findings suggest that an increase of ICT knowledge and use within each teaching area would make teachers perceiving more educational benefits associated to technology.