Information Technology as a Way To Support Collaborative Learning: What In-Service Teachers Think, Know and Do

It is often assumed that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) encourage collaborative work by providing a set of widely accessed tools and a mutual framework for shared activities. The present study aims at determining what in-service teachers think (teachers' opinion), know (technical knowledge) and do (tactual use) about ICT to promote collaborative learning. The authors used a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview to collect data. A mixed method approach was conducted and reliability scores calculated. Main results indicate that teachers think that ICT generally facilitate collaborative work but their ICT knowledge is moderate and their actual use limited. This leads the authors to think that this progression should be remarked in the teacher training programs to accurately depict the drawbacks of teachers' collaborative learning mediated by ICT.