Abstract:

Training students to be critical thinkers has become essential. GLAT is an Erasmus funded institutional partnership project that seeks to prepare teachers with innovative teaching skills to achieve this feat. In line with the aims of the project, teachers have been drawn from schools in Croatia to undergo training in innovative teaching and learning practices; covering topics such as Game-based learning approaches, developing learning scenarios, how to use multimedia tools and resources, Problem-based learning, Inquiry learning, and programming skills. This study assumes that the subjects of the GLAT project are non-ICT related teachers and taking up a new role as coding teachers and the pursuance of a technology-driven lesson and use of online design tools might be challenging in the face of their digital disposition and age concerns.

The objective of this paper is to undertake a descriptive overview of the perceptions of the teachers participating in the project on:
a) digital self-efficacy,
b) Digital ICT usage
c) the digital supports in their schools, the perceived usefulness and the actual use of LePlanner – a new tool introduced; and further explore how the age of the teachers influence the perceptions. In the light of the forgone, answers were sought for the following research questions;

RQ 1: What perceptions do teachers hold about their:
a) personal digital dispositions (self-efficacy and technology appropriation),
b) digital support in schools and
c) the usefulness and possible usage of the new digital tool (LePlanner) which was introduced to them.
RQ 2: In what ways are the age of the teachers influencing the perceptions of the teachers as indicated RQ1?

The study was organized as an online survey for purposively sampled subjects. These are teachers from schools in Croatia, who are being trained to facilitate the teaching of coding to their children. In all 24 of them participated in the online survey. The subjects are non-ICT teachers, and they come on board the course from varied knowledge backgrounds. An online questionnaire was administered to the teachers during the first workshop meeting of the project, which was organized on the 5th and 6th of April in Rijeka, Croatia. The instrument sought to elicit the perceptions of the teachers in the dimensions of; their personal dispositions towards their capacities to use digital tools and resources and the kind of support their school offer in this direction.

Findings:
Most of the teachers have an above average perception rating across all the five variables under consideration. The responses were homogeneous implying shared perceptions by teachers. The study discovered two cluster groupings: Cluster 1; had 16 members (66.7% of the sample); Cluster 2, had 8 members, (33.3% of the sample); and did not display exclusive age groupings. Hence age is not an influencing factor in how far teachers will function in their new roles. There is are 66.7% percentage of teachers who do require some attention. Teachers had concerns; Perceptions teacher hold about their Digital/Computer Self-efficacy and b) perception about school-based support - Digital/Computer Self-efficacy was statistically significant across Cluster 1(M =2.547, SD = .410) and Cluster 2 (M = 2.906, SD = .186), t (22) = -2.339, p = .029; and Perceived Available Support was significantly different across Cluster 1 (M=2.083, SD =.410) and Cluster 2 (M = 2.625, SD = .415). t (19) = -2.575, p = .018

Keywords:

Games for Learning Algorithmic Thinking, GLAT, Computation thinking, Learning Scenarios design, LePlanner, Game-based Learning, Project Based Learning, Inquiry.