Examining Primary School Teachers’ IT Literacy and Use of IT for Instructional and Professional Development Purposes

Abstract

This study examines primary school teachers’ Information Technology (IT) literacy level with regard to the Dynamic IT Literacy model and the use of IT for instruction and professional development purposes. 459 teachers from 22 primary schools in Ankara were involved in this survey study. Teachers’ IT literacy was defined with regard to the Dynamic IT Literacy model which has 6 factors: problem solving, analysis and production with IT, communication and metacognition, basic IT capabilities, information and internet-related capabilities, sustainability and transferability of IT capacities. The questionnaire was adapted to Turkish by performing validity and reliability analysis. The results of the study revealed that most of the primary school teachers have been using IT for 1-3 years and have been using IT frequently for professional development purposes. In addition, teachers who have been using IT for a long time and use IT frequently for professional development have higher IT literacy level.