29% of Cyprus teachers, 13% of students use Internet in the classroom, says CARDET

The Center for the Advancement of Research and Development in Educational Technology (CARDET), a non-profit research and development organisation, announced findings from its large scale survey of the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by primary school teachers in Cyprus, the first-ever survey of its kind.
The results of the survey are part of a project supported by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, the Republic of Cyprus and the European Structural Funds that commenced in December 2008 and will conclude in November 2011.
CARDET completed the survey of 1051 teachers in partnership with the Open University of Cyprus and Innovade L.I. Ltd., to analyse how teachers use technology in the classroom and what challenges they face.
In the recent years, there have been dramatic improvements in the availability of ICT infrastructure in public schools. However, the findings show that although ICT is available in most schools and classrooms throughout Cyprus, teachers use it mainly for preparing educational material and planning instruction. More than 64% of teachers indicated they use the internet almost daily for preparing educational material. Nevertheless, only 28.6% of the teachers and 12.9% of students use the Internet in the classroom on a daily basis.
According to teachers who participated in the survey, the most significant barriers to the integration of ICT are curriculum requirements and the amount of time required for the design and implementation of ICT-based educational activities.
CARDET presented its preliminary findings on October 7 at the International Council for Educational Media (ICEM) conference in Abu Dhabi.
CARDET Executive Director Dr. Charalambos Vrasidas also discussed the findings on October 10 during a keynote address at the e-Learning Expo 2009 in Athens, which was attended by more than 3000 people. The e-Learning Expo seeks to encourage and promote innovative technology-based approaches to education. The theme of this year’s expo was “Innovation and Creativity in e-Learning”
CARDET is currently developing programs which will be offered by CARDET Academy, in response to gaps identified in the field of ICT-related education.