dc.description.abstract |
Integration of ICT into all levels of Ghanaian education has been a concern to the
government of Ghana. As a result, the government in collaboration with other
stakeholders of education have undertaken steps to ensure that ICT integration into
education in Ghana becomes a reality. Despite the numerous efforts by the
government and other stakeholders towards ensuring comprehensive ICT integration,
in most cases the opposite is what is realized in practice. With all of the research on
kindergarten teachers' use of ICT in education, very little studies centred on ICT use
in classroom assessment practices of the kindergarten teachers. Using a descriptive
survey design, a research was undertaken on kindergarten teachers’ use of existing
ICT tools in classroom assessment practices in Asikuma Odoben Brakwa district.
Census was employed in the selection of participants and therefore all the 193 public
school kindergarten teachers in the district (37 male and 156 female) were used as
participants in the study. Meanwhile, descriptive statistics alongside inferential
statistics (Independent Sample T-Test) were employed to analyse the data. Findings of
the study, revealed that the existing types of ICT tools in the kindergarten classrooms
were tablet, printer, computer, pen drive, mobile phone, video game, radio cassette
recorder, television, television decoder, and Bluetooth speaker; majority of the
classrooms did not have most of the types of ICT tools. It was also revealed in the
study that majority of the teachers at the kindergarten level do not most of the time
use ICT tools in classroom assessment practices. The study further found that
majority of the kindergarten teachers have inadequate knowledge in using ICT tools
in classroom assessment practices. Generally, majority of the kindergarten teachers
according to the findings of this study, have challenges most of the time in their use of
ICT tools in classroom assessment practices and these challenges include inadequate
computers, inadequate knowledge in using the ICT tools, developmentally
inappropriate ICT tools, lack of technical support, inadequate time and limited
understanding of ICT integration into classroom assessment. Also, the study found
that there was no statistically significant difference in ICT use in classroom
assessment practices between the mean scores of the male teachers and the female
teachers. In view of the findings of the study, recommendations were made to the
government of Ghana and its educational stakeholders to support the schools by
providing developmentally appropriate ICT tools to kindergarten classrooms in the
district. The Ghana Education Service with its partner organizations should also
provide regular in-service training to kindergarten teachers and support them in
diverse ways to resolve the challenges they encounter in using ICT tools in the
conduct of their classroom assessment practices. |
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