Interview two Computer teacher 64

The second interviewee at school B, CC, is working as a computer teacher at the school. She has been working at the school for 16 years and in her work as a computer teacher she teaches all grades at the school; from kindergarten to grade 9. CC describes herself as the pioneer regarding computers at the school.

When asked about her computer knowledge, CC describes that her experiences with computers started 16 years ago when they got their first computers at the school. She explains that because she was the youngest teacher at the school, the director decided to send her on computer training. Besides that she also took some other courses on her own and bought many computer books. She mentions that she uses computers a lot in her work today and that she for example has to send forms over the Internet to the government. She describes that she still learns new things and is constantly improving her computer knowledge.

Regarding how computers are used by the teachers at the school, CC says that they use them on a daily basis. She describes that the other teachers uses the computers to prepare their courses, when they for example need to get further information. She explains that the other teachers also uses the Internet to find exercises that students can finish and for checking for educational news. She describes that some teachers uses the computers together with small speakers for playing CD-ROMs, but that it is not as common as it was before.

2 _{http://www.forex.se/ [2012‐04‐30]}  3

CC describes that the learning material that she and the other teachers use today are provided on both CD-ROM and through the Internet. She explains that the Internet content they use is updated by a governmental apartment constantly for free. The content provided on CD-ROM on the other hand is not updated. CC describes that the school instead get the first version of each CD-ROM for free, but if they want to get an updated version, then they have to pay for it themselves.

When asked about how she teaches her student, CC describes that discipline is very important and that she always emphasizes on it when teaching. She describes that before each class, all students have to walk to the computer room in a straight line, and then turn on the computer correctly. She also teaches her students which websites that is inappropriate. She explains that if students visit one of these websites anyway, she punish them by forbidding them to use the computers for two days. CC describes that all students are allowed to learn in their own pace in her classes. She describes that if some students are quick learners she lets them sit in a small group. She claims that even if some of the students are slower learners than other, all students still wants to learn and likes the idea of using computers.

When asked how she conducts her classes, CC describes that she always starts each class with a review of what the students learn last time. After that she teaches the students something new and then hands out assignments that the students can use to practice. She explains that if students finish early, she awards them by allowing them to play a game. She describes that what students learn in her classes differs between grades. In kindergarten the students learn how to turn the computer on and off and get to play some games. In grade 1 to 2, the students learn how to use Microsoft Word and in grade 3 to 5 they learn Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel. In secondary school, i.e. grade 6 to 9 the students get to learn Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Flash and some programming. CC explains that the material she uses in her classes are mainly books, checkupsthat students can use to learn step by step and paper sheets that students can follow and practice with. CC describes that computers are helping a lot because the students really like to use them in teaching. She claims that students like computers because they can see what to do easily and understand the context better, which also enables students to learn quicker. She means that it is more efficient to use computers in education than to teach in a more traditionally way in front of a whiteboard and that the only reason to why the school does not use computers in the regular education today is because of its limited budget. She describes that if only the school got further financial support, which enabled them to introduce computer-aided teaching, it would not be a problem to do so, as all teachers and students have positive attitude towards using computers.

When asked about her opinion regarding the computers they have at the school today, CC describes that the computers fulfil all their current needs. She describes that the only problem she sees is that the school got too few computers. She explains that she would like to have two computer rooms instead of only one, so that the students could get more computer hours per week. She also thinks that another computer room would be good because then it would be possible for the other teachers to use the computer room for classes in their subjects as well.

When it comes to the amount of computer teachers at the school, CC describes that there are no direct shortage, but that one or two more would be good because she has many teaching hours per week. She explains that the reason to why the school only has one computer teacher has to do with the school’s limited budget. She also claims that there is a problem with the allocation of teachers from the government; when the government hires new teachers they only look at the amount of students at each school. This makes it difficult for the school because the larger school gets priority.

CC describes that because the school is located in the rural areas, students had little knowledge about computers before they got computers to the school. She explains that at that time the students spent most of their spare time playing outside, but that this has changed since they got the computers. She explains that now students spend a lot more time in front of the computer instead of going outside and that students were healthier before because of this. CC describes that one positive thing with the computers is that students feel more excited to learn now because of the new technology. She also claims that they now feel more equal with the students in the city because they can access computers and the Internet. Another good thing that CC describes is that students can get more information worldwide, which was hard before. She also explains that the computers have made it possible for the teachers to improve their learning materials by using computers and the Internet.

When talking about barriers for implementing computer-aided teaching, CC describes that one problem is that the school does not have the budget to repair the computers. She explains that it would become a burden for the school to introduce computer-aided teaching at the moment, since it would be difficult for them to repair and maintain all the required computers. Another problem that CC describes is that some of the computers they have today are not fast enough so they would have to upgrade them, something that they cannot afford either. She also describes that they have a space problem at the school; the school have no space to put the new computers. Besides that she do not see any further problems with introducing computer-aided teaching because all students and teacher have a positive attitude towards it. She also feels that there is enough available learning material to support computer-aided teaching at the school and that the available material is up to date.

CC explains that when the school got their first computers 16 years ago it was difficult for her to get the other teachers to understand the advantages with computers. She claims that this mainly had to do with the fact that most of the other teachers were quite old and had no interest in learning computers. CC describes that another possible explanation to why it was difficult to get the other teachers to understand the advantages with computers could have been that the computers were much more difficult to use compared to today. She describes that it for example was impossible to change the computer language to Thai back then which was a great issue. She claims that today the situation is totally different; all teachers at the school like computers and no of them are e.g. afraid that computers will take their jobs. She claims that all teachers have a positive attitude towards computers and find them useful. CC explains that one reason to this changed mindset can be that the computers they use today are much easier to use.