Setup, Maintenance and Troubleshooting of Computer System Skills for Technical and Vocational Education Teachers

The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the perceived competencies, importance, and educational needs in setup, maintenance, troubleshooting of computer system skills among vocational and technical teachers in Malaysia. A survey was conducted. The population studied involved Malaysian full-time vocational and technical high school teachers (N = 284) employed by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia. Two hundred and eighty-four teachers from nine vocational and technical schools were selected to participate in this study. Data were gathered via a mailed questionnaire and the questionnaire consisted two parts that measured the teachers' perceived importance and competence, and demographic information on the sample. The study showed that the lowest in setup, maintenance, troubleshooting of computer system skills educational needs of Malaysia vocational and technical teachers were protect and care for floppy disks, and clean computer components and printers. Install and upgrade an application and use self-help resources to diagnose and correct common hardware problems, were the top two areas of educational needs in setup, maintenance, troubleshooting of computer system skills. The educational needs increased when the computer technology skills were more complicated.