A STUDY ON INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AWARENESS AMONG TEACHER EDUCATORS IN COLLEGESOF by Scholarly Research Journal"s

Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies, Online ISSN 2278-8808, SJIF 2016 = 6.17, www.srjis.com UGC Approved Sr. No.49366, MARâ€“APR, 2018, VOL- 5/44 A STUDY ON INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AWARENESS AMONG TEACHER EDUCATORS IN COLLEGESOF EDUCATION IN PUDUKKOTTAI DISTRICT S. Surendrabalu1 & M. Anbuchezhian2, Ph. D. 1

M.Ed., scholar, Department of education,Government colleges of education pudukkottai-

Tamilnadu, Email:kingsurendar1@gmail.com 2

Principal (FAC), Government colleges of education pudukkottai- Tamilnadu

Email:anburohit123@gmail.com

A present study deals with information and communication technology awareness among teacher educators in colleges of education. Survey method is used for the presentstudy. The sample consists of 100 teacher educators in colleges of education. The tool used is information and communication awareness scale ( ICTAS).The study reveals there is significant the awareness on information and communication technology of teacher educators (sex, locality of teacher educators, and locality of institution, type of family) certain individual and institutional related variables in the colleges of education in Pudukkottai district.

Scholarly Research Journal's is licensed Based on a work at www.srjis.com INTRODUCTION The future progress of man rests upon his to apply the achievement of science and technology. There is a necessity that the learners in schools and colleges are to be imparted the principles of science and technology so that they may contribute to their own progress. In this context, the teachers have to play a different role than their earlier roles. They should have clear understanding of the basis of their profession and command of the fact of science as well as the ability to encourage and inspire the learners who are studying under their direct. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY The modern science and technology have brought out new changes in all walks of human life. People are now living in the information society, the latest in the evolution of human civilization. Information and communication technology has brought out newer changes in education, with the application of new electronic and other technology to the storage, Copyright ÂŠ 2018, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies

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selection and transformation and distribution of information of all kinds. It involves scientific, technological and engineering disciplines and management techniques that are used in information handling and processing, their application, computers and their interaction with men and machines, and associated with social, economic and cultural matters. According to Kapur (1998), ICT has revolutionized education; teachers can give their assignment in a specified home page for the course on the internet and students can copy from there or can get printed copies of the assignment from their computers. After the teacher has corrected the assignment, the teacher gives the complete solution of the assignment, the marking scheme and mistakes made by students on the internet, so that the students can check not only their marks, but know also the types of mistakes that they usually commit in the problem given in the assignment. In fact, sometimes the teachers allow the students to mark the assignments themselves according to the marking assignment scheme given and usually the difference in the marks given by the teachers and the students to themselves is very little. DEFINITION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY The UNESCO defines ICT as “scientific, technological and engineering disciplines and the management techniques used in information handling and processing, their application, computers and their interaction with men and machines, and associated with social, economic and cultural matters” According to the ICT Training Initiative for Teachers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (1998), “ICT is more than just another teaching tool. Its potential for improving the quality of pupils‟ learning and the standard they achieve is significant. Equally, its potential is considerable for supporting teachers, both in their everyday classroom role, for example by reducing the time occupied by the administration associated with it, and in their continuing training and development. It is the modern science of gathering, storing, manipulating, processing and communicating desired types of information in a specific environment. „Computer Technology‟ and „Communication Technology‟ are the two main supporting pillars of this technology”. NEED FOR THE STUDY: The ultimate aim of higher education is “sustainable development” in the face of globalization. The World Bank Review (1995) says, “Education is a major instrument for economic and social development. It is essential to the world Bank‟s strategy for helping the countries reduce poverty and improve the living standards through „sustainable growth‟ and Copyright © 2018, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies

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investment in people”. ICT must be used as a powerful tool to achieve this goal. It is maintained that the continuous research effort on ICT would lead to generation of organized knowledge in ICT – education integration. For raising the quality of pre-service teacher education programme, the Council has formulated norms and standards for nine teacher education courses and developed the “Curriculum Framework for Quality Teacher Education”. As on March 31, 2001, the NCTE had recognized 2258 teacher education institutions in the country. Since its inception, the NCTE has been concerned with the challenge of making teacher education relevant to the changing context of education. This has become relevant as the world has entered into information age. The NCTE has committed itself to help teacher educators acquire basic ICT literacy and start using digital resources in teacher education. Many CD ROMS have been recently produced and rich resources for teacher education have been made available on the worldwide web. The present study is significant in the context of a series of “technology policies” initiated by the government of India. The Government of India has launched „operation knowledge‟ as a part of information technology action plan, “under this plan, computers and internet facility shall be made available in every school college and university for providing the quality of education” (Maheswari, 1998). The present study assumes greater significance in the light of the technology policy formulated by the government, to ensure optimum learning and quality education in the portals of schools and colleges. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: 1) To find out the information and communication technology awareness level of teacher educators in colleges of education in pudukkottai district. 2) To find out whether there is any significant difference between teacher educators in terms of (sex, locality of teacher educators, and locality of institution,type of family)certain individual and institutional related variables in the colleges of education in pudukkottai district HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY 1. Teacher educators in the colleges of education in pudukkottai district have not higher level of awareness about information and communication technology.

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2. There is no significant difference between male and female teacher educators in the colleges of education in pudukkottai district. 3. There is no significant difference between rural and urban teacher educators in the colleges of education. 4. There is no significant difference between rural and urban institution teacher educators in the colleges of education. 5. There is no significant difference between Joint and nuclear family teacher educators do not differ in their information and communication awareness. METHOD OF STUDY: In this study survey method is considered as the appropriate methods. The main purpose of selecting survey method is to study the information and communication technology in the colleges of education in pudukkottai district. SAMPLE OF THE STUDY:The data for the study was collected from a sample of 100 teacher educators in colleges of education both sex. TOOLS USED 1. Information and Communication Technology Awareness Scale (ICTAS) 2. Personal Data Sheet STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES USED: The following techniques were used for analyzing and interpreting data. (1) Mean (2) standard deviation (3) ‟t‟ test RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS: TABLE :1 Information and communication technology awareness among teacher educators in colleges of education N=100 Sample Entire sample

N 100

Mean 42.96

S.D 7.577105

Median 26.5

Interpretation High

In order to find out the information and communication technology awareness among teacher educators in colleges of educations the mean and standard deviation have been calculated. They are found to be 42.96 and 7.577105.this vividly shows that all teacher educators have higher level of awareness in information and communication technology. Copyright © 2018, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies

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TABLE :2 Information and communication technology awareness among male and female teachers educators in colleges of education Gender Male Female

N 59 41

Mean 42.05 44.27

S.D 8.11 6.62

‘t’ test

Level of significance (0.02)

1.44

Not significant

The above table-2shows that there is no significant difference between male and female teacher educators in information and communication awareness. The calculated mean values for male teacher educators are 42.05 and that of female teacher educators 44.27. The calculated„t‟ value 1.44 is less than table value 1.96. This clearly shows that male and female teacher educators do not differ in their information and communication awareness. This may be because male and female teacher educators have equal awareness in information and communication technology. TABLE :3 Information and communication technology awareness between rural and urban teacher educators in colleges of education. Locality teacher educators Rural Urban

of N

Mean

S.D

‘t’ test

Level of significance (0.02)

49 51

41.76 44.12

7.54 7.50

1.57

Not significant

The above table shows that there is no significant difference between rural and urban locality of teacher educators of information and communication technology awareness. The calculated mean values for rural teacher educators are 41.76 and that of urban teacher educators 44.12. The calculated„t‟ value is1.57 less than table value 1.96. This clearly shows that rural and urban teacher educators do not differ in their information and communication awareness. TABLE :4 Information and communication technology awareness between rural and urban locality institution teachers educators in colleges of education Locality of N institution Rural 74

Mean

S.D

42.59

7.90

Urban

6.60

‘t’ test

Level of significance (0.02)

0.81

Not significant

The above table shows that there is no significant difference between rural and urban locality of institution of information and communication technology awareness. The calculated mean values for rural institution teacher educators are 42.59and that of urban institution of teacher educators 44. The calculated„t‟ value is 0.81 less than table value 1.96. This clearly shows

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that rural and urban institution teacher educators do not differ in their information and communication awareness. TABLE :5 Information and communication technology awareness between joint and nuclear family of teacher educators in colleges of education Type of family Joint Nuclear

N 48 52

Mean 43.83 42.15

S.D 6.58 8.38

‘t’ value 1.11

Level of significance 0.02 Not significant

The above table shows that there is no significant difference between joint and nuclear family of teacher educators of information and communication technology awareness. The calculated mean values for joint family teacher educators are 43.83 and that of nuclear family teacher educators 42.15.The calculated„t‟ value is 1.11 less than table value 1.96. This clearly shows that joint and nuclear family teacher educators do not differ in their information and communication awareness. FINDINGS 1. All teacher educators have high awareness in information and communication technology. 2. Male and female teacher educators have equal awareness in information and communication technology. 3. Rural and urban institution teacher educators do not differ in their information and communication awareness 4. Rural and urban institution teacher educators do not differ in their information and communication awareness. 5. Joint and nuclear family teacher educators do not differ in their information and communication awareness. CONCLUSIONS It is concluded that the information and communication technology awareness of teacher educators are high, Further it is noted is no significant difference between gender, locality of teacher,locality of institution, and type of family in teacher educator in pudukkottai. REFERENCES Bahaeerathan,M (2004). “Internet Awareness among the Teachers of Mathematics at High School Level”.journal of experiments in Education,vol.XXXII (11). Goel (1999) , “Information and Communication Technology in Schools”.UniversityNews, 20 (21), March 7-13. Good,C.V,Dictionary of Education,NewYork .McGraw Hill Group,. Castleford,John and Robinson,Geoff (1944).The Development of Computer Assisted Learning in UK Universities”,Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia. Buch,M.B (1974),A Survey research in Education. M.S.University,Baroda.