Abstracts - Earli

A study of students’ experiences of technologiesGrainne Conole, Open University, United KingdomMaarten de Laat, Exeter University, United KingdomTeresa Dillon, Consultant, United KingdomJonatrhan Darby, Open University, United KingdomThe paper will report on a UK JISC-funded study looking at students’ experience of the use oftechnologies in support their learning across different learning context, which has generatedconsiderable interest in the research community in the UK. Details of the study and the context ofthe work as part of a wider programme are available fromhttp://www.jisc.ac.uk/elp_learneroutcomes.htmlBreaking the Barriers: Why do the Teachers not use (more) ICT in their classrooms?Péter Fehér, Eötvös University, HungaryBreaking the Barriers: Why do the Teachers not use (more) ICT in their classrooms? The national„ICT in Education" programs have been developed just in every country in Europe (and othercontinents, too). Governments have made large financial for strenghtening the technicalbackgrounds and resources of the educational institutions (computers, internet-access, in-servicetraining programmes for teachers, educational websites, etc.). But the recent reports show that thepedagogical breakthrough has not happened yet. In present paper we would like to summarizesome results of the research about the situation of Hungarian teachers. The research has beenstarted in autumn 2006 and the main objectives are the following: clearly identify those factors,which are the most important barriers to teachers need to face when they use (or want to use) ICTtoolsin their everyday educational practice. Regarding facts (based more than 500 surveyquestionnaires),we can conclude that most important issues are the following: lack of appropriatetime for preparation for lectures, inappropriate knowledge (or practice) of computer applications,and poor foreign language skills. We found that the technical background of teachers and schoolsare not really problems at all. We hope that our research findings will provide important facts toteacher trainers and help them to develop more effective and useful training courses, training andsupport materials for teachers. This is a necessary premise for breaking the barriers andsignificantly improving the effective use of ICT in education.– 109 –