An Assessment of the Teacher’s ICT Attributes and the Learning Environment Effects on Computer ‘Literacy’ Instruction in Secondary Schools

Abstract

The intrigues of learning computers in this century, has become imperative to our daily functioning as a people in a society. The need for IT competent people begins from the class room where this computer literacy is provided by the teachers. Factors that assess the impact of ICT on education and their effect on computer literacy have been studied, with the students being the object of focus. Not much has been done to assess the teacher’ role in the effectiveness of computer literacy instructions offered in schools. In an effort to shift focus to the teacher, this study sought to look at the teacher’s attributes and the learning environment and how these affect the learning outcomes. The objectives of the study identified, were achieved by looking at three frameworks and adapted to test the Teachers’ ICT Attributes including the gender aspect and teaching experience and the Learning environment where the teaching takes place and the pedagogy applied. The research methodology used for the study was mainly survey where questionnaires were administered to a sample of respondents from secondary schools in Nairobi and Kiambu Counties. SPSS and Microsoft Statistical functions were employed in carrying out the data analysis that helped provide conclusions of the research. Multiple Regression analysis was used to test the direct effect of the two independent variables on the dependent variable. Moderated regression was used to test the moderation effect of the moderating variables of School Policy, School Culture and Student attitude. The research study conclusion demonstrated that the Teacher’s ICT attributes and the Learning environment actually have a direct positive effect on the learning outcomes. School policy did not have a significant effect. Further research can be carried out to give supplementary insight on how the proposed framework can be used in a different scenario and also find out why the school policy does not have a significant effect