A Framework for an ICT-based Development Program for Science Teachers in State Universities and Colleges in Region VI

Curriculum reform is central to the aspirations of many developing countries as they strive to deliver a quality education to their citizens. In State Universities and Colleges in Region VI, with its remarkable achievement of a high literacy rate in a few decades, the next step is bringing its resources to bear on providing a quality education so that Filipino science professors and students may take their places in the global labor force. This study concerns the integration of information and communications technologies (ICT) into the science curriculum of Higher Education Institutions in State Universities and Colleges in the Philippines particularly in Region VI, and the training and development requirements of science professors in this regard. A mixed methodology was employed to obtain qualitative data from 11 policy makers as represented by the Vice President of Academic Affairs of the SUC’s in region VI, and quantitative data from a questionnaire for which 139 replies were received from SUC’s science professors in Region VI.The findings of this study confirmed those citations in the literature that inefficient management planning and inadequate resources influence the integration of ICT in the science curriculum. Furthermore, the qualitative and quantitative findings confirmed that teachers’ access to training is affected by time constraints, ineffective ICT course material, unavailability of ICT infrastructures and facilities, and high cost of ICT trainings. The policy makers interviewed in this study perceived the teachers as having a positive attitude toward ICT integration in the science curriculum, quantitative data from the teachers pointed to a high interest in ICT integration, and their willingness to pursue further professional development in the effective use of ICT in the science curriculum. Furthermore, age factor exhibited a significant difference in ICT skills, utilization and individual barriers of science teachers in SUC’s Region VI. The length of service also showed a very significant difference as to the ICT skills, utilization attitudes, and individual barriers of the teacher respondents. However, as to their gender and highest educational attainment, home location and school location, there was no such factor implicating a non-significant difference in the attitudes, skills, utilization and perceived barriers.


Introduction
Colleges and universities invest billions of dollars per year for the acquisition of instructional technology through ICT and other ICT tools.
Today, everyone needs a basic understanding of ICT and how to make productive use of it, just to be good teacher, students and citizens. Teaching people how to be competent basic users of ICT technologies is an important role of ICT education, so they will be successful in their academic and work careers, especially in teaching and learning and so they can efficiently participate in modern technical society.
Although ICT has several definitions depending on the nature of its use, for this study, ICT (information and communication technology) is used as an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: computer and network hardware and software, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning. We refer to ICT in the particular context of ICT provision, policy and teacher factors that variously support teaching, learning and a range of activities in education.
Information Communication Technology (ICT) is increasingly becoming more widespread throughout university education worldwide. This is in line with UNESCO's policy paper for change and development in higher education which urges higher education institutions to for Science Teachers in State Universities and Colleges in Region VI make greater use of the advantages offered by the advancement of communication technology to improve the provision and quality of their education (Chitanana et al., 2008).
The widespread belief that ICTs can and will empower teachers and learners, transforming teaching and learning processes from being highly teacher-dominated to student-centered, and that this transformation will result in increased learning gains for students, creating and allowing for opportunities for learners to develop their creativity, problem-solving abilities, informational reasoning skills, communication skills, and other higher-order thinking skills.
However, the performance of ICT utilization in higher education is not expressly evident. Although most teachers may have considerable skills in ICT, they cannot integrate ICT into regular teaching effectively. This phenomenon has been the concern of the present researcher and has put forward worthy outcome and consideration to solve this problem. It is in this premise that this research study was conducted.

Statement of the Study
The main purpose of this research study was to develop a framework for an ICT

Respondents' Attitudes towards ICT in SUC's Region VI
The data revealed that science teachers of SUC's Region VI strongly agreed that they were eager to learn more about using ICT for it has a positive impact on their teaching learning methodology. Furthermore, they also strongly agreed that ICT training is very beneficial for their personal and professional development and they are willing to use it if there is sufficient and relevant equipment available at their school. (See Table 1) This implies that in spite that there was Science teachers in SUC's Region VI who felt confident about their ICT attitudes and usage in the classroom there were still a significant majority of Science teachers who do not see considerable learning benefits from using ICT, regardless of the sophistication of ICT systems. Therefore, Science teachers showed that their attitudes of ICT was more ambivalent unpredictable and sometimes doubtful' about current advantages of ICT in their teaching learning process. (See Table 1)

Science Teachers in SUC's Region VI ICT Skills
Data showed that the science teachers are in within adaptation level with a mean of 2.821. This means that science teachers were already familiar with the various applications and uses of ICT in their teaching learning process and use it occasionally to support their teaching process. (See Table 2) However, the skills level of Science teachers on designing and publishing internet pages on science subjects, organizing email group and using chat program were in there entry level or teachers have already been introduced to the basic skills and understand the numerous potential of ICT to contribute to their teaching strategies but used it very seldom. (See Table 2) The results of this findings showed that there moderate ICT skills was due to lack of ICT training of Science Teachers, and it was confirmed by the respondents' responses that the majority of teachers had not attended any ICT training courses or development programs during their years of teaching, Furthermore the unavailability of ICT equipment such as computer wide network, computer in classroom and science laboratories and LCD projectors in classrooms and science laboratories makes their skills more evidently become moderate.

Science Teachers' in SUC's Region VI ICT Utilization
As shown on the previous data, the majority of the science teacher respondents had the uncertain attitudes and on adaptation skills level to use ICT. However, the future for ICT is in its appropriate use in the science curriculum, and to enhance the teaching learning process and the critical thinking of the students.
Data reveals that Science teachers of SUC's in Region VI almost always utilizes and integrates ICT tools and infrastructures in their teaching learning process as shown by the data with a mean of 2.536. However, there were Science teachers' who seldom used ICT tools in posting homework in their websites, communicating using internet, using digital artifacts from student's assignments and monitor and evaluate students' achievements using online services.(See Table 3).
Based on the profile of the respondents, one of the reasons why most of the science teachers in Region VI do not use ICT much is due to lack of access and unavailability to equipment in classroom, and lack of teachers' training skills in the use of the equipment.

Barriers that Limits Science Teachers in SUC's Region VI Integrating ICT
Based on the results of the study, the organizational, technological, and policy were the barriers that somewhat limits Science teachers in SUC's Region VI in utilizing ICT, while their perceived individual barriers slightly limits them in integrating ICT in their teaching and learning process.
The results of the findings showed that the perceived technological barriers of Science teachers was due to lack of ICT infrastructures of the different SUC's in Region VI, as majority of the respondents revealed that SUC's in Region VI provide computer laboratories, however there were insufficient number of computers and LCD projectors provided in every classrooms and in science laboratories for teaching learning process.
As to the perceived policy barriers, the Sciences teachers revealed that there is no government support as to ICT policies in the academe; budget for the procurement of ICT facilities and infrastructure were limited, and no priority and concrete plans for the integration of ICT in every State Universities and Colleges in Region VI.
Majority of SUC's have all a wide plans or strategies on how to implement ICT into teaching and learning process in their respective institutions, however, these are still on the planning stage and far behind for the implementation stage in which teachers respondents implicates that they have no such skills and capabilities on the integration of ICT in their teaching process.
The programs provided by the SUC's in region VI for science teachers' professional development in integration of ICT appears to be inadequate with responses on the programs implemented in their respected institutions.
The professional development needs of science teachers regarding ICT use in the science curriculum focus from administrative support and viable planning program, establishing ICT infrastructures and Teachers training programs.
Furthermore, age factor exhibit a significant difference in ICT skills, utilization and individual barriers of science teachers in SUC's region VI, the length of service also shows a very significant difference as to the ICT skills, utilization attitudes, and individual barriers of the teacher respondents. However as to their gender and highest educational attainment, home location and school location, there is no such factor implicating a non-significance difference on the attitudes, skills, utilization and perceived barriers.

Conclusions
The dissertation study conclusions were drawn from the findings. The fundamental issue that emerged from this study is that the integration of ICT into science curriculum of Science teachers in State Universities and Colleges (SUC's) in Region VI are impeded by structural and operational factors relating to the different SUC's programs and policies.
The role of the teacher in developing ICT use in different SUC's in Region VI is utterly critical, yet there are many obstacles to be faced, in addition to those already listed that emerged more generally. A primary barrier to teachers' readiness and confidence in using ICT -despite general enthusiasm and belief in benefits for learners -is their lack of training, either initially or in-service. This results in lack of proficiency in using ICT, and knowledge of all of the potential uses and roles of ICT in teaching and learning.
The discussion above highlighted several issues that appeared to influence on teacher utilization and integration of ICT in their profession. The three major Issues and findings of this study reveals that inadequate ICT resources, management of ICT integration, and teacher ICT training and attitudes skills, utilization and barriers were considered as a factor issues.

Recommendations
The recommendations were drawn from the summary and conclusions of the study. The fundamental issue that emerges from this study is that the integration of ICT into science curriculum of science teachers' in region VI is impeded by structural and operational factors relating to the SUC's programs and policies.
1. A 5-year development plan in every state universities and colleges in region VI should be standardize which ICT integration program in the teaching learning process of science teachers be evident; 2. There should be a revision of curriculums were in ICT integration should be mandatory to be implemented within the system; 3. A training need analysis should be conducted for evaluation purposes of the skills and competencies of the teachers to attend trainings and seminars.
4. More funds should be allocated to augment the needs to improve the existing and securing more ICT infrastructure, facilities and resources. 5. Full financial support should be provided to augment the implementation and sustainability of such program either local funds or outsource funds from private or government partners. 6. An immediate need to change teachers' attitudes toward adoption of modern educational methodologies, such as cooperative and constructive learning process. For this, teachers need suitable training in ICT; this could be achieved by strong training programs to develop their occupational skills in the use of ICT, to remove psychological barriers, and to facilitate their use of ICT in the classroom. 7. Professional and material incentives should be given to encourage teachers to attend training programs to raise their occupational skills. 8. There should be proper monitoring and evaluation on the effect of the implementations of programs. 9. Subsequent research is recommended to explore in more depth and other contexts trends and constraints on ICT integration in the science curriculum in SUC's, and could include observational studies which were beyond the scope of this study. Finally, the theoretical issues in integrating ICT into the science curriculum and the teachers' enhanced role through professional development provide interesting pathways for further research.

2.
To establish clear criteria for evaluating the effects of integrating ICT within teaching, learning and administration.

3.
To submit annual reports that document the progress towards the goals within the ICT Plan

4.
To create ICT Integration team

5.
Appropriate level of funding to achieve the goals for the integration of ICT.

6.
To continue current budget planning to ensure a steady spending pattern that will achieve the school's goals for ICT integration To submit annual reports that document the progress towards the goals within the ICT Plan 2.
E-Learning leadership is distributed across the school to ensure the integration of ICT is a focus in planning.

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To extend current ICT Integration team 3.
ICT resources are up-to-date and allow the school to respond to modern trends and rapidly take advantage of future improvements in ICT delivery and infrastructure.

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To review the ICT levy to ensure an appropriate level of funding to achieve the goals for the integration of ICT.

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To continue current budget planning to ensure a steady spending pattern that will achieve the school's goals for ICT integration 4.
Complete ICT Review Toolsurvey of School Administrators, Director/chairman of ICT and all teachers 5.
Reference to National, State and SUC's policies 6.
Discuss criteria with Curriculum Committee 7.
Establish reliable methods of collecting data evaluating the effects of ICT within teaching, learning and administration 8.
Set up SUC's based collaborative teams for ICT integration 9.
SUC's coordinator becomes responsible for strategic leadership for ICT within their system 10. Documentation of ICT integration strategies used in each subject area 11. Maintain budget plans which are always forward-planned to the life of the current equipment. 12. Review ICT priorities to adapt to current pedagogical trends and emerging technologiesconferences, professional learning, magazines, newspapers, online subscriptions, school visits, purchase of new software and hardware for testing. ICT budgeting provides for continual upgrading to allow the school to rapidly take advantage of future improvements in ICT delivery and infrastructure.
• To continue current arrangements with budgeting