Integrating Ict In Mathematics Teaching Education Essay

Integrating Ict In Mathematics Teaching Education EssayThe intention of this study is to study the barricades preventing the consolidation and adoption of information and communication technology in teaching maths in Bhubaneswar, India. The data were collected by means of questionnaires from secondary give lessons math teachers. Major barriers were identified wishing of cartridge clip in the school schedule for projects involving ICT, insufficient teacher procreation opportunities for ICT projects, inadequate technical entertain for these projects, deficiency of knowledge close slipway to integrate ICT to rear the curriculum, difficulty in desegregation and using divergent ICT tools in a adept lesson and unavailability of resources at home for the students to entree the requisite reproductional materials. To over deduct some of these barriers, this paper proposes an e-portal which is a accumulation of mathematical tools, a question bank and other resources in d igital form that abide be utilize for teaching and schooling math. ground on these findings, I propose the use of several strategies that should enhance undefeated ICT integration.INTRODUCTIONInformation and Communication Technology (ICT) has changed our daily activities in umteen ways. One of the goals for integrating ICTs in education is to enhance teaching and discipline practices thereby improving quality of education (Higgins, 2003). However, in most exploitation countries like India, the potential of ICT to support pedagogy is yet to be to the full realised. Since these changes are evident amongst younger members of our society, they are evident on first-string and secondary schools students. Considering that ICT plays an increasingly important role in society, especially if we deliberate into account social, economic and cultural role of computers and the Internet, it is clear that the m has come for the actual entry of ICT in the sketch of education. The combi nation of ICT and the Internet surely opens not only many opportunities for creativity and innovation, but excessively for draw close the teaching material to current generation of students. Re dependers argued that with the introduction of technology, it is possible to alter algorithmic skills the resulting void whitethorn be filled by an change magnitude emphasis on the buzz offment of mathematical concepts. Technology saves meter and gives students rile to powerful new ways to explore concepts at a information that has not been possible in the past. ICT enhances efficiency of mathematical thought, enables learners to make conjectures and straight test them in non-threatening environment (Laborde, 2001). Abramovich (1999)s use of spreadsheets in generalizing Pythagorean Theorem demonstrates how computers may be utilise to learn concepts in geometry and algebra. Mean firearm researchers (Balacheff Kaput, 1996 Kilpatrick Davis, 1993) run through discussed the encounte r of technological forces on learning and teaching mathematics. Internet is increasingly creation used to enhance collaborative and interactive learning (Cazes, Gueudet,Hersant and Vandebrouck, 2006 Cress and Kimmerle, 2008 Resta and Rafferriere, 2007) also (Lavy andLeron, 2004). As the study and practice of facilitating learning and improving performance (Januszewski Molenda, 2008), the field of educational technology attempts to overcome challenges by developing new approaches and frameworks. In this context, information and communication technologies (ICTs) represent a new approach for enhancing the spreading of information and helping to meet these challenges. For a successful integration of ICT into the mathematics curriculum, it is essential to have knowledge of the existing computer software that is used by mathematics teachers. A survey carried out by Forgasz Prince (2002) be that 61% of the respondents (teachers) used spreadsheets, 45% used news processing and 30% use d Internet browsers. In a separate study, Jones (2004) found that seven barriers existed while integrating ICT into lessons. These barriers were (i) lack of confidence among teachers during integration(21.2% chemical reactions), (ii) lack of memory entryway to resources (20.8%), (iii) lack of time for the integration(16.4%), (iv) lack of effective learning (15.0%), (v) facing technical problems while the software is in use (13.3%), (vi) lack of personal irritate during lesson preparation (4.9%) and (vii) the geezerhood of the teachers (1.8%).METHODOLOGYThis research deployed a survey method to investigate the barriers of integrating ICT into the teaching of mathematics. A total of 50 rejoinders were standard and they were analysed using the SPSS statistical package. A questionnaire was adapted from the Teacher Technology Survey by the American Institute for Research (AIR, 1998). The questionnaire was divided into five areas, i.e., (A) the teachers profile, (B) how teachers u se ICT, (C) the teachers ICT experience, (D) the barriers faced by teachers and (E) the proposed solution.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONSICT applications in generalIn general, a total of 74.3% of the respondents used computers on a regular basis. Table 1 depicts the percentage of usage by teachers in the divers(a) ICT applications word processing packages (76.8%), spreadsheets (50.3%), Internet activity (67.2%), search engines (56.5%) and multimedia (11.2%). These percentages show that the computer literacy rate among secondary school mathematics teachers has been high.TABLE 1 Common ICT Applications by TeachersApplicationDaily(%) hebdomadally(%)Monthly(%)1 or 2 timesa socio-economic class (%)Never(%)NA(%)NR(%)Computers in general22.325.226.812.56.24.22.8Word processing packages20.426.330.113.65.81.32.5Spreadsheets9.615.425.322.56.312.58.4 any Internet activity20.822.523.928.61.21.31.7Search engines for Internet14.419.822.326.911.53.61.5Multimedia2.53.65.115.840.119.513.4NA non Availabl e NR No Response white plagues of InternetThe Internet was used for various purposes. 65.5% respondents used it for browsing, 42.3% used the e-mail facility, 5.5% used IRC, 6.3% used chat rooms, and 8.6% used it in discussion forums and4.5% for other purposes. 6.9% respondents did not use the Internet.Table 2 Use of Internet by TeachersActivityBrowsinge-mailIRC handling forumsChat roomsOthersNoneResponse (%)65.542.35.58.66.34.56.9Professional development and culture needsA total of 40.3% respondents indicated that they had received ICT learn.60.2% of the respondents demonstrated that they had found the training to be generally usable while 64.9% said that they had not received training on how to integrate ICT into mathematics teaching. According to 46.3% of the respondents, mathematics teachers get hold of training on how to integrate ICT into their teaching while 59.5% of them stated that they ask a combination of various types of training..Table 3 ICT Training needICT train ing needsGeneral useIntegrate ICT intoTeachingUse of InternetCombination of needsResponse (%)10.164.95.559.5Barriers faced by teachers during integrationThe six major barriers identified were lack of time in the school schedule for projects involving ICT (50.3%), lack of knowledge about ways to integrate ICT to enhance the curriculum (49.5%), lack of adequate technical support for ICT projects (41.9%), inadequate teacher training opportunities for ICT projects (41.2%), integrating and using several(predicate) ICT tools in a single lesson (34.8%) and the absence of access to the necessary technology at the homes of students (31.0%).Perception of mathematics teachers toward the proposed solutionThere is a very strong positive response to the proposed solution to develop a mathematics portal for teaching mathematics, wherein a allurement of mathematical tools, a question bank and other resources in digital form that can be used for teaching and learning mathematics. 70.2% of the resp ondents considered it to be very useful and face-saving and 27.3% viewed it as useful and helpful. and 2.5% of the respondents considered that the portal would not be very useful and helpful.Table 4 Barriers Faced by TeachersBarriers% Response asnot a barrierminormajorNot enough or limited access to computer hardware30.250.619.2Availability of computer software23.854.621.6Lack of time in school schedule for projectsinvolving ICT11.338.450.3Lack of adequate technical support for ICT projects15.342.841.9Not enough teacher training opportunities for ICTProjects18.740.141.2Lack of knowledge about ways to integrate ICT toenhance curriculum10.240.349.5ICT integration is not a school priority31.445.223.4Students do not have access to the necessarytechnology at home22.846.231.0Teachers do not have access to the necessarytechnology at home24.955.219.9Integrating and using divergent ICT tools in a singleLesson16.548.734.8Table 5 Perceptions towards the proposed solution% response asvery us eful andhelpful% response asuseful andhelpful% response as notso useful andhelpful% response asnot at allProposed solution todevelop a mathematicsportal for teaching70.227.32.50From this study, the following findings were foundThe most popular application packages used by mathematics teachers were word processing packages (76.8%), spreadsheets (50.3%), internet activity (67.2%), and search engines (56.5%). However, it must be celebrated that the packages that have not been positively considered by the respondents may not be necessarily useless. . Mathematics teachers need more time to learn to use them -programmes like specific Java applets, Flash presentations, graphical applications and simulation programmes have great potential for the teaching of mathematics because they assist explorations and higher dedicate thinking.It is encouraging to learn that 65.5% of the respondents used the browser to gather information. It is timely that educators foster mathematics teachers to us e the Internet for online demonstrations like using Java applets on mathematics that are only available online.A large counterbalance (64.9%) did not have any training on how to integrate ICT into mathematics teaching. Such training should be an integral part of professional training. Moreover, 46.3% of the respondents request to have training on how to integrate ICT into teaching.Some major barriers keep the implementation of ICT in mathematics teaching were found to be lack of time in school schedule for projects involving ICT, insufficient teacher training opportunities for ICT projects, inadequate technical support for these projects, lack of knowledge about ways to integrate ICT to enhance the curriculum, difficulty in integrating and using different ICT tools in a single lesson and unavailability of resources at home for the students to access the necessary educational materials. Therefore, funding for new ICT resources should be increased in order to provide adequate ICT eq uipment and resources. It is also recommended that the field of studys of the subject be reduced so as to integrate ICT. teachers consider that inadequate time is a factor against teaching and learning effectivenessTherefore to encourage more teachers to integrate ICT into mathematics lessons, the devised programme must be user friendly. The e-portal proposed for this purpose is geared towards fulfilling such needs. This e-portal will be a collection of mathematical tools, a question bank and other resources in digital form that can be used for teaching and learning mathematics. cobblers lastTo create an environment of effective ICT integration, hence improving the quality of education for the youth in the province teacher education programs must cogitate on eliminating barriers. Based on the findings and discussions presented here, the several recommendations are suggested for practitioners.Technology plans for implementing ICT should be prepared and implemented.Training in ICTs for teacher educators should be improved in both quantity and quality.Every classroom should have at least(prenominal) one computer with Internet access and an LCD projector.Course content should be redesigned to acquire more benefit from ICT.More ICT-related courses for prospective teachers should be offered.Teacher educators and prospective teachers should be aware of the benefits of ICTsAn e-portal, collection of mathematical tools, a question bank and other resources in digital form that can be used for teaching and learning mathematics should be constructed.