Nine grade students' expectations on content and teaching methods of information and communication technologies class

Abstract

Information and communication technology (ICT) is a significant subject for the secondary education to equip them with the necessities of information society. The syllabus of ICT should be prepared according to the expectations of the students and needs of the time. This study aims to identify the expectations of the ninth grade students on the contents and the methods of the ICT classes. We used phenomenology research design in the study, which is one of the qualitative research methods. All the data are gathered by interviewing 30 ninth grade students - 15 girls and 15 boys -and are analyzed with content analysis method. The obtained results have displayed that some of the expectations of the students are not met with the current contents and methods of the ICT classes. The subjects that the students expected to learn are grouped under the titles of: Internet, software and hardware, according to content analysis. Detailed expectations were given under the results. Students expect the classes to be given practically with direct experiences in environments which have enough technological equipment. Findings also present that ICT classes may benefit disabled students. In order to accomplish this, necessary arrangements need to be made in computer labs.