Assessing computer attitudes: Does it matterfor teacher education in developing countries?

Abstract

The digital education revolution has had a significant impact on the teaching-learning environments. In this new era, it is unimaginable to have technology illiterate teachers in classrooms. The demand for education reform in most developing countries has been growing ever since to ensure that teachers are equally proficient in both computer technology competencies and pedagogical content knowledge. The success of such educational reforms also relies on teachers’ attitudes and willingness to embrace computer technologies in the learning environment. To cope with these expectations, teacher training institutions should include computer related attitudinal objectives in their teacher training programmes. This paper explores the issues surrounding the assessment of computer attitudes among teachers and student teachers with the view whether such assessment matters in teacher education. The focus of this paper is guided by three relevant questions—“What is computer attitudes?”, “What affects computer attitudes?”, and lastly “Why measure computer attitudes?”