Problems and Solution Suggestions Related to Information Technology Course according to Elementary School Principals and Information Technology Teachers (A Case from Eskisehir)

The purpose of the present study was to determine the problems experienced with the Information Technology (IT) course given as an elective course in elementary schools and to put forward suggestions for solutions to these problems. For this purpose, this study was carried out within the framework of phenomenology. The study was carried out with 10 school principals and 10 IT teachers from elementary schools in Eskisehir province in the academic year of 2010-2011. The researchers held informal conversations with the IT teachers, elementary school principals, teacher trainers from the Provincial Directorate of National Education, academicians from the department of Computer Education and Information Technology and with policy makers. The semi-structured interviews were held with the school principals and with the IT teachers. Reflective diaries were kept during the research. The inductive analysis method was used for the analysis of the data collected in the study. According to the research findings, the problems and solution suggestions related to IT course were grouped under four themes. These were education program, structure of the IT course, institutional infrastructure and stakeholders' perceptions regarding the IT course. School principals' and IT teachers' outstanding solution suggestions about the problems were the development of the education program to meet the needs of the day, raising awareness of IT teachers and school principals for the selection of IT course resources, being conducted IT courses by graduates in field of IT and updating infrastructure of the school. In addition, participants reported that if these problems were resolved, stakeholders' negative perceptions would disappear.