Evaluation of Secondary Teachers’ Knowledge and Skills, Regarding the Information and Communication Technologies Utilization, before and after the COVID-19 Era, in Greece

Abstract

The current wide exploitation of information and communication technologies (I.C.T . ) enhances students’ ability to further acquire knowledge and skills. In today’s era when society is overwhelmed by a multitude of gadgets (laptops, tablets, smart-phones, etc.), students adapt very easily to technologically supported learning environments and learn to utilize I.C.T. It is a fact that during the global pandemic (COVID-19) the I.C.T.’s implementation of modern and asynchronous distance education supported greatly the educational community at all educational levels. The purpose of the study was the detailed evaluation of the knowledge and skills of Greek teachers in the exploitation of I.C.T., and the comparison of their “ armamentarium ” with those of the pre-COVID-19 era, (where I.C.T.s’ tools in teaching were apparently very limited). Stratified sampling was carried out with proportional allocation (Panaretos & Xekalaki, 2000) . Subsets of the population were selected which met certain properties. The method was used because there was an uneven population between the geographical prefectures of Greece from where the sample was collected. During the research process, appropriately structured questionnaires of 40 ques tions were fully completed by 130 teachers. The research questions were searching for: 1 ) The degree of satisfaction among teachers who used I.C.T. before and after COVID-19 pandemic. 2 ) The satisfaction rate of teachers towards the educational success of I.C.T. s’ tools, before and after COVID-19. With the term “ success ” we mean the degree of satisfaction with acquiring new knowledge thanks to the use of I.C.T.s ’ tools in teaching. Following COVID-19 pandemic along with the forced implementation of distance learning, there was an increase in the number of teachers participating in I.C.T. training programs from 18.8% to 38%. The percentage of teachers who claimed that the quality of the provided education is improving, increased from 53.8% to 68%. Additionally, after the COVID-19 era, the percentage of teachers who were satisfied with the use of I.C.T. in theory courses increased from 47.5% to 64%, while the percentage of teachers who supported the use of I.C.T. in laboratory courses decreased from 60.9% to 51.3%. The percentage of teachers who wished for the existence of e-courses adapted to the students needs improved from 52.5% to 56%. An increase in teachers’ gaining satisfaction with school equipment was observed from 46.3% to 60%, while the percentage of schools that enhanced the implementation of I.C.T. techniques also increased from 37.5% to 58%. Teachers’ opinion over I.C.T. did not dramatically change after the implementation of distance learning. However, a more positive picture emerges regarding both the degree of satisfaction with the I.C.T. use, integration and implementation tools, as well as the degree of enhancement of students’ knowledge from the use of I.C.T.