Factors influencing utilization of information and communications technology in secondary schools in Kitui central district, Kitui county

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate factors influencing utilization of information and communications technology in secondary schools in Kitui Central District, Kitui County. The objectives of the study were: to establish the influence of initial cost of ICT installation and infrastructure on utilization of the ICT in secondary schools, to establish the influence of teachers’ competency in ICT on its utilization in secondary schools and to establish the influence of Principals’ ICT compliance/ICT supportive school management on utilization of ICT in secondary schools. The researcher used a descriptive research design in this study. The targeted population was 394 teachers within the 25 secondary schools in the District. Purposive sampling followed by random sampling was used to select 110 teachers and 10 Principals from the 10 purposively selected schools because mainly the study targeted schools that had used some computers for either administrative or teaching and learning purposes. Therefore, the key participants in the ICT developments were teachers and principals within the selected schools. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. To establish validity the questionnaire was pretested by means of a pilot study. This was to ensure that there were no double-meanings or ambiguities in the items. The feedback was used by the researcher to correct any anomalies. In data collection process the questionnaire was personally administered by the researcher to the selected teachers and head teachers. Each participant was given sometime around 20-30 minutes to fill in the questionnaire, and then requested to return it to her. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data in which percentages and mean values were used. The findings were presented in frequency distribution tables, with narrations of the results as well as implications of the study findings given alongside the tables. The findings were that the initial ICT installation cost had significantly and negatively influenced the ICT utilization in secondary schools in Kitui Central District. The teachers’ ICT competency was needed for them to effectively implement the utilization of the ICT in the secondary schools in the District and the principals’ did not adequately comply with ICT neither did they support it, so the school management negatively influenced the ICT utilization in secondary schools in Kitui Central District. This study recommends that there is need to alleviate the problem of high cost of computers. There is also need for provision of adequate ICT support infrastructure. Teachers need to be competent in utilization of ICT in teaching and learning as well as in the entire school managerial operations and the teachers too need to change their negative attitude towards utilization of ICT.