Teachers’ Perceptions and Practices of Information Technologies: The Case of Private Esentepe Elementary School

Abstract

In this study, teachers’ perceptions and practices of information technologies (IT) were
investigated. The study was conducted with all the teachers (n=29) working at Private Esentepe Elementary
School in Konya during the 2006-2007 academic year. Data were collected through participant observation,
interviews and document analysis, and analyzed descriptively. According to the results, teachers at Esentepe
utilized information technologies in various ways. Information technologies bring advantages for both teachers
and students, but it is also possible to face some disadvantages when they are overused in the teaching and
learning process. The problems that teachers encounter in terms of IT applications can be caused by the
inadequate technical equipment of the school, the lack of IT materials in classrooms and teachers’ lack of
knowledge and ability to use IT in teaching. Teachers try to solve these problems by either asking the
Information Technologies teacher in the school or producing their own problem solving methods.