ICT in Teacher Education: An Anlysis of Educational Media and Technology Instructional Material of the Open University of Tanzania
Nihuka, Kassimu A. / 2009

The quest to integrate ICT in Tanzania?s teacher education programs is reflected in the National ICT Policy for Basic Education (URT, 2007). This study analysed the content of the Educational Media and Technology (OED 202) instructional material of the Open University of Tanzania (OUT) to understand whether or not it promotes knowledge and competences of technology, pedagogy and content (TPCK) among student-teachers. The study involved reading of the instructional material repeatedly and carefully and some notes taken against each sub-questions. Findings show that the material has four major strengths which are related to its objectives, coverage of different kinds of ICTs, being an attempt towards effective ICT integration in teacher education and its alignment to the OUT?s in-house style. The material has the following weaknesses which need to be fixed accordingly; some of its objectives are broader and vague, lacks promotion of knowledge on how and when to use ICT, lacks content on the pedagogical approaches and content of particular discipline and some lectures are disconnect from each other. It is suggested that the improvement of the material should consider review of its (i) content and objectives, (ii) develop knowledge of how and when to use ICTs in education and (iii) promotion of knowledge on technology and pedagogies. In conclusion the Educational Media and Technology instructional material is generally skewed towards promoting knowledge of technologies more than knowledge of pedagogies. However, despite the fact that the material seems deficient in contributing significantly to the realization of the objectives of the National ICT Policy for Basic Education, it is acknowledged that the material is useful and provides initial knowledge on the use of ICT in education.