On the Usage of Databases of Educational Materials in Macedonian Education

TL;DR

This study assesses the current use of digital educational material databases in Macedonian schools, highlighting the need for capacity building, technical support, and language-specific resources to enhance ICT integration in education.

Contribution

It provides an empirical evaluation of Macedonian teachers' experiences with educational databases and offers specific recommendations for improving ICT usage in education.

Findings

Few teachers have experience with educational databases.

Teachers require capacity building in database usage.

Regular technical support and updates are necessary.

Abstract

Technologies have become important part of our lives. The steps for introducing ICTs in education vary from country to country. The Republic of Macedonia has invested with a lot in installment of hardware and software in education and in teacher training. This research was aiming to determine the situation of usage of databases of digital educational materials and to define recommendation for future improvements. Teachers from urban schools were interviewed with a questionnaire. The findings are several: only part of the interviewed teachers had experience with databases of educational materials; all teachers still need capacity building activities focusing exactly on the use and benefits from databases of educational materials; preferably capacity building materials to be in Macedonian language; technical support and upgrading of software and materials should be performed on a regular basis. Most of the findings can be applied at both national and international level - with all this implemented, application of ICT in education will have much bigger positive impact.