A STUDY ON THE ROLE OF INDIAN TEACHERS AND THEIR WILLINGNESS TO ADOPT EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

Educational Technology (ET) has become a revolutionary force in global education since the starting of 21st century by leveraging traditional methods of teaching and learning into more innovative approaches. Teachers' characters and their inclination towards ET become prime movers in this direction. In the majority of developing countries like India, a vast majority of teachers continue to desire traditional, authoritative roles of teaching as opposed to newer roles such as facilitators or delegators. But the demands of education in the 21st century necessitate a transition from traditional knowledge transfer to more active roles. This study examines the perceptions of Indian teachers about their changing roles and their readiness to embrace ET in their teaching. A case study was conducted involving 175 teachers from primary and secondary schools of Aligarh, India by examining five major roles of teachers—expert, authority, personal model, facilitator and delegator—as discussed by Anthony Grasha (1990). The findings reveal that teachers oriented towards facilitator and delegator roles are more likely to embrace Educational Technology (ET). In addition, the study identifies cultural constraints in India that hinder the adoption of ET. This study is particularly pertinent to developing countries like India where the quality of education needs to be enhanced while the governments are finding it difficult to realize benefits from limited resources and traditional cultural practices to enhance education in a technological era.