Census on Computer Literacy of Teachers – 2^nd November 2006

By Dr. Amara Satharasinghe

Deputy Director – Department of Census and Statistics

Nearly four million students are studying in 9,727 government schools in Sri Lanka, according to the 2005 School Census conducted by the Statistics Unit of the Ministry of Education. These students are taught by about 187,300 teachers of whom 28 percent are graduate teachers. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is now being regarded as a new literacy, as important for the future of our students as reading and writing have been previously.  

We currently have a concept of being "ICT literate". However, although this is important in its own right, it usually refers to a facility with hardware and software rather than to anything we would more normally identify as literacy. We also have a concept of "basic literacy", but this is confined to paper based reading and writing ability. Yet ICT is becoming element of functional literacy. This is not a futuristic vision. It is becoming an everyday reality. People read text on screen rather than on paper, for example when we receive emails and access the Internet. 

In certain offices and homes, a computer with a word-processing package is frequently used as the principal writing tool. ICT as a means for both producing and accessing texts, and indeed as the medium in which some of those texts will exist, is already commonplace. ICT is not something we need to add on to literacy. It must be an integral part of what we mean by being literate. 

The recognition of the importance of equipping students for twenty-first century society with both the confidence and the ability to use new technologies effectively and creatively in every aspect of their lives, should take place alongside a growing acceptance that the same tools offer the potential to revolutionize teaching and learning. For example, teaching students how to research a topic on the Internet can give them an important skill, which they need again in the future in both their professional and personal lives. At the same time, a teacher using the internet effectively in a lesson can impact more effectively on the motivation of students, teacher–student interaction, classroom dynamics and so on, compared with traditional methods.

Computers offer exciting approaches to teaching that were not even dreamed of twenty years ago, but the extent to which the educational potential of computer technology will be realized remains to be seen. Some teachers use microcomputers to revolutionize their classrooms. Today's technology, if used efficiently, could bring advances that would improve education dramatically. Ordinary students would make massive gains, and restraints on bright students would dissolve. Wherever illiteracy is a problem, it would be eliminated, and handicapped students would have vast new vistas opened to them. 

Ability for intelligent and efficient use of computer and its software to accomplish practical tasks is generally defined as computer literacy. ICT has become embedded into all aspects of all fields and education is no exception. Computer literacy of teachers is of vital importance.  Teachers should be able to use computers, and more importantly, to develop teaching software and materials.  This, in turn, will motivate students and thus improve the traditional teacher-to-student learning.   

Teacher attitudes toward computer technology may be a significant factor in the use   of computers in education. Computer literate individuals will reap greater benefits than their counterparts who lack that knowledge. The government is investing considerably to improve the computer literacy of students and teachers. To evaluate the impact of these investments, and thereby help ensure that the intended results are achieved, ICT literacy of students and teachers should be measured periodically. 

For this purpose, the Department of Census and Statistics, and the Ministry of Education have arranged to conduct a census on ICT literacy of teachers and this census has been titled as “Census on Computer Literacy of Academic Staff of the Government Schools, Approved Private Schools and Pirivenas – 2006”. All academic staff of the government schools, approved private schools and pirivenas will be enumerated.   

Two schedules will be used in this census. The first one is to get the information on the teacher’s own perceptions on their competencies in ICT. The ICT literacy of teachers is not measured by actually testing it by means of an examination but by the teachers’ own perceptions of their competencies. A structured Questionnaire is used to measure self‑perception of competence in ICT. The questionnaires are published in the website of the Department www.statistics.gov.lk. The categories of questions included in the census of teachers are described below. 

a.       Demographic characteristics: Data collected by this section include teacher’s name, age, sex, and highest educational and professional qualifications, medium of teaching and main subjects taught.  

b.      Knowledge on computers: Number of questions has been included in this section on the knowledge of computers/ICT of teachers. Two most important questions included in this section are awareness of computers and computer literacy. For the purpose of this census, a person is identified as aware of computers if he/she is aware of at least one use of computers such as typing letters, browsing Internet, playing games etc. Computer literacy is defined by many different ways. For this census a person is identified as computer literate if he/she can do some kind of task on his/her own by using a computer. Nature of the task is not important. It may be playing a game using a computer.  The same definition was used for the Household Computer Literacy Survey of Sri Lanka – 2004.  The target population was all those in the age group of 5 – 69 years. Of this population, only 9.7 percent was found to be computer literate. 

Other questions in this section include qualifications in the field of ICT, availability of hardware and facilities such as electricity and telephone, e-mail, Internet at home,  

c.       Ability to use application software: There are a few software packages commonly used in teaching. These are mainly used for word processing, spreadsheets related tasks, database management and presentations. Questions included in this section are on the teacher’s ability to use these packages. 

d.      Use of computers: This section has been designed to get information on how often teachers use computers, what purpose computers are used for and what commonly used software. 

e.      Use of Internet and e-mail: Internet is an important tool of lifelong learning. It enhances the quality of student-teacher interactions. Several questions on the use of Internet and e-mails have been included in this section. Some of the questions of this section included are how often internet/email is used, the purpose for which it is used, where these facilities are mostly used, ability to search for information on line using internet and whether own e-mail addresses are available. According to the Household Survey on Computer Literacy of Sri Lanka – 2004, percentages of households having e-mail and Internet facilities were 0.9 and 0.7 percent respectively. Percentages of population who can use e-mail and Internet on their own were 2.8 and 2.6 percent respectively. 

f.        Knowledge on hardware: Questions on ability to perform simple hardware management tasks such as folder and file maintenance, installing software and checking disks for viruses are included in this section. 

g.      Use of computers for teaching:  This section assesses the extent to which teachers use ICT for teaching and it includes questions on the use of multimedia projectors and overhead projectors for teaching, use of mobile phone, and ability to read and understand English language. 

The second schedule is used to get the information on the ICT facilities available in schools and summary of three questions of the first schedule. Those questions are number of teachers in the school who are aware about computers and those who are computer literate and those who can read and understand documents written in English language. 

This census will be conducted under the Census Ordinance of the Department of Census and Statistics. Under this ordinance, the respondents (teachers) are expected to provide accurate information requested in the census schedules and the Department is bound not to divulge any information at individual level. Only data aggregated at different administrative levels will be presented.  

The findings of the census will be released in two stages. Preliminary findings will be released within a few weeks after the census and final results will be release within a few months after the census. 

The progress in improving ICT in schools is encouraging. Nevertheless, the gap between technology presence in schools and its effective use is too wide. The quality of public education in Sri Lanka could be enhanced by closing the gap between technology presence and the effective use of ICT in school education. 

Studies have shown that there is a positive correlation between student performance and teacher professional development. The findings of the census will be helpful in many ways. Educators could find support, inspiration, and some ideas they can put to work in schools. It will prompt decisive action to empower teachers to take advantage of ICT as a tool to improve teaching learning process and student performance. There have been no studies conducted in this area before. As such this census will be used as a baseline and by repeating this census at regular appropriate intervals impact of interventions in improving the ICT literacy of teachers can be monitored. Therefore, the Department of Census and Statistics, and Ministry of Education request all the academic staff of the government schools, approved private schools and pirivenas to extend their fullest cooperation by completing schedules giving requested information accurately to implement this census successfully.  

The Census on Computer Literacy of Academic Staff of the Government Schools, Approved Private Schools and Pirivenas will be conducted island wide on 2^nd November 2006 from 1100h – 1330h.  Teachers, make your contribution to take another step forward in educating the children of Sri Lanka by participating in this census.  

QUESTIONNAURE USED

Department of Census and Statistics

P O Box 563, Colombo, Sri Lanka - Telephone: +94 112675297, Fax: 2697594 - Email:information@statistics.gov.lk