Critique of Journal Article: ICT Use in Education

This essay provides a critical review of the journal article "Teachers’ effect on ICT use in education: the Turkey sample" by Erdogan Tezci. The essay evaluates the research's aims, questions, literature review, methodology, and outcomes. It assesses the clarity of the research questions, the relevance of the literature, the appropriateness of the research methods, and the validity of the findings. The critique highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the study, including the limited literature review and the reliance on primary data collection through surveys. The essay concludes that the research successfully met its objectives, demonstrating the impact of teachers' ICT knowledge and attitudes on technology usage in education.

ASSIGNMENT 1: Critique of journal article
Teachers’ effect on ICT use in education: the
Turkey sample
Student
[Pick the date]

Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Evaluation of the overall aims and the research question...........................................................................2
Evaluation of the research literature and the approach employed.............................................................3
Evaluation of the research methods, tools and techniques used................................................................4
Evaluation of the research process and outcome........................................................................................5
Bibliography................................................................................................................................................6
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Introduction
The research article that has been critically reviewed in this assignment is the “Teachers’ effect
on ICT use in education: the Turkey sample” which is written by Erdogan Tezci. The main aim
of the assignment is to critically evaluate the overall aims and the research question of the article,
the approaches that have been employed by the researcher in this, the tools and techniques that
have been used by the researcher for conducting this research and to evaluate the outcomes and
the findings of this research paper.
Evaluation of the overall aims and the research question
The overall aim of this paper is to determine the influence of the teachers on the usage of ICT at
the schools. The research has been undertaken to suggest the readers that the integration of the
ICT with the learning and the teaching process becomes successful when the qualifications of the
teachers partly contributes to it. Therefore, the researcher undertook this research so that he can
investigate the status of the primary school teachers in Turkey with regard to their knowledge
level and also the use of ICT, the attitudes of the teachers towards the internet and computers.
To fulfill this aim of the research the researcher formulated some research questions, which
when answered, helped in satisfying the overall aim of the research. The research questions
aimed to answer that what was the level of knowledge of the teachers of Turkey on the ICT;
what was the level of use of the ICT in education among the teachers in Turkey, what attitudes
did the teachers carried towards the internet and the computers and what are the relations
between the independent variables in the research like the experience of the teachers, gender, use
of internet and the use of computers per hour, per day and the dependent variables.
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There is link between the research questions and the overall aim of this research. Hence, it can
be said that the research questions are well-formulated. Also, the aim of the research is very
clear and concise and it helps the reader to understand that what does the project aims to achieve
and how the fulfillment of this aim will help the audience in future. The research questions are
implying that what the researcher is trying to find, so it is easier to accept the research problem
ad understand it.
Evaluation of the research literature and the approach employed
The researcher has not used much literature in this paper because he has used the primary
research in this. The literature has mainly been used to determine the attitude of the ICT and its
use. The literature has suggested that the teachers use the investments in ICT for ensuring the
educational development. The literature has also suggested that there is link between the use of
ICT and the attitudes and knowledge of the teachers. The variables that have been picked by the
researcher in this study are all taken from the literature that has been studied.
The literature is not vast; it does not form a major part of this paper. But, it has been successful
in providing a context for the research, it has also given a proof that similar research has been
done in the past, it has provided learning on the current subject of use of ICT by teachers and the
researcher has been successful in learning from this previous research. But, the literature failed to
identify the flaws in the previous researches based on which the current research could have been
based. Also, there is no outline of the gaps in the previous and the present researches. The
approach of the researcher is based on the review of literature in very small percentage. Though
the work has added to the understanding and knowledge of the researcher in this particular topic,
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but, it lacks a large amount of data that could have helped the researcher in conducting the
present study.
Evaluation of the research methods, tools and techniques used
The primary method has been used in the study and the data collection has been done in the form
of a survey from the teachers of the primary schools in Turkey. The survey was done using a
personal inquiry form in which there were a set of five questions that asked the teachers about
their gender, experience, usage of internet, participation in the internet course etc. Then, there
was another section in the questionnaire that aimed to determine the knowledge of the teachers
regarding the software and the frequency of their usage of that software. The questionnaire was
closed ended and was made on the Likert scale. Then, the researcher also used the computer and
the internet attitude scale that helped in finding the beliefs of the teachers about the value of the
computer and the internet in the educational use. Again, Likert scale was used here.
So, it can be said that primary method of research has been used here, with questionnaire and
survey as the tools and techniques deployed for collection of the data. The researcher has applied
the correct methods and tools because they are relatable to the aims of the study. The first two
research questions that what was the level of knowledge of the teachers of Turkey on the ICT
and what was the level of use of the ICT in education among the teachers in Turkey could be
found from the first questionnaire. The second research question that what attitudes did the
teachers carried towards the internet and the computers could be found from the second
questionnaire and the third research question that what are the relations between the independent
variables in the research like the experience of the teachers, gender, use of internet and the use of
computers per hour, per day and the dependent variables could be found from the third research
question.
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Evaluation of the research process and outcome
The researcher has summarized the results in the form of tables and charts which are most
probably made in SPSS (however he has not mentioned it in the paper). It has been found that
the ability of the teachers to use the ICT is very low. Previously also, they have not been found
to participate in the ICT. The teachers carry a medium level of attitude towards the internet and
computers. The variable have a relation with the use of ICT as it has been found that the males
have higher knowledge of ICT than the females, and they carry a more positive attitude than the
males. As far as the experience of the teachers are concerned, they are found to be more
knowledgeable in the field of ICT of they have less number of years of experience. Finally, the
research found that the correlation between the experience, the knowledge of the teachers and
their attitudes regarding internet and computer was positive.
Thus, it can be said that the findings of this project have been successful in fulfilling and
satisfying the objectives of the research. The knowledge of the teachers regarding the ICT has an
effect on the usage of such technologies in an effective manner. Attitudes again play a major role
in this. With the increase in the experience, there is improvement in the attitudes of the teachers
from the ICT usage and the demographics have an impact on the learning and usage of ICT
among the teachers.
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Bibliography
Tezci, E., 2009. Teachers’ effect on ICT use in education: The Turkey sample. Procedia-Social
and Behavioral Sciences, 1(1), pp.1285-1294.
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