Use of technology for college mathematics instruction: African instructors’ experiences

Abstract

Though studies by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) had proven that use of technology makes mathematics instruction more effective and had strongly recommended its use in the curriculum, a few mathematics instructors still face problems incorporating technology in their teaching. This study examined the challenges or problems 5 African instructors encounter in the use of technology in teaching, at the college level in the U.S. Data were gathered from a series of interviews and instructors‟ responses to researcher-designed tasks focusing on technology in teaching. The result of this study suggests that African instructors were inhibited by a variety of factors in the use of technology, which included the inability of governments to provide the full complement of manipulatives. The results also suggest that instructors used technology from outdated sources.

Keywords: mathematics instruction, technology in teaching