Barriers to the effective use of technology in education

Ertmer (1999) stated that whilst teachers know the significance of incorporating technology in their syllabuses, they “are often limited by both external (first-order) and internal (second-order) barriers”.  Barriers such as lack of time, adequate training and support of the management.  Second-order barriers include established beliefs about learning, teaching, and also their inclination to change.

In a study at Illinois State University the findings identified three factors.  These were deficiency of support from the University, lack of financial backing and not having enough time to get to learn the technology (Butler and Sellbom, 2002. p.23).

Whilst the faculty members had a wide range of technological proficiency, an assertion was that they themselves believed that they had many of the skills in respect to “technologies for teaching and learning” (Butler and Sellbom, 2002. p.23).   When asked to rate themselves, most rated themselves as “proficient or very proficient” with the OHP, VCR, and the Chalkboard which are considered dated technologies, but also with more modern tech such as computers, email, the internet, and whiteboards. 

The lack of reliability related to the use of the technology in teaching but also other issues such as  hardware (OHP light bulbs burning out), outdated software, and poor internet connection were highlighted as barriers.

However, the study also found that time was a big issue amongst the faculty, the time to learn how to use the new technologies (Butler and Sellbom, 2002. p.23).

Bingimlas (2009) states what teachers have identified as barriers, ranging from “lack of confidence, lack of competence and lack of access to resources”.  Becta (2004) carried out a survey and the lack of confidence had the highest response and this correlated with the lack of teacher competence in the integrating ICT into the learning programme.  It was also argued that teachers were resistant to change and this was a critical barrier to the use of new technologies in education.

Tsai and Chai (2012) propose that if the first and second order barriers are removed, such that all the conditions affecting them are satisfied, will be see technology integration in education.  They argue that teachers will be faced with a third-order barrier, being design thinking. 

If the teacher is able to have or learn to develop design thinking skills to create relevant teaching and learning materials then reduce the third-order barrier.  Whilst Tsai and Chai (2012) state that there will be barriers of some shape or form, the design capacity is usually refined in a forced situation, and increasing the design capacity of the teacher is fundamental for integration of technology in education.

The point here is that if the teacher is supported by the institute, the teacher is open minded to new technologies and pedagogy, becomes competent in its use, then the barriers are removed from the teacher standpoint and they can focus on delivering learning in a rich technological learning environment for the modern day.

References:

BECTA, 2004. A review of the research literature on barriers to the uptake of ICT by teachers.

Bingimlas, K.A., 2009. Barriers to the successful integration of ICT in teaching and learning environments: A review of the literature. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 5(3), pp.235-245.

Butler, D.L. and Sellbom, M., 2002. Barriers to adopting technology. Educause Quarterly, 2, pp.22-28.

Chin-Chung Tsai, and Ching Sing Chai, (2012), 'The "third"-order barrier for technology-integration instruction: Implications for teacher education', Australasian Journal Of Educational Technology, 28, 6, pp. 1057-1060, Education Source, EBSCOhost, viewed 14 January 2016.

Ertmer, PA 1999, 'Addressing first- and second-order barriers to change: strategies for technology integration', Educational Technology Research & Development, 47, 4, pp. 47-61, Education Source, EBSCOhost, viewed 14 January 2016.