User’s perception on ICT adoption in High schools

Abstract

Information Communication Technology (ICT) plays a crucial role in the effectiveness, efficiency and service delivery of any institution. ICT has also been credited with the potential to integrate world economies thus demolishing the barriers created by time and distance. However, despite its role in improving service delivery, it adoption in secondary schools in Kenya has remained low and limited. The study adopted a descriptive research design approach and targeted all the public and private secondary schools in Thika district in Kenya. The findings shows that the pace of ICT adoption in both public and private secondary schools in Kenya is very slow, as characterized by: user complexity perception, inadequate IT literacy, lack of psychological and technical readiness and insufficient policy guidelines. The paper concludes that inadequate technical and psychological preparedness has belated perception change which has hampered technology acceptance and use in secondary schools. This study recommends that; Psychological and technical skill readiness of teachers needs to be addressed through increasing investment in ICT facilities, resources and training so as to reverse the slow rate of ICT adoption trend and improve the pace of diffusion in secondary schools.