Barriers to Pre-Service Teacher’s Utilization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Higher Education: A Case Study of Various Colleges in the UT of J&K

The world is witnessing an extraordinary growth in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). With these rapid advances in ICT, almost every aspect of human life is being impacted directly or indirectly. It is because of these advances in technology that human life has become easier and luxurious. Integrating ICT into educational system has revolutionized the teaching learning process leading to overall transformation of educational systems. This case study uses data from Higher Educational Institutions in the UT of Jammu & Kashmir, where in Pre-service teachers were interviewed and the feedback provided by the said teachers gave an actual picture of how this technology is being used in our colleges. The results of this study indicate that the Higher Education Department still faces numerous challenges in incorporating Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and fails to provide ICT facilities both in and out of class activities. According to the feedback provided by the teachers, there is a lack of training that creates difficulties: many teachers do not have the necessary skills and feel uncomfortable in incorporating ICT into their classwork. They do not have the specific training needed to use the new technologies in the classroom.