Identifying barriers and challenges in the application of information and communication technology in Iranian schools.
Publisher: name: The University Of Kurdistan
Year: 2021

description: The overall purpose of this study was to identify barriers and challenges in the\napplication of information and communication technology in Iranian schools. The\nresearch method was conducted with an approach mixed with exploratory design\n(in-depth and exploratory interviews with refining). The statistical population of\nthe study consisted of all school principals in Iran (105968 people) who were\nselected as a sample using random-cluster sampling method based on Cochran's\nformula. In order to collect data by field method, a researcher-made questionnaire\non barriers and challenges of using information and communication technology\nwith 75 questions and 14 components was used. The face and content validity of\nthe tool was approved by experts; And its convergent validity was calculated using\nthe coefficients of mean extraction variance (AVE). Exploratory factor analysis\nand confirmatory factor analysis were used to analyze the data. Data analysis was\nperformed using SPSS20 and PLS software. In this study, we seek to identify\nbarriers and challenges in the use of information and communication technology\nin Iranian schools. Therefore, the main question of the present study is: "What are\nthe obstacles and challenges in the use of information and communication\ntechnology in Iranian schools?" "And what is the share of each of these\nobstacles?" Therefore, in the present study, we have tried to identify the obstacles\nand challenges in the application of information and communication technology  in Iranian schools and to determine the share of each of the obstacles and\nchallenges and to answer the following questions.\nQuestion one: What are the obstacles and challenges in the application of\ninformation and communication technology in Iranian schools?\nQuestion two: What is the share of each of the obstacles and challenges in the\napplication of information and communication technology in Iranian schools?\nthe results showed that; Barriers and challenges in the application of information\nand communication technology with fourteen components (structural barriers,\neducational barriers, barriers to human resources, barriers to equipment and\nteaching materials, managerial barriers, barriers to teacher support services,\nlack of teacher cognitive readiness, lack of teacher training to teach in the new\nmodel Teaching, motivational barriers, cultural barriers, economic barriers,\nsocial barriers, organizational barriers and individual barriers) that the\ncomponent of not training teachers to teach in the new teaching model has the\nhighest share and the component of individual barriers has the lowest share.\nTo investigate and answer this research question, a researcher-made questionnaire\non barriers and challenges in the use of information and communication\ntechnology was used as a data collection tool. This questionnaire has fourteen\ncomponents (structural barriers, educational barriers, human resource barriers,\nequipment and teaching materials barriers, managerial barriers, barriers to\nteacher support services, teacher cognitive unpreparedness, lack of teacher\ntraining to teach in the new teaching model, motivational barriers, barriers).\nCultural, economic barriers, social barriers, organizational barriers and\nindividual barriers) were compiled with 102 questions. In the descriptive\nreview of the data, due to the low calculated average and non-confirmation of\nt-test, a single sample of the questionnaire was removed and the final\nquestionnaire of barriers and challenges of ICT application with 75 questions\nthrough heuristic factor analysis to discover dimensions and components and\ntheir rankings were used.\nKaiser-Meyer-Alkin and Bartlett fitness tests were used to determine the adequacy\nand necessary conditions of the data to perform exploratory factor analysis.\nKMO statistic is an indicator of the adequacy of variables and a value higher\nthan 0.7 is suitable for performing factor analysis. The Bartlett test is also one\nof the methods for determining the appropriateness of data, and for a factor\nanalysis model to be useful and meaningful, its variables need to be correlated.\nIn the interview section, first the key points related to each semi-structured\ninterview were marked in writing by listening to the recorded interviews and\nstudying the notes taken during the interview, then the key and basic points\nwere extracted from each interview. Then, using the classification of key points\nin the form of professional terms, the necessary labeling was done. Then, the\nlabeled terms of each interviewee were organized in the form of a table and based on the relationship and proportion they had with each other, in the form\nof components.\nTwenty experts were first identified for interview and the interview process began.\nAfter the ninth person interview, 380 indicators in the variable of barriers and\nchallenges of using information and communication technology were listed\nand categorized into 14 components. Preliminary studies and coding revealed\nthat each component was mentioned and emphasized by experts at least twice,\nbut the researcher continued the interview process until the tenth person until\nhe was faced with data saturation. For each interviewee who was an expert in\nthe field, a summary table was prepared and all the key points mentioned by\nthat person in that table were summarized and categorized and the results were\npresented.\nThe results of Table 1 showed that in this study, based on the information obtained\nthrough interviews with experts, 14 components of "structural barriers, barriers\nto education, barriers to human resources, barriers to equipment and teaching\nmaterials, management barriers, barriers to teacher support services, lack of\nTeachers' cognitive readiness, lack of teacher training for teaching in the new\nteaching model, motivational barriers, cultural barriers, economic barriers,\nsocial barriers, organizational barriers and individual barriers were identified\nand categorized. Finally, the process of combining the interviews was\nconducted and the results were presented:\nEach indicator was mentioned and emphasized by the interviewees at least twice\nand up to six times. In total, after the implementation of the index integration\nprocess, 102 indicators in fourteen components were identified and approved,\nwhich were converted into a questionnaire of experts and used to confirm their\nfinal opinion to obtain the final questionnaire.\nIt was used to analyze the interview data through content analysis. In this project,\nthe steps of analyzing the collected interview data have been done in two stages\nof open coding and axial coding.\nOpen coding is an analytical process through which concepts are identified and\ntheir features and dimensions are discovered from within. In the open coding\nstage, the researcher identifies the concepts and expands them according to\ntheir characteristics and dimensions. At this stage, the researcher, from the\nheart of the raw data, introduces the basic categories related to the phenomenon\nunder study by segmenting the information, forming categories of information\nabout the phenomenon under study, asking about the data, comparing cases,\nevents, and so on. It deals with other states of phenomena to gain similarities\nand differences.\nIn the next stage of axial coding, the researcher puts one of the categories at the\ncenter of the process under study and exploration (main dimension) and then\nconnects the other categories (components) to it. In this regard, in this study,\nthe main dimensions and related components have been identified.Therefore, in the first stage, the main dimensions and components were presented\nbased on the process of open and pivotal coding of data obtained from in-depth\nand exploratory interviews. Conceptual codes were presented and the priority\nof each factor was determined based on the frequency of concepts mentioned\nin interviews. Concepts were the main unit of analysis for open and pivotal\ncoding. When carefully analyzing the data, the concepts were generated\nthrough coding, directly from the participants' interview copies or according to\ntheir common uses. Copies of interviews were reviewed regularly to find the\nmain and sub-categories and the importance and priority of these categories.\nData were analyzed at sentence and phrase level for each interview and concept\ncodes were extracted from the transcripts of the interviews. Sometimes a\nsentence was related to more than one concept. By extracting common\nconceptual codes and by refining and eliminating duplicate items, by using\ntheoretical foundations and applying some conceptual codes, concepts were\nidentified and specified and by refining and reducing these concepts, they were\norganized in the form of sub-categories (components). The results of this study\nshowed that; Barriers and challenges in the application of information and\ncommunication technology with fourteen components include as (structural\nbarriers, educational barriers, barriers to human resources, barriers to\nequipment and teaching materials, managerial barriers, barriers to teacher\nsupport services, lack of teacher cognitive readiness, lack of teacher training\nto teach in the new model Teaching, motivational barriers, cultural barriers,\neconomic barriers, social barriers, organizational barriers and individual\nbarriers).