Some of the ICT used in school normally would be LCD projector, interactive whiteboard, laptops, Internet connection and etc. Most people would agree that the use of ICT in teaching any subjects (particularly in science) would really help the teacher and also the student to improve the learning and the teaching process.
But as always, everything had its limitation. For example, the use of LCD projector in schools, some schools do not even have enough supply of LCD projector to be used by the teachers. First come, first serve is applied in this condition hence teacher might have to have back up plan for his or her every lesson, in case the LCD projector is not available. Due to this, some teacher would just give up hope to use it in their teaching. Those lucky schools would have each class provided with build in projector but unfortunately, some teacher does not make full use of the ICT provided in their school.
One major problem to implement full use of ICT in school would be the slow-internet connection in most schools. Some school might even have internet connection at all. Due to this some activity i.e. flash video, would not be available or cannot be done. This activity would really raise student interest in learning but due to this limitation, these activity usually skip by the teachers which is really unfortunate.
According this short paragraph from a recent essay that had been written by one of the student here at UBD which highlights “the attitudes of teachers with the use of technology in teaching science” teaching attitudes would also play an important role in order to reach the goal of having all the school in Brunei to use technology in their teaching (especially science) to the maximum.
“We have the technology”
In Brunei Darussalam, education is highly prioritised and the use of technology has long being implemented in the education system. Technological tools such as overhead projectors, LCD projectors, computers, laptops, television with video players are provided for the teacher to enhance learning and to point out that textbook is not the only source for education to take place. One of the many reasons leading to the greater use of technology in education is to equip students with skills that they will be able to make use of such as technology in the workplace after they leave school. However, these technological tools are not widely applied to the classroom environment and the use of such technological tools is limited to computer laboratories.
As suggested by Neil H. Schwartz (2008), “teachers find it difficult to use technology to teach because they fail to think of technology as cognitive tools”.
“Much of current educational practice is founded on the assumption that cognition resides in the individual head. The conception of the individual as the sole bearer of all cognition is widespread and is manifested in the conceptions of teaching and learning methods as well as in the classroom and examination practices. The underlying assumption is that the learner is a passive recipient of information and that teaching is the process through which the teacher instils information in the heads of the learners, who will in turn commit this information to memory where it will hopefully be maintained for future retrieval. Even ostensibly more interactive forms of teaching such as Socratic dialogue and questioning are also indicative of the penchant to view cognition as a property of the person as, even in the case of questioning, the bulk of the information and the major cognitive structure is still provided by the teacher with the students filling in the open slots.”
(Karasavvidis, 2002)
Most senior teachers achieved success in their educational field and be where they are at the moment without the use of technology. Thus to implement the use of technology and in making it compulsory for these teachers is a very tough tasks. Technology has not proven excellent results as a tool in enhancing education in the classroom and thus these teachers are not comfortable to use it. According to Neil H. Schwartz (2008), teachers do not want to use technology to teach because they viewed knowledge as an entity that can be packaged and sent, that it does not involve the interaction of both the teachers and the students. This suggestion is also observed by Hakan Turkmen (2006) in his online article “Exploring Turkish science education faculties’ understanding of educational technology and use”,
“There might be many reasons for why older Turkish faculty members are one step behind where they need to be. They might lack the time and motivation to learn technology skills or use technology. Technology could be very intimidating for many because learning how to use new technology always requires new learning, especially in the current rapidly changing educational system. Older Turkish faculty members must become more informed about educational technology and become more involved in integrating technology in their classrooms. Turkey needs more science education faculty members, like assistant professors, using technology to improve the learning environment for their students. In turn, their students (pre-service teachers) will improve the learning environments for their K-12 students.”
(Steven, 2011)
