Influence of Teachers’ Competencies on ICT Implementation in Kenyan Universities

Abstract

Teachers’ ICT implementation is of growing importance in classrooms; currently, technology has become an essential ingredient of teachers’ practice. The study explores the implication of teachers’ competencies on ICT implementation in universities. The empirical literature has established a considerable research gap despite teachers’ competencies being critical in ICT implementation. The study presents a university survey in Kenya on 475 teachers exploring the implication of teachers’ ICT competencies on ICT implementation and teachers’ skills and knowledge. The descriptive statistics results indicated a mean of 4.279 and a Spearman correlation of 0.618 between teachers’ competencies and use of software tools, implying that teachers’ level of competencies increases as they use and employ software tools when teaching. The chi-square test statistic indicated results of 288.498 and a significance of P < 0.005 . The P value is less than the chosen significance level α = 0.05, which checks for independence on the teachers’ competencies on ICT implementation. Therefore, implying that the null hypothesis was rejected at the 5% level of testing. The conclusion was that there is significant evidence that teachers’ competencies significantly influence ICT implementation. Therefore, this study forms a foundation informing all universities stakeholders on their responsibility to support teachers in implementing technology in their instruction.