Information and Communication Technologies in Education
55 theses under this subject heading
Perception of Secondary School Teachers on the Use of ICT Tools: Case Study of Amman - Jordan
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) usefulness and continuous usage cannot be over emphasized, considering its adoption in the trending educational setting by teachers. The purpose of this research work is to analyze the secondary school teacher’s perception on the usefulness of ICT and its usage. And this study further investigated on the teacher’s perception on ICT use and other factors like, internet as a reliable source, social networks, work and ICT, security of internet, using of internet for building course content, other media etc., based on age, gender and years of experience of the participants. Questionnaires and interview questions were used for data collection from participants. The 40 chosen participants were all grouped and analyses based age, gender and years of experience. Descriptive analysis was done on the data gathered based on, t-test, ANOVA, frequencies, standard deviations and percentages. Analysis of the variables was done in other to detect the significant differences for the demographic features of participants. The results of this study showed that the perception of secondary school teachers on the usefulness of ICT tools and its usage is relatively very high and there were strong relationships on the teacher’s responses on their perception according to age, gender and years of experience. Keywords: Perception, ICT usage, ICT tools, Case Study
A Case Study on the Readiness of 5th Grade Primary School Students on Understanding the Concept of Programming Languages through Minecraft
In this research, the orientations and problems of programming lessons were investigated using GBL to see the readiness of 5th grade students in computer courses. The study was carried out with a total of 63 participants who were studied in 5th grade in Eastern Mediterranean Doğa College. As a result of the collected questionnaire and interview questions, it turned out that the game-based learner helped the students in certain programming instruction which was the result of the participants’ answers. According to the results of study, the students found that the activity was educational and instructional through the GBL. In addition, the teaching and learning was successful at a certain level even though students look prejudiced on programming lessons. Keywords: Game-based learning, Minecraft, Programming courses, The readiness of primary school students.
Instructional Quality of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Open Courses (OCs)
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing a very important role in today Education. The purpose of the study is to assess and compare Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Open Courses (OCs) based on the first principles of instruction. Inventory was used for the collection of data through evaluations of the various MOOCs and OCs. The chosen 57 courses were grouped into xMOOCs, cMOOCs, Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) and other Universities (OTU) OCs. This study, it is obtained that the instructional design of various courses is not successful. Moreover, it is observed that the principles of instruction showed that there is statistical significant difference in designing instructional materials by the MOOCs and OCs designers. Data were analyzed with SPSS by descriptive methods. EMU OCs score very low point in the problems center principles with average score in the objectives and organizations. Keywords: Distance Education, Online learning, MOOCs, Open Courses, Learners.
The Attitudes towards ICT and the Internet Usage of Teachers of Secondary Education: Case in TRNC
The research study examined the attitudes towards Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the internet usage of the teachers of secondary education in the case of TRNC. In this research, data adopted was gathered via both quantitative and qualitative method. For collecting data via quantitative method, a questionnaire instrument is distributed to the selected 252 teachers of secondary education. In addition, interview method was also adopted during the collection of data phase, by administering a purposive interview questions to 25 teachers in order to elicit useful responses regarding to their attitudes towards ICT and internet usage. Analysis was carried out on gathered data using ANOVA, t-test, standard deviations and percentages. Significant differences were also conducted on the variable factors based on the demographic characteristics of each participant. The findings of this study showed that, majority of the respondents hold a high response on their attitudes towards ICT and also have higher responses in their level of the internet usage. Moreover, it was also observed that there is no significant difference between the male and the female respondents' attitudes toward ICT tools and level of internet usage. It is worth to mentioned that, the analyzed data showed that no significant difference exists regarding to the teachers' attitudes towards ICT and their level of internet usage whether the teachers have attended any computer classes or not, participated to a computer certificate or not, their years of experiences and the purpose of their daily computer usage. Keywords: Information and Communication Technology, Internet usage, secondary education, teachers' attitudes
Virtual Socialization, Sharing and Loneliness Level of Primary School Teachers: A Case Study of Famagusta, North Cyprus
In social sciences environment is becoming very essential in any given field. Virtual learning environment is one of the on-going trends in our primary education today. In fact, it has been increasingly luring the social scientists who dedicate most of their studies in field researches. The main purpose of this study is to find out teachers perspective about a virtual learning environment, with regards to virtual socialization, virtual sharing and to investigate the loneliness level of primary school teachers in virtual environment. This thesis make use of a mixed approach in data collection, as data will be retrieved from the participant with the use of a questionnaire aiming to evaluate teachers’ loneliness level in virtual learning environments that will be administered among 153 instructors in 32 Primary schools within the Famagusta District of North Cyprus. In the same vein, a semi-structured interview will be carried out. This study indicates that there is a firm correlation between teachers’ attitudes and virtual learning environments. The main findings of this study show that the level of teachers’ virtual socialization is higher than their loneliness level, and the teachers’ level of virtual sharing was at a lowest level. Keywords: Environment, Virtual Learning, Virtual Learning Environment, Famagusta, North Cyprus
Perceptions of Students’ on ‘Intelligent Tutoring System
The research in this thesis investigated how instructional technological based solutions, such as intelligent tutoring system, help students to increase their learning motivation and satisfaction after provided quality of information, system, and service. Intelligent tutoring system as an educational supplemental tool, which has been one of the major discussion topics about between educators and education theorist, is designed to assist students for their academic achievement. Although intelligent tutoring system has been successfully used in number of disciplines, it has not been exactly identified what affects students‟ perceptions and consequently what factor leads to success or failure of the program. Therefore, this study implemented information system success model to ensure that all the dimensions are measured scientifically to carry out reliable and validated findings. This model proved that intelligent tutoring system helps to improve the desired learning performances significantly as students receive quality information, service and system. Another noteworthy finding was learning motivation, student satisfaction and task-technology fit were closely related with the learning performances.
Examining Teachers’ Self-efficiency Regarding Web Pedagogical Content Knowledge Framework
Technology has been always important for all industries and due to the dramatically increase and its influence of it in education, in the last decades there has been a crucial need for teachers to learn how to adopt, integrate and apply new technologies in their instruction. Accordingly, this study investigated the level of teachers’ knowledge in Web Pedagogical Content Knowledge (WPCK) framework with respect to some of their personal characteristics such as age-range, gender, years of experience in teaching, division of teaching, and access to the internet outside the school. To fulfill this, a survey implemented in Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) targeting all teachers in foreign language and English Preparatory School including (FLPS) total number of 167 instructors. A questionnaire called Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge-Web (TPCK-W) developed by Lee and Tsai (2010) has been applied by this study as a survey instrument. As a result of measuring coefficient, mean, standard deviation, and probability value (P-value), this study found high level of knowledge in WPCK framework as well as notable positive attitude toward the Web-based instruction. Furthermore, some significant correlations have been found in some different factors of Web-general (WG), Web-communicative (WC), Web pedagogical content knowledge (WPCK). Keywords: TPCK-W, Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge-Web
The Attitudes of Computer Science Students and Instructors on Academic Social Network (ASN) Site: Case of University of Sulaimani
Nowadays, Internet, specifically Social Network Sites (SNS) have a great influence on the education system and academic life in universities. The main purpose of this study was to find out and discover instructors’ and students' attitudes towards the use of both SNS and Academic Social Network (ASN) site in their academic life in university of Sulaimani. In addition, UoS_ASN site was proposed and developed as an ASN site. The development of UoS_ASN site was formulated by the design-based research approach. Later, it was tested and used by students and instructors in the same university then students’ and instructors' attitudes and opinions were examined. The core purpose of UoS_ASN site was to assemble instructors and students online which it gave opportunity to them to communicate and collaborate with each other, disseminate tutorials, research and academic papers as well as help them to express their ideas and opinions. In this research, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were administered. The semi-structure interview was used to collect qualitative data with the instructors and questionnaire tools were used to collect quantitative data with the students. The participants in this research consisted of 105 students and 11 instructors. The result of the research demonstrated that instructors and students mostly have a positive attitude toward the use of SNSs and UoS_ASN. Keywords: Social Network Sites, Academic Social Network, ICT, E-learning
Palestine Technical University Students’ Perceptions on Educational Use of ICT Tools
Technology is very important for todays‟ education. The main purpose of this study is to explore the students‟ perception of Palestine Technical University toward educational use of ICT tools. The selected sample was students for Palestine Technical University, Palestine. Quantitative method was applied on PTU students and questionnaire collected to conduct survey of 137 participants. The study data was analyzed by quantitative method, questionnaire published and the sample collected randomly from all PTU faculties. The data were analyzed using frequencies; Anova test using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Finding showed that there is positive attitude toward using ICT tools; however the result showed that there are no significant differences according to academic year and gender while there are significant differences with regard to CGPA, faculties, having computer at home, having internet at home, using computer in classrooms per week. Keywords: ICT tools, perceptions, technology, learning system.
An Investigation of Senior Secondary School Teachers Utilization of ICT: An Example of Anambra State, Nigeria
This study evaluates how secondary school teachers in Anambra State, Nigeria utilize Information and Communication Technology (ICT based on their gender, age, teacher’s grade level, ICT general knowledge, and their usage of ICT. Due to the nature of this study, the study was carried out using quantitative research and survey method while ICT Utilization (ICTU) scale was data collection tool in this study. On the other hand, this research consists of two hundred and five (205) participants of actively employed teachers during the 2019–2020 academic session in both private and public secondary schools. Data analysis was conducted using frequency (f), percentage (%), mean (X̅) and descriptive data analysis techniques while T-test and One-Way ANOVA was used result validation. The results demonstrated a strong sign that a greater number of the teachers demonstrated reasonable ICT utilization skills in terms of general knowledge and usage. On the hand, no major distinction could be found between ICT utilization and age, gender and grade level orientation. The results also showed that there is great competence in the skills of teachers to make use of ICT effectively, at least on a technical or basic level. There remains a considerable gap between acquiring these skills and using them in the educational setting. Beside this, there is some acknowledgement and support of the benefits connected with usage of ICT, and there are some secondary school teachers who identify the significance of ICT in developing more productive techniques in the classroom.
Design and Implementation of an Automated Class Attendance System for Educational Purposes
This research was conducted in order to easily get the attendance of the students at the Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The research technique used in the project is Design Base Implementation Research (DBIR) and it is a combination of hardware and software system. The main purpose of this research is to reduce the time taken by the existing student attendance system on a paper or via calling the name of the students and to increase the efficiency of the attendance system. Thus, it aims that the time spent by the lecturer for the attendance taking to be effectively acquired in teaching and the taking attendance to be more accurate. The developed system uses a microprocessor called Raspberry Pi. For the project, RC 522, which is a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, and liquid crystal display (LCD) used. In addition, the application code for the Raspberry Pi is written with Python 2.7 programming language. This project contains five different phases. The first one is that the student read his/her card to the system. The second operation is the person's information which is processed by the system and the message is displayed on the LCD screen either as an error message or success message. The third operation is the transfer between Raspberry Pi and the server. The fourth operation is the server process where the database is available. With the information read from the card, attendance is also recorded to the Relational database management system (RDBMS) if it meets the requirements. Finally, the fifth process is web based management application that is available to student, teacher and administrators. The web-based application is developed using the HTML, PHP and JavaScript programming languages. This project offers an automated attendance system, which is faster and reliable, alternative to the current traditional methods of taking attendance at EMU.
The Attitudes of Students and Teachers toward the Use of Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) in Education: Case of Computer Engineering Department at Eastern Mediterranean University
The aim of this study was to examine teachers’ and students’ attitudes of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) as an instructional tool in computer engineering classrooms and to find out potential differences in attitudes according to some variables such as gender, age, hours of weekly IWB use, years of study and years of teaching experience of the participants. For data collection, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Two questionnaires distributed to 40 teachers and 150 students and also 10 teachers were interviewed to explore their opinions towards the use of IWB in the Department of Computer Engineering at Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU). The findings of this research indicated that the attitudes of teachers and students about using of IWBs technology in education were positive because they were mindful of the benefits of this technology in promoting meaningful teaching and learning. The result of the study has shown that there are statistically significant differences between the attitudes of students and teachers towards IWB use in their studies. It was also found that most teachers believe that IWB constitutes an effective and convenient way to deliver the learning content and that it increases the level of classroom interaction which in turn facilitates the learning experience, and also teachers expressed that they need training programs to acquire the essential competencies required to use this technology efficiently. Furthermore, the results showed that when students were involved in the IWB-base lessons their attitudes towards new technology have changed to more positive over time and this fluctuation in attitudes can be easily captured when dealing with and manipulating IWBs. Keywords: Interactive whiteboard; Teachers’ Attitudes; Students’ attitudes; ICT
Perceptions of Students and Instructors about the Use of Moodle/Office365 Portal in Educational Activities: A Case Study at EMU
In this study, the perceptions of students and faculty members regarding the use of Moodle / Office365 system in educational activities were examined. Perceptions have been examined from three different perspectives: These are the effect, usefulness and ease of use of the technology used on students' motivation in learning activities. Students enrolled in ITEC115 - ITEC190 courses using the Moodle / Office365 system and the instructor of the course participated in the study in the spring semester of 2019- 2020. This study was conducted within the framework of using qualitative and quantitative research methods together which is mix method. The data was collected through a Microsoft Forms 365 link placed on the Moodle pages of the respective lessons. The research group consists of 106 students enrolled in ITEC115 and ITEC190 courses from the Faculty of Education and other faculties, and the lecturers of the course attended the meeting. As a result of this study, it was understood that the participants believed that the Moodle / Office365 system was a useful and easy to use technology. It has been observed that students and faculty members find it useful to use this new system in learning environments. In addition, it is thought that the use of this new system by students and faculty has a positive effect on students' motivation in learning activities.
Students and Instructors Perception on the Use of Moodle-LMS in the Department of Computer Science in Veritas University
Teaching and learning has become a significant factor in today’s world, where numerous nations are putting great amount of monetary resource in education in view that education is essential for any nation to develop. The new trend of developing countries are to invest into modern innovations for educational purposes with function to make learning more adaptable, progressively viable and effective. Lots of Nigerian universities still lack the effort to arrange a good structure online learning course that support student learning ability also having access to learning materials from anywhere. Learning is not a popular teaching approach in Nigeria, but most Universities in Nigeria prefer off - campuses for their distant student who enrols in their educational programs. Many universities in Nigerian still practice full-time traditional approach of teaching - school campus. This makes e-learning unpopular in Nigerian Universities. This study used both quantitative and qualitative approaches to analyse students and instructors` perception towards use of Moodle with sample size of 107 participants were used to collect data from the department of computer science at Veritas University. However, the study provides positive and fresh perceptions towards both theoretical and real-life challenges of LMS and the results show that the attitude and perceptual experience of students and instructors within the department of computer science at Veritas University were positively significant and this is due to the fact that new methods are incorporate modern applications with learning activity, this brings more and new approach to school curriculum. Keywords: E-learning, Moodle, Higher education, Learning Management System, Nigeria.
Design and Implementation of Project-Based Flipped Classroom: A Case Study of IT Students
The general consensus is that higher education organizations should support learners to be prepared for future learning in their educational life as well as their lives beyond the university. The project-based flipped classroom provides learners with a learner-centered approach and self-directed education using the online educational materials. Furthermore, it enhances the engagement and interaction of students with their peers and teachers. The main objective of this research is to investigate the students’ perceptions toward a novel learning method, named as project-based flipped classroom. The study designed and implemented a project-based flipped classroom for IT students at Eastern Mediterranean University. Moreover, the study is designed based on the triangulate research method. Total 30 under-graduate students participated in this study. Data were accumulated with close-ended questions and open-ended questions during this study. The collected data were analyzed with the descriptive analysis method. Negative and positive opinions of the students on project-based flipped classroom were assessed. The student’s achievement of this instructional method was found to be high. They expressed that educational environment is a rich environment where they were positively affected by their computer-based communication, working in a group, managing time and tasks in order to achieve their success. Keywords: Learning management system (LMS), project-based learning, flipped classroom, project-based flipped classroom
Students’ Perceptions towards the Effective Use of Web-Based Learning Platform (WBLP) on their Learning Outcomes
Nowadays, computers are the potential deliverers of the educational system, since they can be used for personalizing learning, to design learning according to the learners’ knowledge and needs. Educators’ attention has overtime been attracted by the development of the internet and internet-based computerized learning (i.e e-learning). Academic studies in this area have portrayed that the process of obtaining web technology for the purpose of learning and teaching is quickly becoming an important tool in these fields. In accordance with the latest requirements, many institutions and individuals prefer to provide education/training via the Internet and that has sparked a remarkable rate of increase in web-based education institutions. And therefore, there has been a rise in the usage of personal/informal as well as institutional/formal web-based learning platforms. Therefore, the web, with its wide range of functions, has become such a highly invaluable source and the tool to acquire learning, research development that in all honesty without its learning process. The technological implications and wide use of learning applications of the web that includes a wide array of functions and many unique components are now currently utilized in the development and evaluation of effective web-based learning applications in order to facilitate teaching contents through interactive exercises and multimedia materials. This research is to analyze the perceptions of Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) students, who are registered to a course which is given by the School of Computing and Technology through a web-based learning platform Keywords: web-based learning, e-learning applications, multimedia technologies, teaching tool, the educational system
Sensitivity and Awareness Level of Preservice Teachers about Cyberbullying
ABSTRACT: Development of information and communication technologies has brought some problems. A new form of bullying, designated with cyberbullying is one of the problems that comes with increasing using of information and communication tools. Cyberbullying is one of the problems that may expose individuals to risky and damaging situations at any moment, and it is difficult to take measures. This study aimed for examining preservice teachers’ sensitivity and awareness levels about cyberbullying in terms of gender, age, grade and department of education faculty. Quantitative approach was taken. The target group of this study consisted of 344 preservice teachers studying at Faculty of Education at EMU in 2013-2014 spring semester. Cyberbullying sensitivity scale developed by Tanrıkulu, Kınay and Arıcak (2013) and cyberbullying awareness scale developed by Yenilmez and Seferoğlu (2013) were applied for data collection. The first scale was used to measure sensitivity level of cyberbullying while the second scale measures awareness level of cyberbullying. The descriptive statistics was analyzed in terms of mean, frequencies standard deviations and percentages. Analysis of variances was conducted for finding significant difference for demographic characteristics of sample. The findings indicated that most of preservice teachers had relatively high levels of awareness and sensitivity about cyberbullying but there were no significant differences between the average sensitivity and awareness level according to gender, age, grade and departments. Keywords: Cyberbullying, Awareness, Sensitivity, Preservice Teachers. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Perceptions of Students About the Use of Blended Learning in Computer Literacy Courses
The technology in our lives is changing rapidly every day. In the field of technology, our life changes after every step taken by humanity and education cannot be excluded. In addition to traditional, face-to-face education, we have different learning models today. This study was carried out in Eastern Mediterranean University, “Hukuk için Bilgisayar” (ITEC190) and “Bilgisayara Giriş” (ITEC115) courses in the 2019-2020 Spring semester. These courses were given as blended learning and students' perceptions about the use of blended learning were examined. The data were collected using a modified questionnaire prepared by Gedik (2010). Findings showed that students' perceptions about the application of blended learning were positive in these lessons. In addition, students' views on the classroom atmosphere can be positively defined. However, due to the covid-19 outbreak, students had chance to attend classes physically for only 4 weeks. As a result, some students declared that they felt lonely. As a result, some students declared that they felt lonely. Moreover, the results revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in participants' perceptions according to their gender. However, findings show that there is no significant difference between the perceptions of the participants according to the number of blended courses they have taken before.
Instructors’ Opinions about New Learning Management System
Learning management system (LMS) is highly discussable subject in educational field. Such systems need to always be updated and upgraded with new features, tools and design to keep up with technology development from day to day. A standard framework for developing LMS was provided with focusing on the design and interface. This research focused in implementing new LMS and implements it in new way by using up to date technologies to achieve user friendly and ease to use. In this research EMU was taken as a case study to get opinions on new LMS of students and instructors and compares it to an existing one in Eastern Mediterranean University. Data is collected by using Interview questions with 10 instructors from School of Computing and Technology. User friendly interface and ease to use design can empower the LMS. Keywords: learning management system, LMS, interface design, LMS Development Framework, LMS comparison.
Online Learning Readiness Level and Perceived Social Presence of The Teacher Candidate’s in The Online Learning Environment an E.M.U Example
Recent developments on the ICT’s have led to the emergence of major changes not only in people’s lives but also in educational environment. It is observed that distance learning programs are being very popular from many institutions. It is known that evaluation of the quality of the learning environment is very important for the distance education program’s achievements. The aim of this study is to investigate the online learning readiness level and perceived social presence of teacher candidates in terms of gender and branch. The research group of the study is consisted of, 94 students who’s registered at the online pedagogical formation program at the 2014-2015 academic fall term of the Eastern Mediterranean University. Online learning readiness scale developed by Hung, Chou, and Chen and Own (2010) which is translated into Turkish by Yurdugül and Alsancak Sirakaya (2013) and social presence scale developed by Arbaugh (2008) which is translated in Turkish by Kilic Cakmak, Cebi and Kan (2014) were apply for data collection. The result of this research identified that major numbers of teacher candidate’s online readiness level is relatively high and the online social presence level of the teacher candidates is medium. Although, there was some significant differences among males and females students in terms of social presence in the online learning environment. Keywords: Online Learning Readiness Level, Online Social Presence Level, Teacher Candidates
Satisfaction Level of Teacher Candidates in Online Learning: Case Study of Eastern Mediterranean University
In recent years, online learning environment has become popular since it provides flexibility in terms of time and place. The aim of the current study is to assess the level of satisfaction of teacher candidates. This study is formed as a “case study” by employing both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods to collect data from the respondents. Teacher candidates who are studying 2013-2014 Summer Semester Pedagogical formation certificate programs were chosen as a sample for the current study and sample size was determined as 291 respondents at EMU. The quantitative data were collected by appointing the “E-Learning Student Satisfaction Questionnaire” which proposed by Kantoglu et al., (2013). Furthermore, qualitative data was gathered by employing a semi-structured interview form. Current study has revealed that level of of satisfaction of teacher candidates were high for online learning environment. Moreover, results indicated that level of satisfaction of female teacher candidates were higher than the level of satisfaction of male teacher candidates in terms of quality of support services. Results also expressed that students in 29-36 age interval were having higher satisfaction level on online learning when compared with teacher candidates in 23-28 age interval in terms of the material usefulness and actuality of materials. Keywords: Student Satisfaction, Online Learning Environment, Online Learning Environment Student Satisfaction
Students’ and Faculty Members’ Perceptions of Online vs. Traditional Courses: Case Study EMU School of Computing and Technology
ABSTRACT: This study examined the perception of selected students and faculty members of online versus traditional course. The selected case study was the School of Computing and Technology at the Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus. In addressing the research questions, mixed method was employed to solicit data using questionnaires to conduct survey and interviews. Data collected by survey technique had 140 participants while interview was conducted 16 students and 15 faculty members. The survey data was analyzed quantitatively, while interviews were analyzed qualitatively. Results showed that students’ perception revealed that both online and traditional courses are satisfactory and enables them attain the academic successes. In the same vein, students hold strong view that online courses are not better than traditional courses but can serve meaningfully to complement each other. The viewpoint held by faculty members complies with that of students that online courses are very efficient but serve more appropriately for theory-based courses. So traditional mode remains the best approach to teach and learn practical courses. However, online facilities are very useful in facilitative classroom learning. Keywords: Online courses, traditional courses, perception, students, faculty members. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Instructors’ Perceived Knowledge of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) at the Faculty of Education
The use of technology in instruction has brought about different perceptions. The need to know how teachers integrate technology in instruction has brought along side different views. Therefore, this study mainly seeks to understand these views on instructors’ perceived knowledge of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) as it examines how their views changes according to gender, age, period of service, ranking, employment status, department, and the state of in-service training oriented towards the use of technology. In order to achieve the above aim, the researcher statistically examined Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Faculty of Education instructors’ perceived knowledge of TPACK. In this thesis, a TPACK survey instrument was administered to 53 instructors, a questionnaire was used to ascertain their perception levels across the seven TPACK dimensions. Mean, standard deviation, percentage, frequency and non-parametric tests (Mann Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis test) were used for data analysis. The study reveals that instructors’ perceptions about TPACK were significantly high across all knowledge dimensions and there were statistical significant differences on how instructors viewed TPACK according to the above listed variables. These differences took place in Technological Knowledge (TK) and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) according to gender, Technological Knowledge (TK) according to age, Technological Knowledge (TK) according to period of service, Technological Knowledge (TK), and Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (PCK) according to employment status, Technological Knowledge (TK), Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK) , and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) according to department and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) according to in-service training. There was no change according to ranking. Keywords: TPACK, Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Perceived Knowledge of TPACK
Secondary School Students Perceptions of STEM in Western Nigeria
As the world advances through more and more technological breakthroughs, there is no doubt STEM education is the platform to be laid down for the new generation to get by. Like many developing countries, Nigeria is making effort in the development of STEM education. At middle school or secondary schools students begin to ponder about their career options. Secondary students seem to be shying away from STEM. The efforts made by the government with several programmes have not been effective enough. The aim of this study is to investigate secondary school student perceptions of STEM. This study was carried out in the south-west geo political zones of Nigeria. In this research a quantitative approach was employed by using a standard questionnaire to collect necessary data from students of age bracket 14 – 17. SPSS was used to analyse data. Descriptive – analysis, T-test and Annova test was carried out on the data collected. The results shows that students have high perception of STEM. It was also found out that age, gender and state of respondents is not a major factor influencing student‘s performance in STEM subjects.