An evaluation of information and communication technologies in the FET phase to enhance self-directed learning
Abstract
Education departments are faced with the challenge to supply or ‘e-supply’ Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to their institutions in order to balance supply and demand in the ever-changing, dynamic twenty-first-century information-age milieu (Hadini, Trifess & Rifai, 2020:2). To fulfil the e-supply mandate, education departments frequently procure a large spectrum of ICTs from various developers, manufacturers and publishers. The main concern is whether ICTs considered for procurement do indeed appropriately meet pedagogical needs of the end-users, namely learners and educators (Andyani, Setyosari, Wiyono, & Djatmika, 2020:129). To optimally test for appropriateness and ascertain whether required standards were met during ICT development or design, evaluations need to be performed. In addition to pedagogy, the secondary rationale for ICT-evaluations could be cost-effectiveness; the difference in cost and outcomes (Verbelen, Weale & Lewis, 2017:396) or product value. Considering the rationale, ICT-evaluation should be a formal, non-haphazard process governed by user-centred criteria, preferably embedded in a specialised capable tool or instrument (Raulamo-Jurvanen, Hosio & Mäntylä, 2019:4).
Contextually, this study focuses on the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE), which is no exception to the above-stated challenges of e-supply. Also the GDE’s mandate is to continually e-supply ICTs and devise measures for determining their appropriateness by means of prior evaluations. The mandate is implicit in various national and provincial policy documents, including the Guidelines on the Management and Usage of ICTs in public schools in Gauteng (2010) and Professional Development Framework for Digital Learning (2017). The connotation from such documents is that ICT-evaluation and -selection should adopt a user-centred approach which values and prioritizes the ICT end user (Merlo, Audrey, Llaria, Terrasson, Villeneuve, & Pilniere, 2019:197). Also implicit in policy documents is the thrust for ICT selection to be influenced by institutional and moral norms rather than by personal preferences (Lamb & Kling, 2003:212; Rossi, 2016).
The purpose of this study was to research whether GDE adheres to the aforesaid ICT-evaluation mandate. In particular, the study investigates whether GDE managers and educators implement policy-based processes and procedures during ICT-evaluation and -selection in the FET-Phase.
The study also endeavours to establish an ideal, all-inclusive set of criteria for the development of an ICT-evaluation instrument suitable for self-directed learning (SDL) environments.
The objectives of the study were to:
* describe by means of a literature review whether managers and educators use ICT-evaluation procedures to select appropriate ICTs and determine the main barriers within the process globally and in South Africa.
* determine what an ideal evaluation instrument should look like according to literature and educators in order to support the implementation of ICTs in the FET-Phase curriculum in self-directed learning environments.
* understand the whether GDE managers and educators perceive an ICT-evaluation instrument as being a viable tool for evaluation of the FET-Phase curriculum.
* determine whether education managers involve educators in the process of ICT-evaluation and -selection for the FET-Phase curriculum.
* obtain suggestions from subject teachers and GDE curriculum specialists on what can be infused with an ICT-evaluation instrument to enhance self-directed learning in the FET-Phase.
* propose means to integrate and utilize an ideal, all-inclusive ICT-evaluation instrument for the enhancement of self-directed learning in the FET-Phase curriculum.
The interest to undertake this research was based on the identified gap; the gap being that although GDE’s affirmation of ICT-evaluation is implicit in the above-stated policy documents, there was no evidence of an ICT-evaluation instrument or of such criteria. Furthermore, the study inquired about the level at which the end-user’s needs and inclusion are catered for when ICT-evaluations are performed. The interest was also invoked by the researcher’s past experience as a FET-Phase educator, Learner and Teacher Support Materials (LTSM) co-ordinator as well as previous research experience on LTSM evaluation. As a product of previous LTSM work and research, an evaluation instrument was developed for the GDE and was used to contribute to the national Department of Basic Education evaluation processes and procedures.
Prior to undertaking this study, a research paradigm needed to be identified and adopted. Consequently, the combined principles of Functional Pragmatism and Interpretivism were deemed suitable; thus adopted. Based on the central convictions of Interpretivism and Functional Pragmatism, humans need to work collaboratively in order to gain a common comprehension of
their world and together take optimal multilateral actions (Juuti, Lavonen, & Meisalo, 2016:38). Much as these philosophical convictions were used during data collection, the researcher also propagates consideration of such when ICT-evaluations are planned and performed. Thus one may propagate that meaningful evaluations are not possible where disregard exists for social collaboration with the educator, the ideal knowledgeable techno-pedagogue (Sasirekha & Sasthya, 2017:249) who, on a daily basis, socially interacts with the learner, his partner and ultimate customer of the GDE.
Based on the Philosophical paradigms, this study adopts Design-based research (DBR). DBR is compatible with the objectives of this study because it plays the role of generating knowledge of theory and practice by exploring relationships between new findings and existing theories (Goff & Genet, 2017:107). It makes it feasible to generate new knowledge and theories, and improve curriculum implementation strategies. DBR therefore lays a proper foundation for the path this study needs to take. This study adopted a mixed research method; thus utilised both quantitative and qualitative strands. The Quantitative strand employed numerical data to express research findings based on social phenomena (Ong & Puteh, 2017:14). On the converse, the qualitative strands gave a textual description of oral or optical data (Hammarberg, Kirkman, & De Lacey, 2016:499). Both sets of data were used to reach decisions in real life, concerning ICT-evaluation. The quantitative strand was characterized by a survey and the qualitative strand consisted of interviews; both individual and focus-group.
Regarding the research findings, to determine the validity and reliability of the survey questionnaire, the researcher applied factor analysis by means of which many variables, probably with a shared variance (Bork, Wijsen & Rhemtulla, 2018:586), were condensed into one. The factor analysis yielded three factors, viz. participation, procedures and leadership. Regarding participation, the majority of the responses reflected doubt that educators were fully allowed to participate in ICT-evaluation processes. A possibility exists of lessened involvement due to lack of directive, intrinsic motivation (Azeez, Fapohunda & Jayeoba, 2019:20), acceptance of ICTs and attitude towards ICT-based SDL (Pan, 2020). Pertaining to procedures, most respondents stated their wish to be included in ICT-evaluation through social collaboration. They also stated insufficient awareness programmes regarding ICT-evaluation. Inputs from survey, individual and focus-group interviews as well as a literature review were applied in the development of the ICT-evaluation instrument which was created and tested with the aid of a small working group. Thus one may conclude that the intended outputs of this research work, namely development of criteria and an instrument for ICT-evaluation, were achieved.
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