A Study on Teacher’s Attitude towards Using New Technologies

“Educational systems around the world are under increasing pressure to use the new information and communication technologies (ICT’s) to teach students the knowledge and skills they need in the 21st century”(UNESCO 2002). The new technologies is seen as a cognitive tool that has the potential of encouraging inquiry based learning, reinforcing instructional concepts and fostering active and creative learning by engaging students in the process. If used effectively, these technologies have the potential to change the classroom dynamics and foster new pedagogical approaches. Technology plays a critical role in information society. In these societies, the stakeholders of educational policy redesign and reconstruct their educational systems based on the new educational paradigm such as constructivist theory so that both teachers and students develop the necessary knowledge and skills sought in this digital age. Government of India is focusing on approaches to integrate new technology in teaching and learning process to improve the quality of education at all levels. The National Policy on ICT at school levels is very strong step towards this. As above mentioned quote computers are not magic, but teachers are, the role of teachers in successful implementation of any programme is vital and cannot be undermined in anyway. Their attitude, their beliefs, their notions hold an important position.

Introduction "All the educational technology in classrooms today is worth nothing if teachers don't know how to use it effectively. Computers are not magic, teachers are" Dr. Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel Corporation "Educational systems around the world are under increasing pressure to use the new information and communication technologies (ICT's) to teach students the knowledge and skills they need in the 21st century" (UNESCO 2002). The new technologies is seen as a cognitive tool that has the potential of encouraging inquiry based learning, reinforcing instructional concepts and fostering active and creative learning by engaging students in the process. If used effectively, these technologies have the potential to change the classroom dynamics and foster new pedagogical approaches. Technology plays a critical role in information society. In these societies, the stakeholders of educational policy redesign and reconstruct their educational systems based on the new educational paradigm such as constructivist theory so that both teachers and students develop the necessary knowledge and skills sought in this digital age. Government of India is focusing on approaches to integrate new technology in teaching and learning process to improve the quality of education at all levels. The National Policy on ICT at school levels is very strong step towards this. As above mentioned quote computers are not magic, but teachers are, the role of teachers in successful implementation of any programme is vital and cannot be undermined in anyway. Their attitude, their beliefs, their notions hold an important position.

Need of Study
In the era of 21st century, there has been exponential growth in the use of Information and Communication Technology. ICT has become a vital tool of socio-economic and education change. It helps to create, store, manage and communicate information which is made more widely available. The improvement of education attainments helps us to prepare for such global technological change in the 21st century. In the traditional teaching learning situation, the relation between teacher and pupil is frontalthe role of teacher is to deliver knowledge to the pupil. In the traditional approach the teacher and pupil relationship was only knowledge transformation. For effective education, it is essential that there will be more opportunities for student's participation in the learning process were team work, more self study and self evaluation and less examination oriented teaching learning. It is felt that ICT's can assist in promoting more learner centered and interactive learning, but no amount of technological upgradation of educational institutions will change the performance of our students without the active involvement and support of teachers who are capable of exploiting the profound possibilities that ICT can offer for the teaching learning process. However, it is also necessary to create in the teachers an awareness of the possibilities of technology as an efficient assistant to knowledge and pedagogy. The integration of technologies in teaching in general and teacher education in particular is need of the day. The use of ICT's (New Technologies) can help teachers by storing and recording information about how students are developing understanding of new material, and by taking over some of the role of assessing and providing feedback to students so that teacher's can focus on other aspects of supporting learning. The study was planned to know the attitude and beliefs of secondary school teachers towards the use of new technology in the class rooms.

Objectives of the Study
The following are the objectives of the study.
1. To study the male and female teachers' attitude towards using new technology at secondary school level. 2. To study the Private and Government secondary school teachers' attitude towards using new technology in the class room.

Hypotheses of the study
The following hypotheses were framed for the study: 1. There is no significant difference between male and female teachers' attitude towards using new technology at secondary level. 2. There is no significant difference between Private and Government secondary school teachers' attitude towards using new technologies.

Methodology
The descriptive survey method which is a predominantly qualitative research method was used to conduct the present investigation.

Sample of Study
The sample of the study consisted of 60 secondary school teachers ( 30 Government and 30 Private ) of Davanagere District, Karnataka State. The sample includes both male and female secondary school teachers.
Tool used in Study "Attitude towards Using New Technology Scale" -S Rajasekar (English) is used for the collecting the data. This scale consists 30 statements. It is standardized on higher secondary school teachers.

Analysis
The researcher has used test of significance to compare the difference between male and female, government and private secondary school teacher's attitude towards using new technologies.
1. There is no significant difference between male and female teacher's attitude towards using new technology at secondary level. The mean value of male and female teachers' attitude towards using new technology was tested for significance. It was found that the obtained 't' value of 5.012 was found to be more than the table value at 0.05 level. Hence, the value was found to be significant. The null hypothesis that there is no significant difference between male and female teachers attitude towards using new technology at secondary school level was rejected. This prompted the researcher to formulate the alternate hypothesis that there is a significant difference between male and female teachers attitude towards using new technology at secondary school level. From the table:1 it can be observed that the mean value of female teachers 51.76 is greater than the mean value of male teachers attitude towards using new technology which is 39.98.

ReseaRch PaPeR
This indicates that the female teachers have positive attitude towards using new technology when compared to male teachers.
2. There is no significant difference between private and government secondary school teachers' attitude towards using new technologies.

Conclusion
The study revealed that female teachers and private secondary school teachers are having positive attitude towards using new technology. A significant number of teachers do not support the principle that technology is a powerful tool for teaching and learning as recommended in current curriculum guidelines. The back ground of students who join the Government secondary schools most of them are lower socio-economic status and ultimately having lower technology back ground. This may be the reason as to why Government school teachers do not find it convenient to try using new technology in the schools, but in the case of Private secondary schools, majority of students are from sound socioeconomic and technological background of families. Which may be a reason for their present attitude interestingly it has been found that female teachers are inclined in their attitude towards the using new technologies. Further research in this area can bring out the real picture of this situation. It has been rightly said that the level of success in ICT integration in school is not depend on quality or sophistication of the technology, but rather on the teacher's readiness and positive disposition. Teacher must change their beliefs and have positive attitude towards using new technology because today Government is providing lot of opportunities to improve the quality of education at all level. Encouragement is continuous by the government towards utilization of ICT. But the attitudinal aspects of teachers may remain as a stumbling block in implementation and utilization of ICT. The reason for this mindset may be many. Relevant programmes are to be taken up simultaneously by the Government in modification of the teachers especially Government school teachers to develop a positive attitude towards utilizing new technologies.