Evaluation of the Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Education based on the Principle of Equality

Abstract

In this study, the evaluations of school administrators and teachers regarding the use of ICT in education on the basis of equality of conditions and equality of opportunity, which are the sub-dimensions of the principle of equality, are discussed. In the study, parallel mixed-methods approach, in which qualitative and quantitative data are used together, is adopted. The qualitative part of the research process was designed as phenomenological study, and the quantitative part as correlational survey. The study group of the qualitative part consists of 12 school administrators working in Edirne, Turkey. The qualitative data was obtained through semi-structured interviews were analyzed by descriptive analysis. The study group of the quantitative part of the study consists of 411 teachers working in the Central District of Edirne, Turkey. To collection of quantitative data, “Equality Scale for ICT Use in Education" and “Personal Information Form” were used. One-way ANOVA, t-tes and descriptive statistics were used to analysis data. According to the qualitative findings of thestudy, school administrators evaluated that even though an effort was made to establish equality in the use of ICT in education, it was not sufficient and therefore the use of ICT in an educational environment was not realized. It was observed that the total scores of Equality Scale for ICT use in Education applied to the teachers participating in the research were at an average level. The evaluations of teachers, based on gender, field of education, age, seniority, school level, and in-service training status dimensions were examined, and the results were interpreted by giving mean values of the findings with statistically significant differences according to the principle of equality of conditions in ICT use in education