ICT INTEGRATION IN TEACHER EDUCATION: PAKISTAN "ATTITUDE OF PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS TOWARDS ICT"

The integration of information and communication technologies can help to strengthen teachers and students, but the success of any initiatives to integrate technology in an educational program depends strongly upon the support and attitudes of people involved such as students or teachers. This study aimed to investigate the use of computers in teacher education institutes of Punjab, Pakistan. It measured the attitude of prospective teachers towards the use of ICT and identified barriers faced by prospective teachers in use of ICT. Loyd Gressard Computer Attitude Scale (Loyd and Gressard, 1984, 1985) was administered among 250 M. Ed level prospective teachers from 5-public sector universities of Punjab, Pakistan. This instrument captured the prospective teacher's attitude in four dimensions of ICT. These dimensions were computer anxiety, confidence with computers, liking computers and attitude toward the usefulness of computers. Moreover some open ended questions were also included to identify the barriers faced by prospective teachers in the use of ICT. The overall attitude of the prospective teachers towards the use of ICT was measured by applying simple descriptive statistical technique such as mean score. Further, comparison of attitude of male and female prospective teachers was made by applying inferential statistical technique such as t-test. All prospective teachers showed highly positive attitude towards ICT. Moreover female prospective teachers were found to be more anxious than male. Male prospective teachers were found more confident in using computers. Prospective teachers pointed out a lot of barriers faced by them in the use of ICT.