Popular ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) Use in Primary Education: A Hierarchical Regression Model

• In Event: Research on Factors Influencing Teachers’ Use of Information and Communication Technologies

Abstract

Objectives and purposes. This study uses a multilayered framework of different independent
school and teacher variables to study which conditions explain the use of ICT in Flemish
(Belgium) primary education. Special attention is paid to popular or widely accepted uses of
ICT by teachers.
Theoretical framework. Within the context of the knowledge society, teachers and schools try
to make use of ICT in their practices to improve students’ ‘twenty-first century skills’
(Anderson, 2008). ICT integration for teaching and learning is becoming a major task for
primary schools (Vanderlinde, Hermans, & van Braak, 2009). This study is situated within
the ICT integration research tradition (e.g. Kozma, 2003). Researchers in this tradition search
for factors - situated on different levels (e.g. student, teacher, school, and policy) - that
support the use of ICT for teaching and learning (Cox, 2008).
Method. A questionnaire has been administered to a representative teacher sample (N=439) in
58 Flemish primary schools. Factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis have been
conducted.
Data sources and evidence. Independent variables were the school and teacher conditions
described in the e-capacity framework of Vanderlinde and van Braak (2010) , and the
educational beliefs scales of Hermans, van Braak and Van Keer (2008). The e-capacity
framework was developed from a school improvement perspective and consists of conditions
fostering the integration of ICT into teaching and learning practices. Conditions are clustered
into four mediating subsets of variables: teachers’ actual use of ICT, ICT related teacher
conditions, ICT related school conditions, and school improvement conditions. The
dependent variable ‘Popular ICT use in primary education’ was constructed based on item
mean analysis on four existing ICT use scales (Vanderlinde & van Braak, 2010, Tondeur,
e.a., 2009): the use of basic ICT skills, ICT as a learning tool, ICT as an information tool,
and innovative ICT use. This new variable (13 items) showed good internal consistency
(Alpha = .87).
Results. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that both teacher individual and school
organisational characteristics explain teachers’ popular ICT use in primary education. In a
final model (R²=.33), the ICT school infrastructure was found to be the strongest predictor
(β=.23, p<.001). Other significant predictors were teachers’ ICT professional development
activities (β=.20, p<.001), the schools’ ICT vision and policy (β=.19, p<.001), and
constructivist educational beliefs of teachers (β=.11, p<.001). General school cultural
variables (e.g. leadership) and general teacher conditions (e.g. efficacy, innovativeness) did
not lead to a significant increase in explained variance in the dependent variable.
Scientific and scholarly significance. By presenting a multilayered model of influencing
school and teacher level conditions, this study shed light on the complex process of ICT
integration in primary education. As such, the results are of particular importance for both
researchers and policy makers in the field of ICT integration.

Authors

• Ruben Vanderlinde, Ghent University

• Johan Van Braak, Ghent University