Identifying factors affecting the ICT literacy of the school teachers: A case study of Nuwaragampalatha East educational division

Abstract

The rapid development of Information, Communication and Technologies (ICT) has initiated an unparalleled transformation in schools all over the world. The general purpose of the study is to determine the influence of factors on the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy of teachers in schools in the Nuwaragampalatha East educational division of Sri Lanka. The study covers the entire population of 70 teachers in the Nuwaragampalatha East educational division of Sri Lanka. 57 copies of the questionnaire were completed and returned for analysis representing 81.43%. The purpose of the questionnaire was to assess each teacher's level of selfknowledge regarding the apps they use, with one denoting a lack of knowledge and five denoting a high level of expertise. In this study, the tools that teachers use to take advantage of teaching and learning methodologies such as Microsoft Office, Google Applications, Educational Tools, Operating Systems, Social Media, and Multimedia Editors have been taken into consideration. The t-test and the One-Way Analysis of Variance were used to analyze the data in this study. The age category (p-value=0.363), teaching experience (p-value=0.862), and subject category (p-value=0.546) do not affect the ICT literacy of the teachers. However, the male teachers (mean=2.0125, SE=0.0689) have significantly higher ICT literacy level than the female (mean=1.7323, SE=0.0868) teachers (p-value=0.014, t-test). In conclusion, gender, but not age, subject area, or experience, has an impact on school teachers' ICT literacy. The study may also help the strategic level decision makers to plan teacher education programs effectively.