Teacher Training in Technology Based on their Psychological Characteristics: Methods of Group Formation and Assessment

AbstractTeachers, despite adequate training in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), appear to be reluctant to incorporate ICT into their teaching practices. This is an issue of major importance, not only for educational but also for career development reasons, since the acquisition of new skills broadens a professional's career identity and enriches his/her career opportunities. Research so far has tried to explore the factors related to teacher's reluctance and personality seems to be one of them. The paper presents the first stage of an extended research study on the specific field and discusses the research methodology used to explore personality traits, as well as other psychological characteristics, such as self-efficacy related to ICT use, and anxiety and attitudes towards ICT use. The sample consisted of trainee teachers who were divided into groups, according to their personality characteristics, based on the five-factor personality model of Costa and McCrae (1992). The instruments that were constructed for the present study and were used for the assessment of in-group cooperation and teacher's intention for ICT adoption in teaching are presented and discussed