Keywords

1 Introduction

Contemporary information society is sequenced by the emergence of different 21th Century Technologies, ICT (information and communication technology) particularly. Educational institutions are preparing students for tomorrows life [4, 14]. This phenomenon have had immense influence in the educational systems in both developing [13] and developed [6] countries. The scenario of digital divide cannot be overlooked in educational institutions; giving rise to inequity and various shades of digital disparities in those schools. Disparities could be seen in several ways among educational institutions: these include a lack of hardware and software resources, however, what is most important, is the know-how to use them in a pedagogically efficient and meaningful way. We do not argue the ICT importance in education, but we contend that the suitable knowledge how and what to use in terms of ICT. Also its availability and use in educational institutions in the first place. This all will provide sustainable and equal access to information society resources to ensure tomorrows workers but also teachers’ competitive achievement ability. We assume that through the use of free/libre and open-source software (hereinafter: FLOSS) it would be possible to reduce the digital divide in schools to the nearest minimum. This will happen due to released funding resources to establish the minimal level of ICT equipments in educational institutions. The opened funding can be then used to achieve other goals that will facilitate teachers and students engagements in accessibility to ICT resources and raising knowledge awareness and how to use technologies in reasonable ways.

In this paper we sought to explore teachers’ knowledge and use of ICT resources in the context of FLOSS. When relying permanently on free tools there are several benefits which in turn will grow sustainable information society and will fortify economy in larger scale.

We used the Technology Acceptance Model v1 (hereinafter: TAM1) [3] were adopted it as the research framework to explore constructs associated with FLOSS and digital divide in Estonian, Ghanaian and Georgian schools. Teachers voluntarily participated in the survey Fig. 1.

Fig. 1.
figure 1

Technology acceptance model [3]

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Not less important is the social mechanism around the FLOSS. This means that the community of users holds together and shares the knowledge and teaches each other in addition to sharing tools the software itself. This makes equal opportunities for participating in information society regardless of students’ or teachers’ wealth.

Having access to ICT resources implies ability to participate in nowadays information society. FLOSS plays crucial role here with not only saving money but also freeing educational institutions from vicious circle of paying money continuously in a ascending direction and as often as software companies ask. This in turn gives the opportunity to ensure given education competitiveness at labour market and economy in general of whole country.

2 Background

In our study we have three countries: Ghana, Georgia, Estonia and we are giving a short overivew of these countries about ICT use, especially in education.

2.1 Ghana

The use of digital technologies of ICTs on a day-to-day basis in digitally divided communities has become widespread in spite of the digital limitation [15]. Ghana, a Sub Saharan African country has been identified as among the ten ICT proactive nations in Africa, though located in the block of developing nations; and characterised globally as digitally disadvantaged. Nonetheless, there is a window of digital opening for such countries. In the opinion of James [11] developing countries could generate substantive savings and also to a large extent bridge the global digital divide if they migrated to the use of FLOSS applications. He further observed that to meet the demands of the proprietary software, computer users in developing countries resort to piracy and illegal procurement of applications. Unfortunately, the use of FLOSS applications has not caught up with most developing nations. According to the article [12], developing nations are making more conscious efforts towards the advancement of FLOSS initiatives. He observed that from 2006 to 2010 FLOSS advancing FLOSS initiatives in Africa arose from four (4) to eight (8). However, not so dramatic increase, it is a token of the progressive awareness of FLOSS in digital divided communities.

Not oblivious to the global digital trends and developments, ICT integration into teaching and learning at the pre-university level of Ghanas education system was rolled out 2007; marking a New Education Reform (NER). Relying on the merits of FLOSS, government commenced the supply of laptops to a target over 60,000 schools. The first set of laptops came with FLOSS operating system but later agitations resulted in the change of the operating system to proprietary (MS Windows 7) [8, 9, 19]. A study [18] indicated that some digital disparities exist across basic schools in Ghana. This Digital Divide (DD) was found across the schools ICT culture components; which included teacher ICT competence, activities in the classroom, confidence in use and availability for digital equipment resources [17]. It could be speculated that digital divide resulting for teacher digital literacy in schools, less use of digital resources might be the results of contention between the use of proprietary software and FLOSS. Through observation and literature, it has been established that in the ICT terrain in Ghana, people are more inclined to the use of proprietary software, mainly Microsoft Windows (hereinafter: MS Windows) operating system than FLOSS and it holds true for teachers as well. In related article [22] found out that 84,7 % of organisations run their systems on MS Windows operating system, 11,9 % on GNU/Linux (hereinafter: Linux) while 3,4 % on UNIX. It further noted that generally FLOSS operating systems are used on servers; while the proprietary operating system is predominantly used on desktop computers and laptops. This clearly adds to the fact to controversy of teacher use of FLOSS in lieu what is known to be the status quo in the context of their ICT use. In the light of the forgiving, it makes sense that teacher position on the use of FLOSS will be a challenging if they are well versed and prone to the use of MS Windows operating systems. In this context the case of divide across the schools digital culture could persist; in the form of disconnection between human and material (digital) resources [18]); unless there occurs holistic digital paradigm shift on the part educators and trainers. Literature acknowledges why possible challenges will exist when it came to the mainstream ICT practices in Ghana. In his view, [22] noted that some of the challenges accounting for less use of FLOSS is the fact that Ghana has no FLOSS policy to generate actions and interest is this of aspect of ICT activities. Accordingly, in the reviewed ICT in Education policy has factored in the need of bringing FLOSS into the digital practices in schools [9]. He further realised that many proprietary software users live with the perception that it is difficult to migrate to the use of FLOSS owing to its complex systems and applications and navigations; as new skills and knowledge are needed to be acquired. Nevertheless, bringing FLOSS applications into education and training systems will go a long way to eliminate the obstacles propriety software pose in the integration of ICTs in schools. Thus, teachers, well trained on FLOSS could possibly have access to a lot more of educational applications for daily use than his/her colleague who will be required to pay for the use of applications. In this paper the situation of teachers knowledge and engagement in digital activities using FLOSS based application are compared with other two nations: Georgia and Estonia.

2.2 Georgia

The first successful attempt of ICT integration in the general education of Georgia began in 2005 by replicating Estonian Tiger Leap program into Georgian Deer Leap. The goal of the Deer Leap program was to support development of ICT infrastructure and utilization of modern information technologies into the general education (Decree of the President of Georgia) [5]. The program built on equipping all the schools of Georgia with computers and Internet connection, ensuring fast adoption of ICT by teachers and pupils across various disciplines and age levels in primary and secondary schools, developing e-learning environment with corresponding e-resources. Technology inheritance of the program was in relatively bad condition in the country: outdated and insufficient amount of computers without Internet connectivity; despite informatics being a compulsory subject in all secondary schools, the content was often taught without computers. At the end of the first phase of Deer Leap program, by 2008, 26 520 new computers were provided to schools (with a 20:1 student-computer ratio) equipped with Linux operating system and a collection of open-source software applications; Web-based collaboration environment was developed and integrated into LeMill.net in order to support eLearning with sharing opportunities; 60 % of all primary and secondary pupils had access to Internet at school; Basic computer literacy training were carried out for 21 540 teachers out of 70 000 on the Linux operating system basis. 8158 laptops were provided for excellent pupils within Presidential program - My First Computer. By the end of the first phase of Deer Leap program the master plan was developed for Deer Leap Plus (2009–2012) programme with the goals to establish digitally enriched learning environment by integrating ICT into curriculum as a cross-curricular theme via innovative e-learning methods. With the change of ministry officials the realization of the goals defined by Deer Leap plus program took different turn. The program components came apart to different agencies under the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, instead of cumulating them within one program. The responsible MoES agencies according to a new structure were: Education and Science Infrastructure Development Agency, Education Management Information System, Teacher Professional Development Center, national curriculum department of MoES. Major shift occurring besides the restructuring of Deer Leap program was switching of computer parks from Linux to Microsoft proprietary software. The memorandum between Microsoft and Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia was signed in 2008 [21]. As a result all the schools of Georgia was equipped with MS Windows operating system and MS Office software under the Microsoft academic licensing terms. Accordingly Teacher ICT training programs were converted to the use of Microsoft software. As a transitional period a dual boot Microsoft and Linux operational systems were installed on school machines to let teachers and students select suitable working environment. At the moment the only operating system working in school computers is Microsoft software. We might conclude that the Ministry decision was partially based on the FITS (Focus on ICT in Schools) [21] survey that was held in 2008 on the use of ICT in the schools of Georgia. The objectives of FITS was to analyze the scope and ways of integrating ICT into learning/teaching processes and the problems related with educational use of ICT; According to the survey the majority of teachers (75 %) used mainly MS Office software. However, 43 % of the teachers were satisfied with the availability of software in schools and \(\frac{1}{3}\) of teachers estimated that the situation is good. About \(\frac{1}{4}\) of teachers estimated the situation with software as very good. Only 5 % of teachers were not satisfied with the availability of software. There was disparity between the popularity of MS Office among teachers and the satisfaction level of the availability of software if considering that absolute majority of computers in schools were Linux-based. This contradiction was explained by a hypothesis that teachers used MS Office mainly at home [21]. Another ambitious initiative - Netbooks for Primary Schools - took start in 2010 in Georgia [3]. The program aims to provide quality education to the students and develop their ICT skills in order to support their integration in international educational space. All the pupils as well as their mentors get netbooks for personal educational use on their first day at school. Up to now all the classes 1 to 4 are equipped with computers to use in the learning process. Teachers go through intense training course of how to use ICT-enhanced pedagogy in teaching and learning process (91 contact hours). The netbooks are equipped with Microsoft software and Intel-powered Mythware classroom management system. Mythware platform enables teachers to digitally manage classroom, supervise individual students as well as groups activities by sharing resources through intranet connection.

2.3 Estonia

Tiger Leap (1997–2000) was the first national-level strategy on computerization of Estonian schools, aiming at equipping all schools with computers and Internet connection, providing the basic ICT skills for all teachers and educational software for all subject areas. The follow-up strategy (called Tiger Leap Plus, 2001–2005) focused primarily on the implementation of this technology by integrating it into everyday teaching an learning in all age levels and all subject areas across the secondary education. During this period, majority of the teachers passed Intels 40hrs course Teach to the Future, Virtual Learning Environments were taken into use by shcools. The third strategy Learning Tiger (2006–2009) focused on integrated e-learning. The new educational e-services have been developed and/or implemented within local and international projects: collaborative Learning Object authoring portal LeMill.net, Learning Object Repository (called Waramu) which is connected to all-European repository network LRE, virtual learning environments (Moodle, Krihvel) and online testing tools (TATS, PETS). A new teacher training programme DigiTiger has been developed and implemented by a group of enthusiastic teachers, this programme focuses on the use of Web 2.0 tools in teaching and learning. The implementation of all three strategies has been led by the Tiger Leap Foundation, a non-profit organisation that was founded by the Ministry of Education and is financed mostly from the state budget and European projects [16].

One of the main issues related with Tiger Leap project was renunciation of platform neutrality quite in the beginning. Mainly proprietary Microsoft software platform was chosen. This has been influencing Estonian society, especially educational institutions, until today.

During December 2014 to April 2015 there was FLOSS pilot project in Tallinn educational institutions (3 schools and 2 kindergartens) [7]. Even though the project had obstacles, the overall result was positive and the mentioned educational institutions remained to use the FLOSS. Today there is even some schools additionally joining the project. The use of FLOSS still lasts and there has been developed a massive deployment tool [1].

3 Methodology

There are different methodologies used to investigate digital divide and its possible solutions. Mainly we are concidering here disparities in society which also affects information society. The most famous approaches are different acceptance models. Technology Acceptance Model was used to carry out current research. We used the research instrument created in University of Michigan, Business School [3]. The instrument contains of 20 questions: ten for Perceived Usefulness (PU) and ten for Perceived Easy of use (PEU).

Procedure. Data was collected in January 2016 from three countries: Estonia, Ghana and Georgia. We used the convenience sample and collected 209 responses: 168 from Georgia, 34 from Estonia and 7 from Ghana. We have to admit that these samples are not representative but this is the data we could collect. We created a web questionnaire in three languages: English, Georgian, Estonian in order to collect the data during 2 weeks in all coutries. After data was collected, all Georgian and Estonian text was translated into English. The situation of each country was relatively different. As the questionnaire was online, accessibility to the internet was required in order to answer. This was relatively challenging issue in Ghana, where access to the internet is quite limited. This fact is also reflected in the results. In Estonia we had also relatively small, but reasonable sample. In Estonia there are proportionally large amount of different research regularly carried out and it would be also quite challenging to collect data among others. In Georgia we had best opportunities as one of the authors was in place and visiting schools so this also reflects in the results.

We used 7-point Likert-scale where 1 was strongly agree and 7 strongly disagree. Additionally we asked some questions about teaching and ICT experience and terms. The questionnaire was selective: participants were asked whether they use free and open-source or proprietary software. Both cases teachers answered same questions but with previously selected focus.

We formulated the following research questions:

  1. 1.

    What is the opinion of teachers about the meaning of FLOSS and PRS?

  2. 2.

    What perceptions do teachers hold about the usefulness and ease in using either FLOSS or PRS?

  3. 3.

    What principal constructs are influencing differences in perceptions about FLOSS and PRS in different countries?

...where: FLOSS means free/ libre and open-source software

PRS means proprietary software

Table 1. Samples from participated countries
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4 Results

The study drew participants from Ghana, Estonia, and Georgia. In all 209 teachers participated, whom 89.5 % were females and 10.5 % males. The age distribution of participants stood as follows; 30 or less years (10 %), 31–40 (37.3 %), 41–50 years (39.7 %) and 51 and more years (12.9 %). We collected data from three different countries and as the samples were quite different, also results are as follows (Table 1). For statistical analysis we used IBM® SPSS® Statistics v23 and GNU PSPP v0.8.5.

The sample age reflects also age of teachers in each of country. When in Ghana there were mainly younger teachers, then in Estonia and Georgia we can see more older ones. This reflects also teaching experience, which is relatively higher in Estonia and Georgia.

Research Questions. RQ1: What is the opinion of teachers about the meaning of FLOSS and PRS?

This question sought to establish the knowledge what participants have about FLOSS and PRS. We have to admit that awareness of terms is still relatively low (Table 2)

Table 2. Awareness of terms and choices
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RQ2: What perceptions teachers hold about the usefulness and ease in using either FLOSS or PRS?

This question explored the variations existing in the perceptions participants have on the perceived usefulness and ease of use (Table 3). The lower the mean, the higher the agreement. A independent t-test was conducted to evaluate participants perceived usefulness and ease of use of free/libre and open-source software (FLOSS) and that of proprietary software (PRS). There is statistically significant higher mean on the usefulness of PRS (M=3,07; SD=1,44) over FLOSS (M=2,59; SD=0,80), t(-4,0163)=208; p<0,001; with eta squared value=0,07) indicating a large effect for the benefit of FLOSS as we used Likert scale where the value 1 were strongly agree and the value 7 was strongly disagree. While, in the case of perceived ease of use for FLOSS and PRS; a statistically significant higher mean was recorded for PRS (M=3,95, SD=0,70) over FLOSS (M=3,73; SD=0,36); t(208)=-4,015; p<0,001; with eta squared value=0,07); indicating a large effect for the benefit of FLOSS.

RQ3: What are the variations of different countries in perceptions about FLOSS and PRS? This question explored country perceptions about FLOSS and PRS. Table 4 shows the descriptive statistical analysis of the participants responses. We also analyzed Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Easy of Use (PEU) all together to get overall picture of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) capabilities. First we compiled independent t-test to compare PU and PEU over all participated countries. Variable “greater control over the work” (\(2^{nd}\) question in PU part) was rated higher by free software users (M=2,57; SD=1,612) than proprietary software users (M=3,22; SD=1,847) (p=0,032). “Software easier to use” was rated higher by free software users (M=2,23; SD=1,386) than the proprietary software users (M=2,78; SD=1,759) (p=0,029). As there was relatively small sample from Ghana, we repeated separate t-test between Estonia and Georgia to see possible influences there. In Estonia the free software users (M=2,13; SD=1,126) rated the use more easier than proprietary software users (M=3,54; SD=1,679) (p=0,034) about the \(10^{th}\) question in PEU part. Georgia there were several significant results. All questions in Perceived Usefulness were significant and overall PU module t-test showed that free software (M=2,29; SD=1,48) users appreciated perceived usefulness higher than proprietary software (M=3,13; SD=1,71) (p=0,007). ANOVA test was compiled but it did not show any statistical significance among participated countries according to chosen significance level of 5 %. When we compared mens and womens among countries then there was no difference of statistical significance in t-test. ANOVA test among different types of schools has been compiled with Tukey honest significance test comparison at Post Hoc option and did not show any statistical significance. T-test between Estonia and Georgia compared PU (Perceived Usefulness) and PEU (Perceived Easy of Use) did not show any statistical significance. But in Estonia we see that PEU has important significance free software users (M=3,77; SD=0,33) assess their software easier to use than proprietary software users (M=4,15; SD=0,44) (p=0,035). The overall Cronbach’s Alpha in case of PU (Perceived Usefulness) was 0.974 (N=209) and in case of PEU (Perceived Easy of Use) it was 0,498. As we see the PEU reliability is lower than expected (0,7). When to look per country then we see that Estonia has most influences here: Ghana (\(\alpha _{PU}=0,987\); \(\alpha _{PEU}=0,542\)), Estonia (\(\alpha _{PU}=0,961\); \(\alpha _{PEU}=0,359\)), Georgia (\(\alpha _{PU}=0,975\); \(\alpha _{PEU}=0,543\)). One influence in Estonia is recent FLOSS project [7] which has influenced the PEU component has brought some confusion among users due to some misunderstandings among organizers.

Table 3. Means of PRS an FLOSS
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Table 4. Country variations regarding FLOSS and PRS
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Discussion. Initial objective of the study was to evaluate FLOSS (free/libre and open-source software) in the context of TAM1 model. We intended to use the outcome to explore country variations in the use of FLOSS and PRS (proprietary software). In the process we establish that in the context of varying ICT policies and implementations structure in the three countries using TAM 1 turned out to be challenging; as participants did not respond proportionally the required constructs for measuring of the model. In lieu of exploring the model, a comparative analysis was carried out across the variables Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of Use (PEU). Even we see that countries are mostly using proprietary software (PRS): Ghana 85 %, Estonia 76,5 % and Georgia 77,4 % - users perceive FLOSS easier and more useful. Also noticeable would be understanding the terms and there is better understanding of PRS than FLOSS terms which reflects also in usage. All school levels perceive software usage similarly and there is no significant difference. Estonia has been the driving force with the experience of Tiger Leap project and this has been reflected and used to develop similar processes in Georgia and would be as one example for future developments in Ghana. Despite great projects in Estonia and Georgia the digital divide is still there, especially in Ghana but could be mitigated by deploying FLOSS [2]. There are many good projects running to reduce the digital divide [10] and it does not only affect developing countries but even developed ones [20].

5 Conclusion

TAM depends on user attitude and will but at school context the choice of technology (software particularly) does not depend only on that. There are also situations where there have been software usage decided by decisionmakers: local authority, usually the school owner or sometimes by school management board. In such situation there is quite often not much discussed the technology choice with teachers and the choice does not very much depend on teachers’ preferences. This in turn may cause frustration among teachers as were also mentioned in current research comments. There are also different groups of teachers: in current research we had 25 % of ICT and 75 % of non-ICT teachers. It is obvious that ICT-teachers have been more influenced by technology, certain software particularly, and therefore more biased than non-ICT teachers. One moment would be also challenging according TAM to maintain or preserve FLOSS + PRS ecosystem at educational institutions. Based on the previous discussion we may say that TAM did not measure all aspects that affect technology choices, especially at educational institution context.