Integrating ICT in Teaching and Learning: A Preliminary Study on Malaysian Private Preschool

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the rapid growth of ICT has become one of the important agendas discussed by many scholars in education. Undoubtedly, this is due to the ability of ICT in providing effective teaching and learning. Along with today's digital era, a study done by Copriady (2015) indicated that teachers were required to integrate of ICT in their daily teaching and replace them with the tools of traditional methods and modern amenities. Looking at this issue, therefore the purpose of this study was to investigate the use of ICT in teaching and learning among the preschool teachers in private preschools in Malaysia. A total of 60 preschool teachers from 10 private preschools in the district of Hulu Bernam, Selangor were randomly selected in this study. The findings indicated that the level of computer skills and knowledge of the preschool teachers is at low level (M = 1.92). The findings also indicated the level of ICT integration in teaching and learning preschool children is at low level (M = 1.90). The results also showed that the attitude of the teachers on important ICT in teaching and learning is encouraging (M = 2.66) which can be considered as moderate level. The problem of using ICT in schools also needs to be addressed as the analysis mean score (M = 2.19), which indicates the level of the problem is not encouraging.