THE IMPACT OF IMPLICATING TEACHERS FROM THE RURAL AREA IN USING ICT SKILLS AND TOOLS - A MILESTONE
THE IMPACT OF IMPLICATING TEACHERS FROM THE RURAL AREA IN USING ICT SKILLS AND TOOLS - A MILESTONE

Summary/Abstract: This paper plans on analyzing recent research studies concerning the impact of using ICT skills and tools for teachers. However, the main focus will be on the impact of implicating teachers from the rural areas in using these skills and tools. Another main focus of this paper will be to: examine the impact of implicating teachers from the rural area in different ICT projects; compare urban and rural results gathered from the teachers; analyses the impact of using ICT skills and tools for teachers from the rural area (utility, personal development, limits, needs etc.); compare the results with other studies on this topic (at a national and international level) etc. It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the fact that the European Union is implementing lifelong strategies policies to encourage the development of ICT skills for teachers. In this sense, we can make reference to different documents that underline various aims that have been developed at the European level in order to ensure correlation between Member States (Memorandum on Lifelong Learning, Council Resolutions etc.). Thus, all countries, including Romania is faced with the fact that it has to improve and develop effective teaching and learning methods and contexts for continuum of lifelong learning, including ICT - Based learning technologies. A recent evaluation report steered with the support of eTwinning project shows that teachers from the rural area are developing more and more ICT skills. The evaluation was conducted in the period October-December 2012, by a team of researchers from the TEHNE Romania (The Centre for Innovation in Education) and from the Institute of Education Sciences. The evidence from this partial evaluation report suggest that: 35,4% of the teachers surveyed from the rural area attended online course; 43,6% of the teachers investigated used the eTwinning portal for continuous professional development; after attending the eTwinning program, 75,2% of the teachers surveyed from the rural area are putting more accent on using ICT support tool in their teaching. Methods and techniques: analysis of documents - research studies, laws, regulations circumscribe / structured legal framework of training and education on this issue, as well as: theories, forms, case studies etc.; survey questionnaires (partial evaluation results from eTwining project and other research papers on the topic). Returning to the purpose of this paper posed at the beginning, the article plans on analyzing the impact of implicating teachers from the rural area in developing ICT skills, as well as identifying the level of ICT tools usage: competences reached, limits, needs, opportunities, personal development etc.

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