Abstract:

There has been exponential growth in the use and interest of technology during the past decade. It is therefore not surprising to find increasing attention and investment being funnelled into the utilisation of technology in education all over the world. The South African government, in keeping up with international trends, introduced the white paper on e-Education policy (Department of Basic Education [DBE], 2004). The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) has invested millions in E-learning (Gauteng Department of Education, 2015). Significant investment, according to Laudon and Laudon (2010), does not necessarily guarantee higher returns. Despite technology becoming increasingly available to teachers, they often refrain from making optimal use of it for teaching and learning.

It is important to point out that, although research has shown that technology can be applied effectively as a tool for teaching and learning (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000; Bruce & Levin, 2003), it also advises that the integration of technology can be a complex and challenging process for schools (Wilson-Strydom, Thomson & Hodgekinson-Williams, 2005). Within mathematics classrooms, the process of integrating technology is done differently, as it depends not only on the available tools but also the knowledge of technology that the teacher possesses.

In this study, the SAMR model was utilised to understand and classify teachers' use of technology. The SAMR model is a four-level approach for selecting, using, and evaluating technology use in a classroom setting (Puentedura, 2006). The SAMR model classifies technology usage in four categories namely Substitute, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition. This study provides an analysis of the factors that influence South African mathematics teachers’ integrating of technology into their classroom practices. In identifying and selecting respondents, purposeful sampling strategies was employed as the sample set shared a common attribute i.e. all of the respondents were in-service mathematics teachers. A total of 191 mathematics teachers took part in this quantitative study.

Although the most common available technology was a laptop or PC, the participants indicated that the use of a data projector has the biggest impact on the teaching and learning of mathematics. However, further investigation along the SAMR model indicated that 71.7% of the participants use the data projectors as a substitute for the chalkboard or OHP and did not change their teaching as a result of the integration of technology.

Keywords:

Technology, mathematics, integration, teaching, SAMR.