The European Pedagogical ICT License (EPICT, see www.epict.org) aims at improving teachers’ ICT competence and their array of methodological tools in a task and team-based on-line learning environment. The Eotvos University has translated the EPICT in-service teacher training into Hungarian. The feasibility study of the course was carried out on a 120-person sample in 2005-2006, and the training became nationally available as an accredited in-service teacher training from October 2006.

In the course of the feasibility study, we examined the personality of the participants, their ICT attitude, access, competence and their pedagogical strategies with the help of different measuring tools. Some of these tools are integrated into the EPICT’s LMS, which produces a detailed log file, registering all the activities of the users. In this way, the activities carried out in an on-line environment are converted into quantity indicators, and patterns can be identified in them. The use of the LMS can be analyzed with respect to the ICT competence development, the variables of the personality profile or the pedagogical methods using ICT tools in practice on both individual and group level.

In my presentation, I will show the typical patterns and customs that can be distinguished in the practical use of LMS for educational purposes. I will analyze the work of the teachers carried out in a virtual space. With the help of the data, we can get a general idea of the extent to which the indicators that can be deduced from the use of the LMS determine the success of the group or of the individual and how they are related to the attitude of teachers toward ICT tools, knowledge or their personality traits. At the conference, I will also present the results of the first non-pilot academic year, 2006-2007.

One of the key aspects of the efficiency of teachers as well as of education itself is whether teachers are able to use the ICT tools that surround them at school. Over the past few years, a great number of projects have been launched in Hungary with a view to developing the ICT infrastructure, and significant sums have been spent by the government on equipping schools with various educational tools. However, less attention has been paid to in-service teacher training and to studying whether teachers have the appropriate ICT competence needed to use such tools.

 

The European Pedagogical ICT License (EPICT, see www.epict.org) aims at improving teachers’ ICT competence and their array of methodological tools in a task and team-based on-line distant learning environment. In the first semester of 2005, the Eotvos University translated the EPICT in-service teacher training programme into Hungarian and adapted it to its needs. The feasibility study of the course was carried out on a 120-person sample in 2005-2006, and the training became nationally available as an accredited in-service teacher training from October 2006.

 

In the course of the feasibility study, we examined the personality of the participants with the help of the California Personality Profile (CPI), while we tested the efficiency of the course by two measurement tools elaborated by us: the ICT literacy questionnaire (prepared by Balázs Török) and the Pedagogical Strategies questionnaire (prepared by János Ollé and Dr. Andrea Kárpáti). In the case of the latter two, we also carried out pre- and post-measurements; moreover, in the spring of 2007, a further survey will be performed in the form of a delayed post-measurement. The analysis of personal interviews as well as of registered on-line communication is available for the assessment of the programme.

 

The efficiency of the programme has been supported by the results of the ICT literacy questionnaire. Based on the questionnaire composed of 170 items, 5 indices can be generated: (1) The level of ICT tool access of the school (2) Home-based ICT access (3) Attitude toward the general use of ICT tools, not only at school, but in everyday life (4) General ICT competence (5) ICT competence for educational purposes. The indices project each indicator onto an interval of 0-3. When gauging the measurement tool earlier on a large sample (N=800), we found that a difference of 1 unit means a mass difference/improvement with respect to the various indicators. On the basis of the difference of the indicators generated during the pre- and post-measurements of the feasibility study, we saw a positive change and progress in each case of the indices of 3, 4, 5. As for the attitude toward the general use of ICT tools, we established a difference of 0.495 unit (p=0.001), whereas this value was 0.665 (p=0.001) in the case of general ICT competence, and 0.174 (p=0.021) for ICT competence for educational purposes. Thus, while cannot talk about an outstanding improvement in every domain, the differences are quite significant. The Pedagogical Strategies questionnaire offers a more detailed picture of the development. In the area of in-class methodologies using ICT tools or planning to use them, we can suppose that the development will take place more slowly, so we can expect a significant positive difference in the results of the delayed post-measurement.

 

We used the moodle course management system as the on-line LMS of the EPICT feasibility study. (www.moodle.org). The moodle produces a detailed log file, registering all the activities of the users. Due to the client-server architecture, the tool is able to register clicks, downloads of webpages while also noting the values of the current variables of the system. In this way, the activities carried out in an on-line environment are converted into quantity indicators, and patterns can be identified in them. Since the data registered by the system and the data gathered from the questionnaires can be assigned to each other, we could analyze the connection between the user patterns and intensity of using the system and the indicators received from the questionnaires and their changes. Therefore, the use of the LMS can be analyzed with respect to the ICT competence development, the variables of the personality profile or the pedagogical methods using ICT tools in practice on both individual and group level.

 

In the light of the feedback received from the facilitators and the survey results, we established and developed a LMS/LCMS taking into consideration the specific needs of the EPICT in-service teacher training system in the summer of 2006. The new system provides even more detailed information about the on-line activities of the participants, and it has integrated the improved versions of the previous measurement tools. We are planning to repeat the measurements taken a year ago with the participants of the course of the school year of 2006-2007 – and this time not ”in vitro” conditions.

 

In my presentation, I will show the typical patterns and customs that can be distinguished in the practical use of LMS for educational purposes. I will analyze the work of the teachers carried out in a virtual space on both individual and group level. With the help of the data, we can get a general idea of the extent to which the indicators (intensity, frequency of functions, well-balancedness, etc.) that can be deduced from the use of the LMS determine the success of the group or of the individual and how they are related to the attitude of teachers toward ICT tools, knowledge or their personality traits. At the conference, I will be able to present the results of the first non-pilot academic year and the analysis of the data gathered from the delayed post-measurement.

 

The primary aim of this research is to improve the EPICT course and create a more efficient on-line learning environment. Nonetheless, besides the above, it also provides empirical data about the framework using habits of teachers, certain features of the creation of a more efficient system, and these data can, most likely, be extended to other areas of adult education as well.