International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology Vol. 54, May, 2013 105 Challenges of Application ICTs in Technical and Vocational Training from Students’ and Instructors’ Perception in Maragheh Maryam Omidi Najafabadi, Mehdi Poorsadegh and Seyed Mehdi Mirdamadi Science and Research Branch Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Abstract This study was conducted to identify challenges of application information and communication technology (ICTs) in Technical and Vocational Training. Using the factor analysis, the challenges have been classified into eight factors (Technical, economical, services, support, educational, cultural, legal, and educational planning) from students’ perception and five factors (legal, technical, educational, economical, and cultural) from instructors’ perception. Several suggestions have been made based upon these findings. Keywords: Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs); Technical and Vocational Training; Challenges 1. Introduction Vocational education (also known as vocational education and training or VET) is an education that prepares people for specific trades, crafts and careers at various levels from a trade, a craft, technician, or a professional position in engineering, accountancy, nursing, medicine, and other healing arts, architecture, pharmacy, law etc. Craft vocations are usually based on manual or practical activities, traditionally non-academic, related to a specific trade, occupation, or vocation. It is sometimes referred to as technical education as the trainee directly develops expertise in a particular group of techniques. Vocational education can be at the secondary, post-secondary level, further education level and can interact with the apprenticeship system. Increasingly, vocational education can be recognized in terms of recognition of prior learning and partial academic credit towards tertiary education (e.g., at a university) as credit; however, it is rarely considered in its own form to fall under the traditional definition of higher education. According to an interview has been conducted in Maragheh’s agricultural collage: Lack of related equipment, ICT knowledge, teaching ability from instructors along with lack of motivation from head mangers lead to low level of instructors’ motivation for implementing ICT tools in their teaching. On the other words, they prefer traditional methods. Expanding e-learning brings several attractive opportunities for organizations: (1) save time, cost, and effort; (2) satisfy educational needs from remote areas; (3) provide self-learning opportunities; (4) have a positive impact on the learning process; and (5) provide a mechanism for collaborative learning (Karmakar, 2000). To achieve these opportunities, a holistic viewpoint along determination of the challenges of the ICT- based training system is required. Implementation of such system without consideration of the above aspects will be defeated. Maragheh is a city in and the capital of Maragheh County, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 146,405, in 38,891 families. Maragheh is situated on the bank of the river Sufi. The Azeri-speaking population form majority in the city. It is located 130 kilometers (81 mi) from Tabriz. The objectives of this study are as follows: 1) identify challenges of the ICT- based training system from students’ perception, 2) identify challenges of the ICT-based training system from instructors’ perception.