TITLE:
Evaluation of Secondary Teachers’ Knowledge and Skills, Regarding the Information and Communication Technologies Utilization, before and after the COVID-19 Era, in Greece
AUTHORS:
Gerasimos Vlassopoulos, George Albert Karikas, Efstathia Papageorgiou, Ioannis Psaromiligkos, Niki Giannouli, Pigi Vlassopoulou, Petros Karkalousos
KEYWORDS:
Information and Communication Technologies in Education (I.C.T.), COVID-19, Education, Distance Learning, Teachers’ Opinions, Education in Greece, Greece, I.C.T. in Greece, After COVID-19, Before COVID-19, Secondary Schools, Teachers’ Knowledge, Teachers’ Skills, Pre and Post COVID-19
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Leadership,
Vol.12 No.4,
December
29,
2023
ABSTRACT: The current wide exploitation of information and
communication technologies (I.C.T.) enhances students’ ability to further acquire knowledge and skills. In
today’s era when society is overwhelmed by a multitude of gadgets (laptops,
tablets, smart-phones, etc.), students adapt very easily to technologically
supported learning environments and learn to utilize I.C.T. It is a fact that
during the global pandemic (COVID-19) the I.C.T.’s implementation of modern and
asynchronous distance education supported greatly the educational community at
all educational levels. The purpose of the study was the detailed evaluation of
the knowledge and skills of Greek teachers in the exploitation of I.C.T., and
the comparison of their “armamentarium” with those of the pre-COVID-19
era, (where I.C.T.s’ tools in teaching were apparently very limited).
Stratified sampling was carried out with proportional allocation (Panaretos & Xekalaki, 2000). Subsets of the population were
selected which met certain properties. The method was used because there was an
uneven population between the geographical
prefectures of Greece from where the sample was collected. During the
research process, appropriately structured questionnaires of 40 questions were fully completed by 130 teachers. The
research questions were searching for: 1) The degree of satisfaction among teachers who used
I.C.T. before and after COVID-19 pandemic. 2) The satisfaction rate of teachers towards the
educational success of I.C.T.s’ tools, before and after COVID-19. With the term “success” we mean the degree of satisfaction with acquiring new knowledge thanks to the use of I.C.T.s’ tools in teaching. Following COVID-19 pandemic along with the forced
implementation of distance learning, there was an increase in the number
of teachers participating in I.C.T. training
programs from 18.8% to 38%. The percentage of teachers who claimed that
the quality of the provided education is
improving, increased from 53.8% to 68%. Additionally, after the COVID-19
era, the percentage of teachers who were satisfied with the use of I.C.T. in
theory courses increased from 47.5% to 64%, while the percentage of teachers
who supported the use of I.C.T. in laboratory courses decreased from 60.9% to
51.3%. The percentage of teachers who wished for the existence of e-courses
adapted to the students needs improved from 52.5% to 56%. An increase in
teachers’ gaining satisfaction with school equipment was observed from 46.3% to
60%, while the percentage of schools that enhanced the implementation of I.C.T.
techniques also increased from 37.5% to 58%.
Teachers’ opinion over I.C.T. did not dramatically change after the
implementation of distance learning. However, a more positive picture emerges
regarding both the degree of satisfaction with the I.C.T. use, integration and
implementation tools, as well as the degree of enhancement of students’
knowledge from the use of I.C.T.