Abstract:

The recent rapid development of technology has made it an essential part of youths’ life and therefore it is rather a good idea and sound to be engaged in school education as well. Most educators adopt technology in their work in order to facilitate and support the teaching–learning process. Many studies indicate that ICT (Information and Communication Technology), particularly in terms of classroom practices have an impact on the quality of the teaching. This impact can be assessed by examining teachers’ experience with the innovative tools for teaching and learning. Our research presents the practice in implementation of ICT in Bulgarian school in order to reveal its potential to support and improve education. The main purpose is to investigate teachers’ opinions on the subjects related to technological integration in their work. Data was collected through an online anonymous survey from 190 teachers, most of which regularly attended symposia of innovative teachers.

The questions in our study explore several issues:
(1) in which pedagogical approaches do teachers utilize ICT tools most extensively;
(2) what technology supported learning activities are used according to the different students’ needs;
(3) how often different types of technology-based learning resources are used;
(4) what kind of digital resources or training games are used in the educational process according to their making – ready to use, adapted or created by themselves;
(5) how the respondents assess the utility of e-learning resources.

The paper discusses further topics in our questionnaire concerning ICT implementation in schools. In addition, we analyse the correspondence between teachers’ classroom practice in usage of various technology enhanced learning resources and the learning subject.

Findings show that teachers use various ICT supported learning activities (demonstrations, simulations, group tasks, additional materials for extra or self study, etc.) in conjunction with the traditional pedagogical formats. This blended approach forms so called technology rich teaching/ learning environment. Thereby educators aim to improve students’ comprehension and engagement. An analysis of specific relations between teachers’ opinions and technology incorporation practices are presented. Handling both the responses and the comments received from the questionnaire enables us to build an actual picture of the current state of ICT usage in the context of classroom education in Bulgaria. Furthermore, some discussions concerning possible ways to provide technology enhanced teaching and sources of appropriate e-learning resources are given. Suggestions for good practices in technology implementation and achievement of more effective learning are discussed.

Keywords:

Teachers’ attitude, technology enhanced teaching, learning activities, ICT.