Relationship between Teachers' ICT Competency, Confidence Level, and Satisfaction toward ICT Training Programmes: A Case Study among Postgraduate Students.

There are three main variables that would make the integration of ICT tools as an easy process. Those three variables are teachers’ ICT competency, teachers’ confidence level in using ICT, and teachers’ satisfaction on ICT training programmes. This study investigated the relationships among these three variables and measured the levels of the correlation among them. In order to do that, this study used questionnaire method to collect the needed data from the teachers. The targeted sample was the postgraduate students, who are currently teachers in Malaysian schools, from Faculty of Education in one of the universities located in Johor State. A total of 184 questionnaires have been collected and analyzed. This research finding revealed that Malaysian teachers had a high level of ICT competency (mean = 3.95), confidence level in using ICT (mean = 4.01), and satisfaction towards ICT training programmes (mean = 4.02). The findings also showed that the correlation coefficient between teachers’ ICT competency and teachers’ confidence level in using ICT was high (r = .749). However, both correlation coefficients between teachers’ ICT competency (r = .496) and teachers’ confidence level in using ICT (r = .571) with teachers’ satisfaction toward ICT training programmes were moderate. INTRODUCTION Information technology aims to improve students’ performance by the intelligent application of technology and hopes this will increase the effectiveness and efficiency of teaching and learning process. There is now an irreversible trend among countries in Asia and the Pacific to transform their teaching force and educational staff into technology literate and skilled workers. In almost all countries in the region, including emerging countries, teachers in primary, secondary and tertiary levels are being trained in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in education with varying degree and scope (UNESCO, 2003). It was observed that an increasing number of countries are now undertaking training to develop skills in the use of ICT in teaching and other school activities, including classroom management, to ensure the teachers bring their skills to actual classroom teaching. For example, Malaysian teacher training objectives are all directed towards developing the skills of teachers to use ICT in teaching in Malaysian schools. The number of teachers being trained varies greatly from country to country. Inventoried programmes have reported having trained huge number of teachers, especially in those countries which have had a long history of training, are more financially endowed, and are more advanced in their ICT development. South Korea, for example, reported of having trained all teachers in selected subjects, or a total of 3,897 in-service teachers per year. Intel India has reported of training 230,540 in-service teachers across 35 cities in India and a total of 29,702 per-service teachers. Intel Malaysia has trained over 15,000 teachers to date, while the World Linkssponsored training programmes in India have trained 130,000 teachers. UNESCO (2003) also reported that the duration of training varies from country to country, for instance, Malaysia’s Intel sponsored training programmes require 40 hours, whereas, South Korea uses 60 hours/ 30 hours/ 15 hours to measure the length of teacher training programmes. The importance of ICT training comes from the fact that ICT adds value to the processes of learning, and in the organization and management of learning institutions. The use of ICT also cuts across all aspects of economic and social life. Technological developments in ICT are very rapid. Technology quickly becomes obsolete requiring new skills and knowledge to be mastered frequently. Adaptation is only possible when based on a sound understanding of the principles and concepts of ICT. In other hand, these rapid developments in ICT are difficult to manage by Ministries of Education, educational managers, and schools. Circumstances vary between countries and between schools within a country, and implementation factors have therefore to be taken into account when designing ICT curricula (UNESCO, 2002). RESEARCH OBJECTIVES From the prior scenario on the benefits that can be gathered from the good implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The main objectives of this study are: Copyright © The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology 138 TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – January 2012, volume 11 Issue 1 i. To identify teacher’s ICT competency, teacher’s confidence level in using ICT, and teachers’ satisfaction toward ICT training programmes. ii. To examine the relationship between teacher’s ICT competency and teacher’s confidence level of using ICT and vice versa. iii. To examine the relationship between teacher’s confidence level of ICT and teacher’s satisfaction toward ICT training programmes and vice versa. iv. To examine the relationship between teacher’s competency in using ICT and teacher’s satisfaction toward ICT training programmes and vice versa. RESEARCH METHOD This study investigated the relationship between teacher’s competency and teacher’s confidence level toward using ICT tools, the relationship between teacher’s confidence level and teacher’s satisfaction toward ICT training programmes, and the relationship between teacher’s competency and teacher’s satisfaction toward ICT training programmes. Correlation research investigates the relationships among the various psychological variables (Mark, 2004). The quantitative approach is used for this research because quantitative data is more efficient and able to test the variables. Therefore, this study is considered as a correlation and quantitative study. Questionnaire method has been chosen to carry out a survey, to collect data in this research. The questionnaire has been designed for Malaysian teachers who are postgraduate students in UTM to answer a variety of questions that depict the previous three variables. This study was conducted out in seven stages. First of all, the problem, objectives, and questions of the research have been identified. Second stage, the literature review and empirical studies that were related to the study had been collected and studied for deeply understanding of the problem and to choose the appropriate method to conduct the study and achieve its objectives. Third stage, the questionnaire method had been chosen and designed to collect the data needed. Fourth stage, a pilot study had been conducted to test the reliability and the validity of the questionnaire. Fifth stage, the questionnaire had been distributed to the targeted samples and then it had been collected from them. Sixth stage, the data collected had been analyzed using SPSS software. Finally, the findings had been obtained, organized and discussed. Sampling method There are two categories of sampling: random sampling and non-random sampling. Random sampling is the process of selecting sample that would be representative of the population of interest (Norazman et al, 2007). In contrast, non-random sampling does not provide an equal chance for every member of the population to be selected as sample in a research. Random sampling has been selected to conduct the survey of this research because in random sampling, every member of the population has an equal probability to be chosen to participate in the research. Another reason is that the results of the research would yield a representative sample (Norazman et al, 2007). This research has been done in Malaysia. The targeted people in this research are the Malaysian teachers who are postgraduate students in one University located in Johor State. The number of the postgraduate students in the education faculty is 468 students according to the faculty administration office. This consideration has been adopted, so the questionnaire has been delivered to Malaysian students who claim that they are currently teachers in Malaysian schools. James et al (2001) mentioned that the alpha level is used in determining sample size on most educational research studies. He mentioned that t-value for alpha level of .05 is 1.96 for sample sizes above 120 and a sample size of 96 is appropriate when the population is 500. The data has been collected from 184 participants. This means that the sample size of this research exceeded the required number and the data is more accurate. Instrumentation Thirty two items of the questionnaire have been used to measure the constructs of this study which are teachers’ competency, teachers’ confidence level, toward using ICT, and teachers’ satisfaction toward ICT training programmes. The measurements in the questionnaire have been designed to fit the purpose of this study. The survey has used Likert scale to examine respondents. Likert scale is the most common instrument used for assessing respondents’ opinions of usability (Dumas, 1999). Reliability and Validity of the Questionnaire Reliability Analysis A pilot study has been conducted to establish validity and reliability of the instrument. According to De Vos et al (2002), the purpose of the pilot study is “to improve the success and effectiveness of the investigation”. A Copyright © The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology 139 TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – January 2012, volume 11 Issue 1 total of 19 teachers have been included in the pilot test and they are not repeated in the main sample size. Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of each item of the questionnaire has been conducted using the reliability analysis with SPSS software. A Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient (r) normally ranges between 0 and 1 (George and Mallery, 2003). The survey instrument has been tested by using Cronbach’s alpha to check the level of agreement between the various questionnaire items that were used to measure the target variables. According to Moor