A Study of Information and Communication Technology Integration by Faculty Teaching in a Ubiquitous Laptop Bachelor of Education Program

The fast pace of technological change within education has made it challenging for Faculty of Education professors to keep current with the integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into teaching. This study focuses on an Ontario university Faculty of Education’s ubiquitous laptop program. Diffusion of innovation theory was used as a conceptual framework to examine how Faculty of Education professors perceive they are learning and integrating ICT into the preservice program despite a lack of formal ICT standards in the education system of Ontario. In 2007, data were gathered through interviews with faculty, administration, technical assistants and recent B.Ed. graduates. The faculty participated in an online survey to determine what ICT was being used and integrated within the B.Ed. program. In the analyses, data were organized into five themes based on Rogers (2003) diffusion of innovations theory: innovations used by faculty, adoption of innovations, organizational support of the adoption, unexpected consequences of the innovation, and increasing the rate of adoption. The findings from the faculty survey and interviews indicate that while many professors often integrated technology in their teaching, there existed a wide range of skills, confidence levels, and amount of ICT integrated into teaching among faculty. Issues influencing the adoption of effective technology integration that arose from the study include: lack of faculty development, off task behavior of preservice teachers, lack of time to learn ICT, technical difficulties, technical support concerns, wide range of ICT skills of preservice teachers, and the high cost of the laptops themselves. The lack of provincial ICT standards may have further contributed to the varied degrees of ICT integration at the university as well as that within schools in the practicum setting. Recommendations were made that have the potential to improve the effectiveness of ICT integration into the Bachelor of Education program and also provide direction for future faculty development initiatives, including faculty development. Findings from this study may be beneficial to researchers who are studying the faculty experience in ubiquitous laptop Faculty of Educations or other educational institutions considering ICT integration.Ph