ICT Integration in the Classroom: In What Ways? Ah Boey Wong, Ab Rahim Bakar, Shamsiah Mohamed, & Ramlah Hamzah Faculty of Educational Studies, UPM, Malaysia ahboey@yahoo.com abrahimbakar@yahoo.com mohamedshamsiah@yahoo.com ramlah@yahoo.com Abstract: The study was conducted using a sample of 438 teachers of SMART schools in Malaysia. The aim was to investigate how teachers integrated ICT in their classroom and to ascertain the effect of teachers’ gender, computer ownership, and computer and Internet access to teachers’ integration of ICT in the classroom. The integration of ICT in the classroom was done in three ways: general instructional integration (Mean=3. 02, SD. = 0.13); teaching students to utilize technology (Mean=2. 72, SD. = 0.09); and managing ICT integration (Mean=2.83, SD. = 0.32). Overall, the mean for ICT integration was 2.86 (S.D. = . 16), which was considered low (once a month). There is no statistically significant difference in ICT integration due to gender and computer ownership. A significant difference of integration was observed based on internet access. It was also found that there was a significant relationship between ICT integration and computer access in schools. Introduction Today’s technology is delivering greater access of current data and knowledge for instructional use. The environment of rapid technological development, information and communication technology have spurred our redefinition of time and space. In relation, to the high-tech world, information and communication technology, also termed as ICT has brought forth an extensive variety of educational possibilities for teaching and learning. In order to prepare students for success in the 21st century, all teachers must possess the motivation, knowledge and skills needed to utilize ICT for improved teaching and learning (UNESCO, 2004). Teachers must increasingly push for contextualized learning experiences, sustained by technology or perhaps technology-based environments (Norton & Sprague, 2001). Teachers must be challenged to apply ICT to create an interconnected set of educational services. Therefore, teachers need to attain a level of technological competence which enables them to interpret how and be able to meaningfully integrate ICT into their teaching. Governments and educational agencies have made significant investments in the integration of technology in the curricula. Many programs have been started up to bring computers into the classroom environment, to train the teachers and to boost the production of new learning materials and innovative approaches to teaching and learning (Plomp, Anderson, Law & Quale, 2003). There are many forms of computer applications in schools and computers are increasingly becoming powerful tools in the educational setting. Although teaching and learning can be improved with these types of applications, the integration of these applications in educational practice has been limited (Atkins, Ellen, Vasu & Storey, 2000). The rapid advances of technology have highlighted the technological inadequacies existing in the typical classroom study of today. In the past, emphasis placed on the acquisition of hardware to bring educational systems up to standard has left schools with under used outdated equipment and teacher were faced with inadequate preparation (Parvey, 2005). Despite efforts to provide hardware and related instructional and technical support to schools and encourage the use of computers and related technologies in classroom instruction, actual classroom use of technology for instruction has met with limited success. The effective integration of technology with curriculum has given rise to a diversity of concerns with regard to training, organizational change and available resources (Parvey, 2005). Time, technical support, training and access to resources have been cited as key issues in the effective implementation of technology initiatives (Cuban, Kirkpatrick & Peck, 2001). Technology in and of itself is not the determining factor in effective teaching. The important issue is what is done with the technology. Instructional methods must be based on sound learning principles. There is also evidence that the teacher is a critical variable in the effectiveness of computers (Norton & Sprague, 2001). Since teachers are the key designers of the teaching and learning process, they are an integral part of the process of integration. How teachers implement computers in their schools is vital to achieving the benefits of technology in the student’s learning. Well-trained and competent teachers will define what integration is. They will know and understand why basic technological competencies are important. And they will know how to integrate technology using consistent and well-designed models of instruction. By understanding the what, why -1033-