Barriers to effective use of technology in teaching and learning

There are many barriers to the use of technology in education. Not every school or institution has the opportunity to use the latest technological tools like smart white boards with cost being a major factor. Another barrier may be that some schools and higher education institutions find it difficult to find the time to integrate it into their existing curricula and that many of the teachers feel unprepared to learn. Lack of access itself poses a great barrier towards the use of technology in education

According to  Sabaliauskas , T and Pukelis, T the integration of information technologies into the system of education has been discussed by a number of authors such as Hargreaves (1994), Lawton (1994), Lai (2001),  and others, and it was emphasised that the change in teaching and learning while integrating information and communication technologies is a long process which requires a lot of resources.Many barriers and difficulties are encountered such as, lack of support, lack of teacher competencies, insufficient financing (of teacher professional developments in ICT and lack of cooperation among academic personnel. 

Another major barrier can be the resistance to change with teachers refusing to change the old way of doing things. According to Murphy, J.W. (1986)  many writers have suggested that this technology may destroy the humanistic character of the typical classroom ,technology, it is thought, is to do with machines, and education with human beings. Murphy informs us that The dehumanizing effects of technology are described by  (Bjorn-Anderson and Rasmussen, 1980). as thought to violate the sanctity of the student -teacher relationship, altering the teacher's role in order to accommodate what are believed to be shifting aims of education.

Sabaliauskas, T. and Pukelis, K.(2004)
Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania

'Barriers to integration of information and communication technologies into the teaching and learning process'

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00003861.htm

Humanizing the Use of Technology in Education: A Re-Examination Author(s): John W. Murphy Source: International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft / Revue Internationale de l'Education, Vol. 32, No. 2 (1986), pp. 137-148 Published by: Springer Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3444262 Accessed: 15-01-2016 11:41 UTC