Multicultural Education & Technology Journal

Evaluation of the level of ICT integration and usage in teachers' curricula in Iranian
schools: The teachers' viewpoint
Saeid Moradi Ali Khalkhali

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Evaluation of the level of ICT

integration and usage in teachers
curricula in Iranian schools

170

The teachers viewpoint

Saeid Moradi

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Department of Educational Management, Payam Noor University,

Gaemshahr, Iran, and

Ali Khalkhali
Department of Educational Management, Islamic Azad University,
Tonekabon, Iran
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the level of ICT (information and communication
technologies) integration and usage in teachers, curricula in Iranian schools.
Design/methodology/approach The data for the study were gathered through a questionnaire
administered to 160 respondents who were school teachers. In total, 154 questionnaires were retrieved.
This represented approximately 96 percent return rate. The data were analyzed quantitatively using
SPSS. The core of the questionnaire was analyzed using Pearson Correlation Coefficient statistical tool
to determine the significant the level of ICT integration and usage in teachers curriculum in Irans
schools. One-way-analysis of variance ANOVA was employed to test the relationships between
variables and respondents demographic profile (gender, age, qualifications and length of service). The
statistical significance was set at p , 0.05.
Findings Results showed that there were no significant differences in the overall ANOVA analysis
based on the respondents demographic information. Also, the results of the research showed that
respondents were dissatisfied with the level of weak integration and usage of ICT into teachers
curricula.
Originality/value The a reliability of 0.87 was obtained which shows a strong reliability of the
research instrument.
Keywords Communication technologies, Curricula, Teachers, Iran, Sustainable development
Paper type Research paper

Multicultural Education &

Technology Journal
Vol. 2 No. 3, 2008
pp. 170-178
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1750-497X
DOI 10.1108/17504970810900469

Retraction notice
The Editor and Publisher of Multicultural Education & Technology Journal wish to
retract the article: Evaluation of the level of ICT integration and usage in teachers
curricula in Iranian schools: the teachers viewpoint by Saeid Moradi which appeared
in Vol. 2 No 3, 2008. The paper drew upon and did not reference an earlier paper by the
author and A. Khalkhali and F. Amuei (Assessment and comparison of ICT literacy
between teachers and students in Irans secondary schools, World Applied Sciences
Journal, Vol 4 No. 3, 2008, pp. 396-405), and, drew upon and did not reference an earlier
paper by Nwachukwu Prince Ololube (Appraising the relationship between ICT usage
and integration and the standard of teacher education programs in a developing
economy, International Journal of Education and Development Using ICT, Vol 2 No. 3,
2006).

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1. Introduction
Information and communication technology is indispensable and have been accepted
as part of the contemporary world especially in the industrialized societies. In fact,
cultures and societies have adjusted to meet the challenges of the knowledge age.
Therefore, the pervasiveness of ICT has brought about rapid changes in technology,
social, political, and global economic transformation. However, the field of education
has not been unaffected by the penetrating influence of information and
communication technology. Unquestionably, ICT has impacted on the quality and
quantity of teaching, learning, and research in teacher instruction. Therefore, ICT
provides opportunities for teachers and students to communicate with one another
more effectively during formal and informal teaching and learning (Yusuf, 2005).
In the same vein, teachers and students need training not only in computer literacy but
also in the application of various kinds of educational software in teaching and
learning (Ololube, 2006). Furthermore, they need to learn how to integrate ICT into
their classroom activities and school structure. Also, the quality of teachers is known in
virtually all countries to be a key predictor of student learning (Ololube, 2005).
Therefore, teachers training are crucial using ICT, because ICT are tools that on the
one hand can facilitate teachers training and on the other hand help them to take full
advantage of the potential of technology to enhance student learning (UNESCO, 2003).
Correspondingly, ICT have introduced a new era in traditional methods of teaching
and offering new teaching and learning experiences to teacher and student. Hence,
educational environment should take advantage of this capability to provide easy
access of information, since technologies enable the visualization of educational
materials in an innovative and realistic manner. Therefore, the purpose of this research
is to address ICT in relation to teacher curriculum and relate it to sustainable
development of education in Iran. The key assertion of this paper is that the effective
integration of ICT for teacher curriculum addresses both the problem and solution to
technology based learning, seeking synergistic results that benefit pre-service teachers
as they graduate and carry out their duties as teacher. Accordingly, there is the need to
better design teacher education curricula and infrastructure as well as organization of
programs so that pre-service teachers can better plan for unanticipated and unintended
results that confront them in the classroom. Because ICT play a key role as enabler to
help us better manage the complex information flow and to integrate such information
towards effective policy formulation and planning towards the utmost maximization of
human capital and potential in society. Thus, it involves the development of effective
and integrated tools as well as training modules to enable their application through
effective teacher training (Mac-Ikemenjima, 2005). It is practical that despite efforts by
the government to establish valuable and effective teacher education programs to help
in the preparation of competent teachers, it has a fundamental problem which has
incapacitated its development.
The keenness to carry out this research was inspired by the desire to examine the
effectiveness of teachers curriculum in Irans schools in relation to the role and usage
of ICT; it also looks at the prospect, which is built on the theoretical structure of this
study. In addition, the general purpose of this study is to verify the research hypothesis
in this study as a basis for encouraging institutions of education towards maintaining
or improving the quality of their teachers curriculum, and to provide resources that
might help administrators, educational planners and policy makers who need

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empirical model to come to terms with the reality on ground and effectively apply ICT
to teachers curriculum. The research hypotheses and objectives of this research study
paid attention to the study teachers curriculum which is aimed at theoretically and
empirically ascertaining the degree to which ICT impact on this programs
development. In particular, this study addressed two statistically testable research
hypotheses:
H1. There is the level of weak integration and usage of ICT literacy in teachers
curriculum in Irans schools.

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H2. There is no significant difference between the variables tested and

respondents demographic profile.
2. Background
Fathiyan (2004) study which investigated teachers computer literacy in secondary
Iran schools found that:
.
Most teachers do not have the needed experience and competence in the use of
computers either for educational or industrial purposes.
.
A majority of male and female teachers in do not have needed competence in
basic computer operations.
.
Most of the teachers do not have needed competence skills and knowledge in the
use of common computer software.
.
There is no significant difference between male and female teachers in their
experience in using computers, their levels of proficiency in computer operations,
and in their use of common software.
Moradi and Khalkhali (2007) in the study entitled The Comparison of Information and
Communication Technology Literacy between Teachers and Students of Irans
Guidance Schools on this total result accedes that ICT literacy of students is higher
and greater than teachers. They suggested that to compile national and global
standards for developing information and communication technology literacy in
different levels especially between teachers and students. Also, the officials of
educational organization should prepare programs for teachers and students to use
information and communication technology in curricula and different scientific
activities. Teachers and students activities should be evaluated. Therefore, the studies
showed weak usage of ICT into teachers curricula in Irans schools. Accordingly, in
study, Van Braak et al. (2004) concerning innovativeness, attitudes regarding
computers, intensity of ICT use. Compared to teacher characteristics, the stresses that
are ICT integration important for successful in teachers curriculum. Nevertheless,
findings from the interviews indicate that ICT in curricula of schools are often
underutilized, and it is clear that ICT integration is not yet achieved in a systemic or
systematic way in most of the schools. Very few schools can be labeled as learning
organizations with a shared commitment to ICT integration. Only 22 percent reported
to have developed an extensive ICT plan, and only 17 percent of those plans included
information about the educational use of ICT. AS ICT continues to drive changes in
society and in education. Also, in another study, Larose et al. (1999) argue that
regardless of the quality of ICT equipment available to teachers and students in the

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school environment and independently of the quantities of courses which they have
taken during their undergraduate studies, the level of transfer of acquired
competencies and learning to practice is very weak. However, the major impact of
education on the educated remains at the level of the private use of these technologies
and not in their integration into daily teaching practices. Larose and colleagues further
pointed out that many of the educated, no matter the level of education, have minimal
computer literacy but do not use it in their pedagogy because of the fear that the
rapidity of obsolescence of the hardware and of the software will make their task more
complex and interminable. Also, Hakimy (2004) concluded in a study named the study
of effective factors in using information and communication technology that teachers
were not prepared for teaching by using information and communication technology.
Teachers necessary needs and services were limited, and teachers were not prepared
for using computers and their softwares and hardwares. Additionally, teachers
responses to questionnaire and analyzing their data showed that using softwares and
hardwares is a big problem for teachers.
3. Research method
3.1 Instruments for data collection and procedures
This empirical research is exploratory in nature as a structured questionnaire with a
four point Likert scale where one equal to the lowest and four equal to the highest was
used to collect data. The questionnaire included two major sections: A Demographic
profile, and B teachers curriculum emphasis scale. Section A required the
respondents to check the boxes as it applied to them, which included their gender, age,
qualifications and length of service. Section B, the core of the questionnaire required
respondents to rate a list of items on ICT integration and usage. The questionnaires
administered in-between 160 respondents who were teachers in the selected schools.
In total, 154 questionnaires were retrieved. This represented approximately 96 percent
return rate. The respondents used for this study were teachers of 18 secondary schools
of Mazandaran province that is one province of Iran. The gender disparities in this
study showed that Female were (64 41.6 percent) while male were (90 58.4
percent). The age differentiations showed that the respondents aged between 25 and
40 years were (79 51.3 percent) and those aged 41-above years were (75 48.7
percent). Based on their qualifications (53 34.4 percent), were first degree holders as
(101 65.6 percent) were postgraduate degree holders. Regarding their length of
service (81 52.6 percent), had served between 5 and 15 years, whereas (73 47.4
percent) had earned work tenure of 16-above years. The demographic profile of
respondents is shown in Table I.
The questionnaire for this study was test-piloted by 15 teachers that their comments
assisted the researcher improves on the quality of the final instrument administered.
The respondents were however assured of confidentiality as they are willing to answer
the questions.
To test the quality of measurement used in this study, or test the consistency or
repeatability of the measures. A quantitative analysis of inquiry was performed
using the SPSS version 11 of a computer program to statistically test the reliability of
the research instrument. In the analysis, the sum variables were used because its
reliability was very high compared to a single variable. The reliability estimates for the
sum variables were computed by the following: Mean square variance between

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174
Table I.
Simple table showing the
demographic profile
of respondents

Demographic profile
Gender
Female
Male
Age
25-40 years
41-Above years
Qualifications
First degree
Post-graduate degree
Length of service
5-15 years
16-Above years

Number (N)

Percent

64
90

41.6
58.4

79
75

51.3
48.7

53
101

34.4
65.6

81
73

47.4
52.6

subjects-residual variance and subjects. As a result, the a reliability of 0.87 was

obtained which shows a strong reliability of the research instrument.
3.2 Data analysis
After data collection stage, all the structured items of the questionnaires were keyed
into the computer and were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences
(SPSS) version 11 of program of a computer. The core of the questionnaire was
analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient statistical tool to determine the level of
ICT integration and usage in teachers curricula in Irans schools. One-way-analysis of
variance ANOVA was employed to test the relationships between variables and
respondents demographic profile (gender, age, qualifications and length of service).
The statistical significance was set at p , 0.05.
3.3 Pearson correlation coefficient analysis
The findings from the analysis for ICT integration in teachers curriculum and the
effectiveness of programs showed that there is the level of weak provision and uses of
ICT instructional materials on schools teachers curriculum (correlation value at
r 0.511, p , 0.000). The implication is that respondents were dissatisfied with the
level of weak integration of ICT into teachers curricula. Because most of teachers and
students do not have the needed skills and knowledge required of them to effectively
carry out their teaching assignments. Therefore, this hypothesis was rejected. This is
so because the slow access to basic ICT equipment, low Internet connectivity and
computers, and the inadequacies in the use of audiovisual materials and equipments in
teachers curriculum are barriers to the effective and professional development of
education in Iran. Refer to Table II for detail.
3.4 ANOVA analysis
Table III above shows that there is no significant difference in the overall ANOVA
analysis based on the respondents demographic profile. Gender showed (F 0.343
and p . 0.794). Results of the analysis of variance for age indicated no significant
differences on the variables tested. The value of F is (F 0.238; p . 0.870). Based on
respondents qualification (F 0.757; p . 0.520), while for respondents length of
service (F 0.360; p . 0.782).

ICT
Pearson correlation
Significant (2-tailed)
N
Teacher curriculum
Pearson correlation
Significant (2-tailed)
N

ICT

Teachers curriculum

1
154

511
0.000
154

511 *
0.000
154

1
154

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175
Table II.
Pearson correlation
coefficient of respondents
answers

Note: *Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

Gender
Between groups
Within groups
Total
Age
Between groups
Within groups
Total
Qualification
Between groups
Within groups
Total
Length of service
Between groups
Within groups
Total

ICT integration
and usage

Sum of squares

df

Mean square

Significant

0.255
37.148
37.403

3
150
153

0.085
0.248

0.343

0.794

0.182
38.292
38.474

3
150
153

0.061
0.255

0.238

0.870

0.518
34.241
34.760

3
150
153

0.173
0.228

0.757

0.520

0.275
38.121
38.121

3
150
153

0.092
0.254

0.360

0.782

4. Discussion of results
On the basis of the findings of this study reported here as indicated in Table III,
there were no significant differences in the overall ANOVA analysis based on the
respondents demographic information. Neither did gender, age, qualification and
length of service prove otherwise on the variables tested. An analysis of the core of
the questionnaire and the result obtained shows that the teachers curriculum
provided by Iran institutions of higher education is hindered by the lack of effective
use and provision of ICT instructional materials. Thus, there is a statistically
meaningful relationship between the level of ICT integration and usage in teachers
curriculum in Irans schools which invariably affects the pre-service and in-service
teachers performances, the correlation value of r 0.511, p , 0.000 obtained
brought this to bear. Accordingly, in study, Tang and Ang (2002) highlight the
impact of communication on ICT integration and usage in curriculum. They suggest
that teachers should not be considered as recalcitrant recipients but as
structurally constrained participants. Acceding to Lai and Pratt (2004), the main

Table III.
One-way analysis of
variance (ANOVA) of the
relationships between
variables and
respondents
demographic profile

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responsibility of the ICT coordination is especially to guide ICT integration in

teaching and learning programs (curriculum support). Teachers indicate the lack of
time as an important obstacle for receiving such curriculum. Therefore, it seems to
be recommended to distinguish between technicians providing schools and teachers
with technical support, next to ICT coordinators that focus primarily in curriculum
support in view of ICT integration into the curriculum. Also, acceding to Dawson
and Rakes (2003) the more training teachers and students receive, the more ICT
integration at school level is being observed. Their findings suggest that without
well-trained, ICT-capable teachers, the integration of ICT into school curricula will
remain deficient.
In the present study, teachers report that their personal impact on the current level
of ICT integration is limited. They refer in this context to the fact that ICT is not yet
included in the formal curriculum. Also, the results in the present research of the
showed that teachers in Iran hardly comes in contact with ICT instructional materials,
including those who are in the department of educational technology proper. Besides,
the institutions responsible for the provision teachers curriculum, provides programs
within the confines of the mandate given to them by the government through various
bodies that coordinate their activities. However, their ability to be effective is
dependent for the most part on the availability of fund provided for them to be able to
purchase the needed ICT equipments. It is equally possible that the hardship faced by
these institution and their inability to meet the demand to develop effective and
proficient ICT literate teaching cadre is as a result of corrupt practices by the
government officials on the one hand, and the regulatory bodies and officials of
the curriculum institutions on the other hand. According to Fathiyan (2004), the
greatest problem faced by the teachers curriculum is inadequate funding or finance
coupled with lack of library facilities and inadequate teaching/learning materials. This
probably accounts for the limitations to the effectiveness of the institutions training
programs. However, the results of the analysis of the responses obtained showed that
the teachers curriculum have slightly impacted on the level of performance of the Irans
teachers but not to the extents of meet the UNESCOs (2005) millennium goal of
educational for sustainable development 2005-2014.
5. Conclusion and recommendations
Social, economic, and technological changes of the past decades are making learning
and instruction for all more crucial than ever. Yet, educational systems to different
degrees worldwide are struggling to afford educational opportunities for all, to provide
their graduates with the necessary knowledge and skills for evolving marketplaces
and sophisticated living environments, and to prepare citizens for lifelong learning.
To meet these challenges, countries have to focus concurrently on expanding access,
improving internal efficiency, promoting the quality of teaching and learning, and
improving system management. Accordingly, quality education is regarded as the
main instrument for social, political and economic development of a nation. Therefore,
Education has continued to be a great asset to many as well as a steady source of
manpower supply for the national economy especially in the west where education is
seen and accepted as an effective instrument for success. Therefore, it is very essential
that we recognize that schools are indispensable for successful learning about ICT, and
learning and teaching through ICT to improve of education. In the same vein,

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Newhouse (2002) made clear that a good balance between discovery learning and
personal exploration on one hand, and systematic instruction and guidance on the
other characterizes a powerful ICT learning environment.
ICT is an influential instrument for the development of quality teaching and
learning in educational systems around the world, as well as a means for fundamental
transformation into the existing school principles and practices for the preparation of
students in meeting the innovations in the global arena. Achievements in the ICT
penetration and usage in curriculum in Irans school is dependent on the recognition of
the importance of ICT application to education for sustainable development by the
government by making useful policies and providing enough fund to the institutions
on the one hand and the implementation of policies by the coordinating bodies and the
institutions themselves on the other hand. Therefore, designing and implementing
successful ICT-enabled curriculum to schools is the key to fundamental, wide-ranging
educational reforms. Consequently, educational institutions in Iran should either
assume a leadership role in the transformation of education or be left behind in the
swirl of rapid technological changes. Accordingly, for Iran and countries of the world
education to reap the full benefits of ICT in learning, it is essential that teachers and
students are able to effectively use these tools for teaching and learning. The schools
must provide the leadership for their teachers and model the new pedagogies and tools
for learning through effective strategic plan. That is, leadership in education should be
visionary about conceiving a desired future state, which includes the picturing of
where and what the curriculum should be in the future, without being constrained by
such factors as funding and resources, and then working backward to develop action
plan to get to where they want to get to. However, a successful and effective strategic
plan depends to the extent to which proper implementation and monitoring are carried
out. Therefore, this research endeavor might have made a considerable stride in the
understanding of the impact of ICT on schools preparation towards producing a new
caliber of teachers and other educational staff whose professional ability are very
essential in education development.
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Corresponding author
Saeid Moradi can be contacted at: m_saeid_2007@yahoo.com

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