Utilisation of Online instructional Technology by Social studies tutors at selected Colleges of Education in Ghana during the Covid-19 Pandemic era

Abstract

This study investigated the use of online instructional technology by social studies teacher educators in five selected Colleges of Education (CoE) in Ghana during the COVID-19 pandemic. Grounded in the interpretive philosophical perspective, which prioritises individuals’ subjective experiences as the primary means of understanding phenomena, this research employed an existential-phenomenological approach. This approach utilised interpretive and inductive processes, informed by Davis’s Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (1989) and Rogers’s Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) (2003), to gain insight into participants' lived experiences with online instructional technology during the pandemic. Out of the five CoE involved in the study, a sample of 35 participants (10 tutors, 20 students, and five college principals) was selected from a population of 2,249. Data collection techniques included observation, interviews, and focus group discussions. The study’s findings indicate that most tutors utilised online technology platforms, such as Learning Management Systems (LMS), Zoom, WhatsApp, and Google Meet, to sustain academic work during the pandemic. Moreover, some tutors consistently integrated technology into their lessons during the period. The study concludes that tutors require technical support, quality connectivity, and equipment to overcome the challenges of using online instructional technology to enhance Social Studies teaching and learning in Ghanaian Colleges of Education (CoE). The study recommends prioritising technological innovations in instruction in Ghanaian CoE to address technological needs. Furthermore, tutors should be motivated by the CoE administrative set-up to consistently use and adapt online instructional technology tools alongside traditional face-to-face methods, even in the post-pandemic era, to ensure the sustained use of online technology in instruction.