Abstract
In order to train future teachers, it is necessary for their trainers to master ICT knowledge and skills and to be convinced that the online environment is a chance for intellectual and social development. Students are influenced in their future teaching career by the way they are trained in digital technologies. Most studies about online learning come from teachers and express their position. Initiating teachers in Romania to integrate ICT into teaching needs the existing models in the world as guidance, keeping regional economic, financial, and cultural particularities in mind. This chapter shows the results of a questionnaire administered to a sample of Romanian students representing their views on the use of ICT in schools. Interpreting and analyzing the results is just one piece of a puzzle regarding the integration of new technologies into teaching.
TopConcerns About Integrating Ict Skills Into School
Used since the early 1990s, the term ICT is correlated today with changes in education. Most researchers (Wagner, 2005; Zucker, 2008; Balanskat et al., 2006) emphasize that simple knowledge of information technologies is not enough to support teaching-learning processes. Quality education is needed to facilitate the proper integration of digital technologies in the design of lessons.
Numerous countries have included ICT in their initial teacher education curricula and have organized ICT training courses for practitioners. ICT teacher training is very diverse and so are the experiences from different countries (Jung, 2005). In the absence of systematic training, teachers tend to use technological tools that they know best and apply them more easily, leading to a great variation in practices and low performance in students' performance (Livingstone, 2012). ICT favors student-centered education in conditions where the teacher knows how to prepare and produce the materials needed for this approach. The conclusion is that the extent to which ICT can show its potential in education depends on how teachers integrate ICT into teaching and learning process (Balanskat et al, 2006; Valcke et al, 2007; Enochsson, 2009).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Teachers' Initial Training: Involves accumulation by students, future teachers, of theoretical and practical activities, both in specific areas of education objects to be taught, and also in the education sciences range.
ECDL Certification: European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) is the IT certification program for basic computer skills, assuming an active role in e-society, finding a better job, and being able to efficiently use a computer in both personal and professional life.
UNESCO: Is a specialized body established by O.N.U. (Organization of United Nations), headquartered in Paris, with a reference sphere (education-science-culture) and three priority orientations (conflict resolution - promoting democracy - human development). UNESCO programs are types of global, regional, national, institutional, and diplomatic responses to the problems of the contemporary world. These programs engage in pedagogical responses and solutions supported by experts and consultants specialized in curriculum design, education planning, and innovation in the educational systems.
Students' Voice: Express opinions, ideas, expectations, fears, dreams, desires, reasoning, etc. with regard to the issues that most affect their lives. Education is one of the priority aspects of life, and teachers have to listen to the voice of their students.
New Learning Environment: Refers to the diverse physical locations, contexts, and cultures in which students learn; the way teachers interact with students, as well as the ways in which teachers may organize an educational setting to facilitate learning (e.g., by using the ICT). The new learning environment provides students with multisensory stimulation, and work tasks involve cooperation and collaboration.
ICT: Information and communication technology designates the technology needed to process information, using electronic computers and the internet to convert, process, and transmit information. The use of new technologies in education implies a recontextualization of learning.
Online Learning: Any form of learning conducted partly or wholly over the internet.