Evaluating the impact of ICT on teaching

and learning: A study of Palestinian students’

and teachers’ perceptions

Husam Qaddumi

1

& Brendan Bartram

2

& Ali L. Qashmar

3

Received: 24 July 2020 / Accepted: 14 September 2020/

#

Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020

Abstract

issues with information research skills. These results contrasted with school teachers’

views, which reflected a much stronger impression of the influence of ICT on teaching.

Keywords Students’ and teachers’ perceptions

.

ICT in learning and teaching

.

of the use of ICT

1 Introduction

Rapid developments in information and communication technology (ICT) mean that

the last decade has witnessed increasing integration of various forms of technology in

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-020-10339-5

schools. This scientific and technical progress has arguably dominated all aspects of

life, including methods of teaching. Although its role in the beginning was as an aid to

the teacher and the textbook, its success was ultimately linked to the teacher's belief in

to 65% of the total American labour-force by 2000. The study also points to a decline in

unskilled labour. In 1950, this category represented 60% of the work-force, while in

2000 it had decreased to 15% (Fagan and Lunley 1995). These trends reflect growing

worldwide interest in the use of technology in education. For many years now,

international and regional conferences have highlighted the need to develop educational

curricula which employ technology in the service of education. UNESCO emphasized

this at the First International Conference on Technical and Vocational Education in

Berlin, Germany in 1987, and subsequently at the International Project on Technical

and Vocational Education in 1992, in Australia in 1998, and in Greece, the United Arab

Emirates, Ecuador, Kenya, and again in 1999 at the Second Technical and Vocational

research and other efforts aimed at encouraging the adoption of basic education which

employed modern technologies in the classroom. Large investments were made to

integrate ICT throughout Palestinian education. For instance, the Palestinian govern-

ment and Ministry of Education (MOE) established a plan to integrate new ICT in

education with a special focus on elementary schools. New technologies included, for

example, tablets, e-school gates, interactive LCDs, smart TVs and the internet, etc. The

use of websites and electronic portals is now regarded as an essential element of

educational practice and a hallmark that distinguishes successful educational institu-

tions. Furthermore, it is widely believed to develop teachers' scientific and technolog-

ical competences, especially in terms of enabling them and school administrators to

up a unified portal that combines all public schools under the supervision and

century-and-a-half before it entered the world of education. When it eventually did, its

standings that equated technology with electronic machines and tools - aspects

representing the concrete elements of technology used in daily life. Wider consider-

ations concerning technology, in particular the need to carefully plan, manage and

evaluate its role and use in the classroom to obtain desirable results, were generally

neglected. Gradually, however, the importance of defining technology as "the system-

atic application of scientific knowledge" gained wider acceptance, based on a growing

acknowledgement that ICT includes both theoretical and practical aspects, and the need

for knowledge frameworks to support the effective application of ICT in learning

environments. The field of educational technology depends on many different fields

general – to build a knowledge-base for designing, developing, implementing and

evaluating its use within the educational process. This way of thinking emphasises

learning, implementation and evaluation in the light of specific objectives based

primarily on research results in different areas of knowledge to access all available

human and non-human resources that can maximise effective learning. Therefore, the

abilities. With the adven t of the digital era, new technological implications and

possibilities for teaching and learning are increasing throughout the world and at all

levels of education. The Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education has

thus decided to introduce modern technology into its curricula and educational plans in

order to enhance the teaching of all school subjects across the curriculum stages. This

reflects the Ministry’s desire and intention to enable teachers to interact effectively with

the digital environment and to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The Ministry of

Education and Higher Education recognizes the importance of employing ICT in the

service of education as a positive force supporting the process of teaching and learning,

the acquisition of learning skills and computer literacy; acquiring positive digital habits;

speeding up the learning process; developing problem-solving skills; diversifying

learning experiences; consolidating concepts; reinforcing historical learning; and re-

2.1.1 The impact of integrating ICT into education

education systems. Bai et al. (2016) found that integrating ICT in classroom

widespread awareness among teachers that integrating ICT could improve teaching

and learning by enhancing their teaching methods, and creating a more active and

collaborative learning environment (Bindu 2016; Mafuraga and Moremi 2017;

Sangrà and Sanmamed 2010; Yumurtaci,2017) although some studies have sug-

performance. In a study conducted by Mbaeze et al. (2010), the researchers found

no statistically significant relationship between the inclusion of ICT and students’

academic performance, but for those who are disadvantaged ICT remains a hope

2.1.2 Challenges facing the integration of ICT in education

In its report ( 2013), UNESCO shows widespread availability of ICT support services

throughout Palestine even though computer laboratories and LANs are less common.

This indicates that Palestine is trying to use ICT in education effectively. Integrating

ICT into education often faces several challenges, of course. One of the major

challenges is developing and maintaining the infrastructure components related to

ICT equipment (Alkahtani 2017;Kipsoietal.2012; Leung et al. 2005;, Salehi and

Salehi 2012; Yunus et al. 2009). In Frazee’s(2004) research on ICT integration,

educators and experts in the field of educational technology examined the importance

of Web Quest in extending content knowledge and enhancing teaching and learning.

computer in all districts in Palestine was 24.6, whi le the proportion of all schools

connected to the Internet was 77.9% (72.6% when private schools are excluded).

teachers’ and students’ experiences of and perspectives on ICT. Our own experiences

of Palestinian classrooms heightened this interest - discussions with teachers over time

suggested that integrating ICT in education was an aspiration for them, yet day-to-day

interactions and observations revealed little evidence of this in practice. This situation

thus prompted the researchers to explore the reality of ICT integration and experiences

in education, and as such, the study addresses the following three research questions

(1) How do students in Palestinian public schools perceive the impact of ICT on their

learning?

(2) What are the most frequent challenges facing ICT use from the viewpoint of

students in Palestinian government schools?

3 Methodology

In the north of Palestine, there are 53 primary schools. In 2017-18, the academic year in

which the study was carried out, 2071 students attended these schools, which employed

a total of 414 teachers. The study’s sample therefore draws on 50% of the region’s

primary school teacher population, and 18% of its student population.

teachers. Details of the sample are shown in Table 1. Teachers and students were asked

to express their views by completing the questionnaires. The items and domains were

technology. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient for the questionnaire is 0.76.

4 Results and discussion

Students were surveyed in order to gain an impression of their perceptions of the

impact of ICT on their learning in Palestinian public schools. Table 2 shows the

results.

perceptions of the impact of ICT on their learning. As Table 2 shows, the results

Table 1 Details on the sample and population

# Description Number of teachers Number of students

their learning

No Item Means Percentages Level

1 I learn computer skills inside school much more than outside school. 2.31 58% Low

2 School website helps me initiate and participate in online discussions 2.77 69% Moderate

3 Using online resources made me neglect important traditional learning

resources (books...)

1.88 47% Very low

4 I understand difficult vocabularies in lessons when I use YouTube 2.99 75% High

5 When teachers use computers inside class this hinders my development

of interpersonal skills

1.96 49% Very low

6 Using interactive LCDs de-motivates and discourages me to learn 1.83 46% Very low

revealed an overall mean value of 2.40 with 61% of all questions. The results suggest

that students perceived the impact of ICT on their learning to be moderate. Students

believed incorporating the internet within classrooms is important as it increases their

it increases their achievement. Students appreciated making use of the internet in class

(such as using YouTube) as it facilitates learning difficult words. But, as shown, the

mean of items 1, 3, 5, 6, and 12 was low. A moderate number of students' responses

show that using the school website encourages them to be involved in online discus-

sions, as item 2 shows. Schools’ educational forums seem to moderately influence

students’ critical understanding of concepts, as item 10 shows (M= 2.73, 68%). These

results concur with the studies undertaken by Batdi (2017), Dema and Moeller (2013),

Kabooha (2018), Kong and Song (2015) and Ryan (2013).

Students were surveyed to examine the challenges they perceived to limit the educa-

tional use of ICT in Palestinian government schools. The results were achieved by

calculating the means and percentages for each questionnaire item. Students were asked

to identify the challenges they face in learning activities (5-point Likert scale from 1 =

strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). Table 3 shows the most frequent challenges

about their searching skills, students showed that they do not have enough experience.

It seems that students are moderately accustomed to the use of YouTube, however. This

may be because the majority of students are familiar with such applications at home. As

The mean value of t eachers’ responses concerning their views on the impact of

ICT on their teaching (calculated against the 5-point Likert scale from 1 = strongly

teaching, as illustrated by the high levels of agreement they expressed in relation

to the first few questionnaire items, as shown above (e.g. the positive impact of

ICT implementation on their teaching, where the majority of teachers’ responses

ranged from M= 03.4, 67.3% - M= 04.0, 79.7%. They also indicated that ICT was

moderate number of students were frustrated with the use of the ICT tools

(2018 ); and Saadatietal.(2015).

services and other ICT tools such as smart boards in primary school classrooms is

important for students, in that it will arguably support them in learning languages

ICT tools in all schools in Palestine; and enable schools to subscribe to online libraries

providing access to e-learning environments both at home and in school. The MOE

could usefully establish a proactive e-learning policy on the integration of ICT at

schools. This would enable students and teachers to extend their learning, and teachers

to become more effective facilitators of their students’ learning at school. Palestinian

schools should carefully consider how they might adopt a more holistic policy to

address the challenges students face. This would arguably enable learners, teachers

and schools to be more proactive. Given that teachers perceive ICT to be a strong

influence on their teaching, attempts by the MOE to enhance e-learning for school

students and teachers would be welcome. Teachers and students should be encouraged

and learning. More efforts in this domain would be beneficial.

use of ICT in school and also at home. One recommendation for teachers would be to

consider strategies for initiating policies that allow them to adopt more active roles with

regard to: implementing ICT activities during lessons; supporting the use of ICT for

positioned to become more responsive and proactive in dealing with challenges facing

both students and teachers. A positive partnership between teachers, students and the

MOE relies on greater collaboration using interactive technologies and expert support

from the MOE. With this, teachers and students will all develop a stronger understand-

ing of ICT in the context of education, and how it can positively support learning and

teaching. This understanding will, as discussed, contribute to improvements in achieve-

ment, inclusion and student support. This study also suggests that improved student

motivation is a further desirable consequence of a sustained approach to integrating

ICT in education.

as a basis for considering the effectiveness of ICT-based learning policies aimed at