ABSTRACT

EXPLORING HEAD TEACHERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS USING COMPUTERS IN EDUCATION

Darvesh Karim

Assistant Instructor

Professional Development Center, North

University Road, Konodass, Gilgit.

Ph. No: (+92) 05811-454132-4 Ext: 3017

Fax No: (+92) 05811-454135

Cell No: (+92) 03465419307

Email (Official): darveshkarim@pdcn.edu.pk

Email (Private): dk_hunzai@yahoo.com, darvesh.karim@gmail.com

Online Blogs: www.dkhunza.blogspot.com; www.scribd.com/dk_hunzai

ABSTRACT

Attitudes play a significant role in acceptance of any idea or innovation. This study aims to explore the head teachers’ attitude towards computer usage in education; as many researchers have identified the significance of computers and the important role of headteacher, who has been largely publicized as a hindering factor or sometimes as an initiator. I, therefore intend to explore attitudes on a large scale for which the logical method of survey design with an adopted questionnaire (Pelgrum and Plump, 1993) will be used to gather relevant information from 224 head/deputy head teachers of Government primary and secondary boys and girls’ schools. The sample chosen from a variety of contexts in Sindh and Baluchistan including urban and rural areas; which constitutes a representative sample, who are currently involved in a course at AKU-IED under Ed-Link project. Since the government sector is the largest provider of education in Pakistan and Federal Government has also stressed great emphasis on enhancing the scope and amount of computers in Education. In this regard Ed-Link project has been designed to facilitate implementation of the government’s agenda for quality education in Pakistan, which is funded by USAID. The said project is intending to up-grade and establish computer labs in these areas; therefore, it is essential to explore the attitude and the state of readiness among these head teachers about acceptance of computers in education. The findings of this study will be a source of reference not only for Ed-Link project to plan professional development programs and initiate appropriate interventions in future but will also be helpful for the policy makers and curriculum designers to improve the current condition of curricula so as to determine the needs and trends for computers, and to suggest recommendations for changes. Furthermore, the tool which I am intending to use in Pakistani context in this study will also be a testing phase to check the reliability and validity of this tool for the head teachers in Pakistan.