Teacher Competencies in Accessing Online Content: A Study of Igembe South District

Abstract

ICTs have impacted the way people think and live. With the world moving rapidly into digital media and information, the role of ICT in education is becoming more and more important. Providers of education are reviewing their programs so as to match the changing trends in the world. They have integrated ICT in education. The use of ICT in classroom set ups has impacted on the content and how the learners learn. The integration of ICT in classroom teaching in Kenya has faced many challenges. In this paper we look at the teacher competencies in accessing online content. The objective of this study was to explore teachers’ knowledge and ability to access online content. This study was conducted in Igembe South District of Meru County. The respondents to this study were 100 secondary school teachers. This study was quantitative and adopted a descriptive survey design to gather data. Data collection was carried out using questionnaires. The findings of this study indicate that many teachers do not have access to computers in their schools, they do not access the internet daily and for those who access the internet, they do not plan their searches and are not able to download the content for future use. The main recommendation of this study is, further studies to be conducted on this aspect of ICT in order to come up with a uniform framework for evaluating teachers’ competencies in accessing online content.