Surveys

According to Creswell (2009, p.143) a survey design provides “a quantitative or numeric description of trends, attitudes, or opinions of a population by studying a sample of that population.” A survey approach was adopted in the preliminary stages of this research, through a questionnaire that informed the participants’ needs of the training course, willingness to attend the course, and content of the course. In order to examine the participants’ training needs, a needs analysis questionnaire was administrated prior to the design of the ICT CPD. Barbazette (2006, p. 5) defines needs analysis as the “process of collecting information about an expressed or implied organizational need that could be met by conducting training.” A point of debate is how needs are represented and what characterizes needs. Bradshaw (1977) addresses this issue by classifying needs as expressed, felt, and comparative needs. A needs analysis questionnaire was administered to evaluate felt needs by the participants. The aim of this stage of data collection was to assess and evaluate the participants’ past and current experiences and training needs.

In total 18 pre-course questionnaires were handed out to potential participants, which represents the total number of teaching staff in the English department. The questionnaire items were divided into sections addressing demographics, such as age, qualifications, teaching experience, and general computer use. Other sections addressed the participants’

use. The final section was mainly intended to deal with past training experiences and their intention in attending future CPD programs, including some insight into the preferred delivery method, content, and design of the training. A summary of the questions in relation to the design of the ICT CPD is provided below and the full questionnaire is provided in appendix 1.

Table 3.4: Summary of needs analysis survey in relation to the ICT CPD design

Design of the ICT CPD Questionnaire question example

What content would you like the training to cover:

● Using blogs

● Management tools

● Creating out of classroom material

● Using online presentational tools

● Using wikis

● Using online discussion tools

● Others

What would be your preferred training methods:

● Hands-on demo

● A focus on “how the tool works”

● A focus on the use of the tools for teaching

● Self-access online

● Instructor demonstration

How long would you like the training to be for:

● Single event

● Small number of events

● Small number of event with classroom support

● Longer accredited course

The needs assessment questionnaire tried to cover all-important themes reported in the literature regarding designing and delivering training initiatives. Some of the items presented were open ended to allow the participants to express their thoughts on previous training events, which gave an indication to their previous negative or positive take on training in general and the design of the course. This shall be discussed later in the following chapter. On the basis of this work, a programme was designed around eight practical workshops that

introduce so-called Web 2.0 applications that can be used in the EFL teaching context (see appendix 2).

The content of the course focused on the introduction of Blogs, Wikis, and online platforms, as these were tools/applications that the lecturers reported as part of their training needs. The course did not attempt to ‘sell’ one approach to language learning rather teachers were asked to develop their practice with technology as appropriate to their needs and environment. This was seen as possibly generating a tension, as the objectives of each session was not to model a particular approach to using an application or tool but to show that other approaches were possible. A further tension from planning the programme was that the participants’ reported valuing hands-on demo presentation of the tools/applications with classroom support if needed. This was understandable but could lead to designing a technology-led approach. In order to relate the tools/applications to the classroom context, participants were encouraged to provide examples of how they had adopted different tools/applications in their teaching.

Out of the 18 potential participants in the university context, only eight agreed to take part in the training although all 18 showed prior interest in attending the training. However, when setting up the training web page, ten participants opted out due to time restriction and unanticipated workload. Although this was disappointing, in retrospect it was inevitable given the non-compulsory nature of the training. However, this meant that the study was one in which people were interested in using technology in their teaching. In order to address the possible shortage of data due to the reduced scale of the intervention offered, I decided to carry out a similar study in another context, that of school. When discussing the condition to one of the university participants, he suggested carrying out a similar study in the school context and even suggested a particular school. In the school context, ten EFL teachers were e-mailed the questionnaire, and the purpose of the study was explained to them. However, the training only

appealed to six teachers, who agreed in taking part in the study. From both contexts, a total of 14 participants took part in this study and completed the ICT CPD training, while two teachers’ opted out during the course.