Assessment of the information and communication technology readiness of colleges of education in the Central region of Ghana

Abstract

In their quest to produce teachers who can teach ICT as well as integrate ICT into the teaching and learning enterprise, the Ministry of Education and Sports has introduced ICT studies into the curricula of Colleges of Education. This study was meant to find out how resourced are the Colleges of Education in Central Region of Ghana in their duty to train future teachers who can teach ICT and also be able to integrate ICT in the education venture. The study also sought to find out what gains have been achieved so far, and also identify the challenges holding back the incorporation of ICT into teacher education. Descriptive survey was used for the study, and data was gathered through questionnaires and interviews. Stratified sampling and random sampling techniques were employed to select 43 tutors and 242 teacher trainees who responded to tutors’ questionnaire and teacher trainees’ questionnaire, respectively. The study revealed that the use of ICT in the teaching and learning at the colleges was emerging. However, inadequate ICT hardware and infrastructure, software, and books were identified as some of the major challenges. Additionally, the colleges lacked tutors who are knowledgeable in techno-pedagogical skills on how to integrate ICT into teaching and learning. It was thus recommended that the government should provide the colleges with well-equipped ICT laboratories with the necessary hardware, software, high-speed Internet connections and other accessories that will facilitate the integration of ICT into teaching and learning. Furthermore, the ICT knowledge base of the tutors should be improved through regular professional development programmes so that the tutors are in a position to teach the teacher trainees how to integrate ICT into teaching and learning.