The influence of teacher characteristics on ICT adoption among secondary school teachers in Kenya

Abstract

The society is moving very fast into a digital world with Information Communication Technology revolution. Education has not escaped with teaching and learning processes coming under scrutiny in ICT standards and impacts. ICT tools have helped to improve autonomy in learning, stimulate students’ sensory and cognitive curiosity, develop life skills, boost self-confidence and facilitate the learning of abstract ideas and theories. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of teacher characteristics on adoption of ICT among secondary school teachers. .A total of 102 respondents participated in the study of which eight public secondary schools which had introduced computers were selected using simple random sampling method. Structured questionnaires were used for data collection and likert scale was used in rating responses while interview schedule was used to collect data from the principals. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) where descriptive statistics including frequency tables, percentages and means were generated .Chi-square and regression analyses on the other hand were the main inferential statistics used to test the hypotheses of the study. were the main used while. Findings of the study indicated that teachers had not fully adopted ICT in teaching and learning despite showing positive attitudes towards adoption of ICT. Age was the only characteristic tested that had a statistical significance. The study recommends that policy makers and curriculum developers should consider making ICT as a core subject in secondary schools. Teachers need to be in serviced on the use of ICT in the teaching and learning process. Furthermore, secondary school principals should provide prudent leadership in ICT implementation.