Information and communication technology empowerment of early childhood education teachers in Botswana

Abstract

The study assessed the views of in-service participants of the University of Botswana (who are pursuing Bachelors degree in Primary Education) regarding the empowerment of Early Childhood Education teachers with Information and Communication Technology skills. Both quantitative and qualitative research designs were adopted. Eighty-two final year students constituted the sample. A semi-structured questionnaire was used. The findings showed that the respondents strongly believed that the Early Childhood Education teachers in Botswana should be empowered with Information and Communication Technology skills. However, they didn’t find the existing curriculum feasible due to lack of in-depth content and pedagogy adopted to deliver the content. The findings showed that the student teachers were not able to realize the usefulness of the popular, generic packages and communication tools. The participants of the study suggested for a comprehensive curriculum with spread-out modules that could offer basic Information Communication Technology skills initially, and provide advanced features in succession, in order to enable them infuse content with technology; perform administrative tasks efficiently; conduct research in Early Childhood Education; and generate local-specific multi-media packages for young Batswana.