The relationship between the use of ICT for instruction and learning and the availability of ICT resources

Abstract

South African schools appear to be far from attaining the strategic objectives of the White Paper 7 on e-Education of 2004. The use of ICT for instruction and learning in schools is hampered by contextual factors in South Africa. One factor hampering the use of ICT in South African schools is the availability of ICT resources. Despite a high degree of access to ICT at home, most schools do not have the relevant ICT resources that teachers can use for instruction and learning. The SITES 2006 technical coordinators dataset was used to determine the statistical significant difference of the joint frequencies of the number of years that schools have been using ICT for instruction and learning as well as the availability of ICT resources. An integrated qualitative-quantitative design was used to transform the dataset for the calculation of a two-way Chi-square. A two-way Chi-square was calculated for the joint frequencies as well as for the odds ratio to determine the effect size of the frequencies. Activity Theory was used as a “theoretical framework for the analysis and understanding of human interaction through the use of tools and artefacts” (Hashim & Jones, 2007). The extent of the use of ICT resources (tools) by teachers (subject) in instructing learners (object) determines the degree of success in education (outcome). Easy availability of ICT resources for use in instruction and learning should yield a positive, meaningful achievement in education.