Cevat Celep

Tijen Tülübaş

Effect of Principals' Technological Leadership on Teachers' Attitude towards the Use of Educational Technologies

Keywords: Technological leadership, educational technology, secondary school

de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Effect of Principals' Technological Leadership on Teachers' Attitude towards the Use of Educational Technologies

Introduction

In today's world of technology, integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into education has become crucial in government programs [START_REF] Ertmer | Teacher beliefs and technology interaction practices: A critical relationship[END_REF] so that the members of modern societies can manage and use excessive information to solve complicated problems and to cope with the evolving demands of the information age. In the emerging knowledge society of our age, educating individuals to be capable of gathering and using information fast and effectively has become a priority for educational institutions. That is why the integration of available technologies into educational processes and the effective use of technological resources has gained importance. Integration of technology in education has become important in education not only in developed countries but also in developing countries [START_REF] Agyei | Exploring the potential of the will, skill, tool model in Ghana: Predicting prospective and practicing teachers' use of technology[END_REF]. As a developing country, The Ministry of Education in Turkey has made great efforts and supported major financial investments to integrate ICT into teaching and learning environments. Such projects as e-school, e-registration, e-personnel, e-teacher, the EBA (Education and Informatics Network) and FATIH (Movement of Enhancing Opportunities and Improving Technology) projects have been started to this end. In the scope of the FATİH project, a huge sum of money (800 million Turkish Lira (TL) in 2012 and 1.4 billion TL in 2013) has been invested in developing hardware for schools, distributing tablet personal computers (PCs) to all teachers and students, enabling electronic resources for classroom use, improving Internet connection at schools, developing a technology-friendly curriculum and organizing training events for the teachers and administrators [3]. However, without teachers' genuine efforts, it does not seem possible to effectively integrate technology in classroom practice. Teachers' positive attitudes towards educational technologies are considered to be essential for the integration of technology into teaching and learning. Teo states that teachers are the key players in the integration of technology into education, and highlights the importance of teachers' efficient and appropriate use of technology in maximising teaching and learning [START_REF] Teo | Factors influencing teachers' intention to use technology: Model development and test[END_REF]. In addition, research shows that teachers' will and competencies in using technology are closely related to their attitude towards educational technologies, which in turn has a great influence on the integration of technology in classroom practice [START_REF] Woodrow | The influence of programming training on the computer literacy and attitudes of preservice teachers[END_REF][START_REF] Ross | Research, development, and validation of a principal's handbook for implementing technology based learning methods in information-age school[END_REF][START_REF] Myers | Teachers' attitudes and use of multimedia technology in the classroom: constructivist-based professional development training for school districts[END_REF][START_REF] Christensen | Instruments for assessing the impact of technology in education[END_REF][START_REF] Morales | Cross-cultural validation of the will, skill, tool model of technology integration[END_REF][START_REF] Marshall | Research methods: their design, applicability and reliability[END_REF].

Leadership is considered to be one of the most influential factors on the practices at school [START_REF] Hoy | Educational administration: Theory, research, and practice[END_REF]. Anderson and Dexter state that "all of the literature on leadership and technology acknowledges either explicitly or implicitly that school leaders should provide administrative oversight for educational technology" [START_REF] Anderson | School Technology Leadership: An Empirical Investigation of Prevalence and Effect[END_REF]. There is some research which supports this view, stating that technology leadership has a significant influence on teachers' technology use [START_REF] Aten | An analysis of the nature of educational technology leadership in California's SB 1274 restructuring schools[END_REF][START_REF] Murphy | Technology integration: The importance of administrative supports[END_REF][START_REF] Hughes | An investigation into the relationship between effective administrative leadership styles and the use of technology[END_REF][START_REF] Deryakulu | Technology leadership and supervision: an analysis based on Turkish computer teachers' professional memories[END_REF]. However, there is some other research which highlights that teachers' beliefs, competencies and perceptions regarding the use of technology could determine their use of technology in class and leadership might not be as influential on their attitude as expected [START_REF] Teo | Factors influencing teachers' intention to use technology: Model development and test[END_REF][START_REF] Davis | Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology[END_REF][START_REF] Davis | User Acceptance of Computer Technology: A Comparison of Two Theoretical Models[END_REF][START_REF] Robert | Information technology acceptance in a sample of government employees: A test of the technology acceptance model[END_REF][START_REF] Hayytov | Eğitim Yöneticileri Teknoloji Liderliği Yeterlik Algıları ile Öğretmenlerin Teknolojiye Yönelik tutumları Arasındaki İlişki[END_REF]. The review of the literature reveals some controversial findings about the influence of school principals' technology leadership on teachers' attitudes towards educational technologies.

The Principal as a Technology Leader

According to Dougherty et al., a technology leader "enables others to effectively and successfully use, manage, assess, and understand technologies of the designed world" [START_REF] Dougherty | Philosophical Perspectives on Technology Leadership[END_REF]. As a technology leader, a school principal needs to understand and be capable of using recent technologies. More importantly, a technology leader should understand and manage the changes brought by the technological advancements as well as supporting the teaching staff through developing their confidence in and capabilities of using technology at school [START_REF] Akbaba-Altun | Okul yöneticilerinin teknolojiye karşı tutumlarının incelenmesi[END_REF].

The literature on the qualities of a technology leader mainly indicates four aspects [START_REF] Chang | Teachers' Perceptions of the dimensions and Implementation of Technology Leadership of Principals in Taiwanese Elementary Schools[END_REF][START_REF] Sincar | İlköğretim Okulu Yöneticilerinin Teknoloji Liderliği Rollerine İlişkin Bir İnceleme (Gaziantep İli Örneği)[END_REF][START_REF] Chang | The Effect of Principals' Technological Leadership on Teachers' Technological Literacy and Teaching Effectiveness in Taiwanese Elementary Schools[END_REF]: human-centeredness; communication and cooperation; vision; and support. Being human-centered means that decisions and practices at school are centered on the needs and expectations of school staff. In other words, technology leaders show regard to ethics, justice and equity in technology use as well as being vigilant about the issues related to technology use [START_REF] Sincar | İlköğretim Okulu Yöneticilerinin Teknoloji Liderliği Rollerine İlişkin Bir İnceleme (Gaziantep İli Örneği)[END_REF]. Another factor that affects technology leadership is interpersonal and communication skills [START_REF] Murphy | Technology integration: The importance of administrative supports[END_REF][START_REF] Chang | The Effect of Principals' Technological Leadership on Teachers' Technological Literacy and Teaching Effectiveness in Taiwanese Elementary Schools[END_REF][START_REF] Roy | Educational technology leadership for the age of restructuring[END_REF][START_REF] Bailey | Technology staff development programs. A leadership sourcebook for school administrators[END_REF][START_REF] Jewell | The art and craft of technology leadership[END_REF][START_REF] Inkster | Technology leadership in elementary school principals: A comparative case study[END_REF]. Technology leaders need to be able to use technology to carry out their own duties and to communicate with others [START_REF] Anderson | School Technology Leadership: An Empirical Investigation of Prevalence and Effect[END_REF]. Chang et al. even state that interpersonal and communication skills are much more important for technology leaders than having technological expertise, because they cannot convey this expertise without these skills [START_REF] Chang | Teachers' Perceptions of the dimensions and Implementation of Technology Leadership of Principals in Taiwanese Elementary Schools[END_REF]. Another important quality of a technology leader is being visionary and establishing a vision at school that fosters the integration of technology in education and receives support from all the stakeholders [START_REF] Anderson | School Technology Leadership: An Empirical Investigation of Prevalence and Effect[END_REF][START_REF] Jewell | The art and craft of technology leadership[END_REF][START_REF] Inkster | Technology leadership in elementary school principals: A comparative case study[END_REF][START_REF] Cory | Can your district become an instructional technology leader? The School Administrator[END_REF][START_REF] Bailey | What technology leaders need to know: The essential top 10 concepts for technology integration in the 21st century?[END_REF][START_REF] Bridges | Principal influence: Sustaining a vision for powerful new forms of learning using technology[END_REF]. Ross and Bailey state that vision is essential to give school staff direction and guidance for the proper integration of technology into classroom practice [START_REF] Ross | Technology-based learning: A handbook for teachers and technology leaders[END_REF]. Supporting teachers in understanding and using technology, providing necessary hardware and software and being a model for the efficient use of technology is another significant characteristic of a technology leader [START_REF] Anderson | School Technology Leadership: An Empirical Investigation of Prevalence and Effect[END_REF][START_REF] Robinson | Technology leadership in the English educational system: From computer systems to systematic management of computers[END_REF][START_REF] Kinnaman | What it really means to integrate technology[END_REF][START_REF] Ford | Identifying technology leadership competencies for Nebraska's K-12 technology leaders[END_REF].

Recently, numerous studies have been done about the attitudes of school principals towards technology and their technological leadership qualities [START_REF] Akbaba-Altun | Okul yöneticilerinin teknolojiye karşı tutumlarının incelenmesi[END_REF][START_REF] Can | Bolu orta öğretim okulları yöneticilerinin teknolojik liderlik yeterlilikleri[END_REF][START_REF] Cerit | Küreselleşme sürecinde ilköğretim okulu yöneticilerinin nitelikleri[END_REF][START_REF] Akbaba-Altun | School administrators' perceptions of their roles regarding information technology classrooms[END_REF][START_REF] Helvacı | Okul yöneticilerinin teknolojiye karşı tutumlarının incelenmesi[END_REF][START_REF] Karadağ | Bilgisayar destekli eğitim: İlköğretim okulu yöneticilerinin tutumlarına ilişkin bir araştırma[END_REF][START_REF] Seferoğlu | İlköğretim okullarında teknoloji kullanımı ve yöneticilerin bakış açıları[END_REF][START_REF] Hacıfazlıoğlu | Eğitim Yöneticileri Teknoloji Liderliği Standartlarına Ilişkin Öğretmen, Yönetici ve Denetmenlerin Görüşleri[END_REF]. However, many of these studies do not focus on the effect of these qualities on teachers' attitudes towards integrating technology into teaching processes. Moreover, the review of the literature shows some controversial findings regarding the effect of technology leadership on teachers' attitude towards the use of technology. Therefore, studies investigating the relationship between these two constructs might shed light on the future discussions regarding the issue.

This study aims to explore the effect of secondary school principals' technology leadership on teachers' attitude towards educational technology and the way they use technology at school. As mentioned earlier, there are not enough studies in the literature that examine the effect of principals' technology leadership on teachers' attitudes towards educational technology. This study is considered to contribute to the literature in this respect. Furthermore, findings of the study could shed light on regulations regarding the integration of technology into education.

Teachers' Attitude towards Technology

Teachers' attitude towards technology is considered to be a key factor in integrating technology in classroom interaction [START_REF] Agyei | Exploring the potential of the will, skill, tool model in Ghana: Predicting prospective and practicing teachers' use of technology[END_REF][START_REF] Teo | Factors influencing teachers' intention to use technology: Model development and test[END_REF][START_REF] Christensen | Instruments for assessing the impact of technology in education[END_REF][START_REF] Davis | Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology[END_REF][START_REF] Davis | User Acceptance of Computer Technology: A Comparison of Two Theoretical Models[END_REF][START_REF] Venkatesh | User Acceptance of Information Technology: Toward a Unified View[END_REF][START_REF] Huang | Exploring users' attitudes and intentions toward the web as a survey tool[END_REF][START_REF] Meelissen | Computer attitudes and competencies among primary and secondary school students[END_REF]. Huang and Liav state that implementation of technology depends on the positive attitude towards it rather than the state of technology at school [START_REF] Huang | Exploring users' attitudes and intentions toward the web as a survey tool[END_REF]. Teo points out the fact that teachers' positive feelings towards the use of technology would reinforce their intentions to use it [START_REF] Teo | Factors influencing teachers' intention to use technology: Model development and test[END_REF]. Davis et al. state that teachers' behavioral intentions to use technology are determined by their attitudes towards it [START_REF] Davis | User Acceptance of Computer Technology: A Comparison of Two Theoretical Models[END_REF].

In the literature, mainly three theories are mentioned in order to explain teachers' use of technology: the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) [START_REF] Davis | Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology[END_REF], the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) [START_REF] Ajzen | The Theory of Planned Behavior[END_REF] and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) [START_REF] Venkatesh | User Acceptance of Information Technology: Toward a Unified View[END_REF]. TAM specifies perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude towards use and behavioral intention to use technology. According to TPB, teachers' behavioral intentions to use technology are shaped by their attitude towards technology, subjective norms (that is, the extent to which people important to the teacher think the use of technology is important and beneficial) and teachers' perceived behavioral control regarding technology use (that is, their perception of how easy or difficult it would be to use technology). In addition to these theories, Christensen and Knezek developed the model of Will Skill Tool [START_REF] Christensen | Instruments for assessing the impact of technology in education[END_REF]. The model postulates that teachers' will, skill and access to technology tools are necessary to integrate technology in classroom instruction. Common to all these theories or models is the importance of teachers' attitude towards the use of educational technologies. As pointed out earlier, teachers are the key players in integrating technology into actual classroom practice and it seems impossible without teachers' positive approaches to the use of educational technologies.

Method

This is a relational descriptive study that aims to determine the effect of school principals' technology leadership on teachers' attitude towards educational technologies. The universe of the study comprises 320 teachers working at secondary schools in Tekirdağ, Turkey. Questionnaires were distributed to the whole universe and 255 questionnaires were returned. Three of the questionnaires were incomplete, so they were not included in the analysis. The remaining 252 questionnaires were included in the analysis. One hundred and thirty-two (52.4%) of the participants were female and 120 (47.6%) were male. Twenty (7.9%) of the participants were aged between 21-30 years, 104 (41.3%) were aged between 31-40 years, 102 (40.5%) were aged 41-50 years and 26 (10.3%) were aged over 51 years. Eighty-eight (34.9%) of the participants teach physical sciences (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology), 90 (35.7%) teach humanities (literature, geography, history, philosophy, psychology), 62 (24.6%) teach languages (English and German) and 12 (4.8%) teach fine arts.

Data regarding principals' technology leadership were collected using the "Technology Leadership Scale" developed by Sincar [START_REF] Sincar | İlköğretim Okulu Yöneticilerinin Teknoloji Liderliği Rollerine İlişkin Bir İnceleme (Gaziantep İli Örneği)[END_REF]. The scale has four factors (human-centeredness, communication and interaction, vision and supportiveness) and the Cronbach's Alpha was .98. Data regarding teachers' attitude towards educational technology were collected using the "Attitude towards Educational Technology Scale" developed by Pala [START_REF] Pala | İlköğretim birinci kademe öğretmenlerinin eğitim teknolojilerine yönelik tutumları[END_REF]. The scale has two factors (positive and negative) and the Cronbach's Alpha for the positive attitude factor was .95 and Cronbach's Alpha for the negative attitude factor was .84. Cronbach's Alpha shows the internal consistency of a scale and indicates the reliability of the scale used in the research. Scales are usually required to have a reliability of .70 or more. Thus, scales used in this research can be accepted as reliable.

Discussion

This study aimed to analyze the effect of technology leadership on secondary school teachers' attitudes towards the use of educational technologies in classroom practice.

First, teachers' attitudes towards educational technology use and their perceptions regarding school principals' technology leadership were analysed using descriptive statistics. Then, the effect of perceived technology leadership on teachers' attitudes towards educational technology was analysed using a regression test.

Teachers' attitudes towards the use of educational technologies

The results of the analysis showed that teachers have positive rather than negative attitudes towards the use of educational technologies. The results of the statistical analysis can be seen in Table 1. According to the results of the analysis, it can be said that teachers have positive attitudes towards technology use in class. According to Davis's theory of TAM [START_REF] Davis | Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology[END_REF], perceived ease of use affects perceived usefulness and, as a result, the attitude towards use. Teo states that facilitating conditions such as providing technology tools might have a greater effect on teachers' use of technology than the behaviours of school principals [START_REF] Teo | Factors influencing teachers' intention to use technology: Model development and test[END_REF]. As mentioned earlier, in the scope of the FATIH project, schools have been provided with interactive whiteboards and projectors as well as computers and Internet connection. As such, teachers have been provided with a large amount of free and ready-to-use electronic resources within the EBA (Education and Informatics Network) project. All these developments might have increased teachers' perceived ease of use and this might have increased their positive attitude towards the use of educational technologies.

However, it should also be noted that the findings show teachers have some levels of negative attitudes towards educational technology use. These teachers seem to believe that technology could hurt teachers' discipline in class. They also indicate that use of educational technologies could not be appropriate for testing purposes and could not be suitable to teach some subject areas.

These findings might suggest that teachers are influenced by traditional beliefs about teaching and testing which usually focuses on teacher-centeredness. Ertmer et al. [START_REF] Ertmer | Teacher beliefs and technology interaction practices: A critical relationship[END_REF] suggest that technology be placed in the hands of students and they should be supported to use technology to communicate, collaborate and solve problems using more complicated thinking skills. A student-centered approach and a collaborative classroom environment are considered to be a prerequisite to the effective use of technology in class [START_REF] Ertmer | Teacher beliefs and technology interaction practices: A critical relationship[END_REF][START_REF] Hadley | Commonalties and distinctive patterns in teachers' integration of computers[END_REF][START_REF] Becker | How exemplary computer-using teachers differ from other teachers: implications for realizing the potential of computers in schools[END_REF][START_REF] Dexter | USA: A model of implementation effectiveness[END_REF][START_REF] Mccain | Teaching for tomorrow: Teaching content and problem-solving skills[END_REF][START_REF] Judson | How teachers integrate technology and their beliefs about learning: is there a connection[END_REF][START_REF] Andrew | Comparison of teacher educators' instructional methods with the constructivist ideal[END_REF]. In addition, it might be considered that teachers are not well informed about the use of educational technologies for testing purposes and student-centered education. This idea could be supported by teachers' answers to two questions asked on the data collection form. The first question was about whether they received any training about the use of technology in class. Two hundred and twenty-four (88.9%) of the participants indicated that they received inservice training. However, 146 of these participants have only attended one training event within the scope of the FATIH project. With this project, it was aimed to build interactive whiteboard systems at schools and to connect this system with tablet PCs which were distributed to teachers and students for free. At the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year, teachers were trained about the use of these interactive whiteboards. One hundred and four of the participants have indicated that they attended courses on the use of Microsoft Office programs and web page design. As a result, it can be seen that teachers only received training on how to use some technological devices rather than ways of integrating educational technologies into education processes. In addition, during the data collection period, teachers complained that the Internet connection was not offered effectively. They also noted that the scope of in-service training courses regarding the integration of technology was not enough in terms of content and length.

Two hundred and thirty-four (92.9%) of the research participants noted that they used educational technologies in class. However, 118 of these participants stated that they only used the interactive whiteboard in classroom interactions and 44 indicated that they used the Internet to do research while they prepared lessons or examinations. Seventy-six of the teachers using interactive whiteboards indicated that they used it to show videos or visuals, 62 reported using it at the presentation stage of the lesson, 30 to do extra tests and exercises, 28 to make the lesson more enjoyable, and 8 to use time more efficiently. These findings show that providing an interactive whiteboard for every classroom affected the integration of technology in classroom instruction. However, it should be noted that teachers need to be offered more training on using interactive whiteboards in a way that leads to a more student-centered education process.

Perceived technology leadership of school principals

Analysis of the data regarding teachers' perceptions of school principals' technology leadership showed that school principals demonstrate a good level of technology leadership ( X =3.39). However, the finding indicates teachers partially agree that their school principals are technology leaders, which might mean that they have higher expectations from their school leaders as a technology leader. As technology leaders, school leaders according to teachers (see Table 2) seem to be human-centered and supportive. Compared to these two dimensions, they seem to be less visionary, communicative and cooperative, which indicates that school leaders might not be as future oriented as expected in promoting the use of technology at school. Also, they might not be using technology efficiently for better communication with school staff and stakeholders. However, developing a schoolwide shared vision for technology and involvement of the stakeholders in the enabling and development of necessary technological structures are considered to be a priority for an effective technology leadership [START_REF] Anderson | School Technology Leadership: An Empirical Investigation of Prevalence and Effect[END_REF][START_REF] Inkster | Technology leadership in elementary school principals: A comparative case study[END_REF][START_REF] Bailey | What technology leaders need to know: The essential top 10 concepts for technology integration in the 21st century?[END_REF]. Therefore, it is important that school principals try to understand the direction and trends of technology development and maintain a clear technology vision as well as having necessary interpersonal and communication skills to convey this understanding and vision to the stakeholders.

Effect of technology leadership on teachers' attitudes towards the use of educational technologies

Although school principals are considered to be good technology leaders, this seems to have little effect on teachers' attitudes towards educational technology (see Table 3). In other words, it can be said that teachers have a positive attitude towards using technology in class regardless of principals' support as a technology leader.

In addition, technology leadership does not have a significant effect on teachers' negative attitudes towards educational technologies. In other words, teachers' negative attitudes towards technology use in classroom practice seem to be related to some other factors rather than technology leadership. Teachers' negative attitudes towards educational technologies might be related to some background factors such as technology infrastructure [START_REF] Anderson | School Technology Leadership: An Empirical Investigation of Prevalence and Effect[END_REF], teachers' beliefs about teaching [START_REF] Ertmer | Teacher beliefs and technology interaction practices: A critical relationship[END_REF] or teachers' beliefs about technology [START_REF] Davis | Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology[END_REF][START_REF] Meelissen | Computer attitudes and competencies among primary and secondary school students[END_REF]. Teo indicates that teachers' intentions to use technology could be much more related to perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness rather than technology leadership of school leaders [START_REF] Teo | Factors influencing teachers' intention to use technology: Model development and test[END_REF]. He also points out that the environment in which teachers use technology could be more important than the support of school principals. Robert and Handerson state that teachers might depend on their sense of professional duty and personal interest to integrate technology in education rather than an institutional mandate such as a school principal [START_REF] Robert | Information technology acceptance in a sample of government employees: A test of the technology acceptance model[END_REF]. Another reason why technology leadership did not have a considerable effect on teachers' attitudes towards technology could be linked to the centralist organisation of the educational institutions in Turkey. In other words, the centralised management system in Turkey does not give much autonomy to school principals, especially in terms of finance and resource acquisition. Therefore, the Ministry of Education is considered to be responsible for providing technology tools and promoting the use of technology at schools. That is why the recent initiatives taken by the Ministry might have been more effective than school principals' technology leadership on teachers' attitudes towards technology. Similarly, as Ajzen states in the theory of planned behaviour [START_REF] Ajzen | The Theory of Planned Behavior[END_REF], subjective norm, that is, the extent to which people important to the individual think the behaviour should be performed could influence teachers' attitudes towards technology use. In our study, teachers could have regarded the Ministry as their subjective norm and the recent focus of the Ministry on the use of technology might have resulted in their positive attitude towards the use of technology.

Analysis of the dimensions of technology leadership demonstrated that being supportive and visionary has more influence on teachers' positive attitude towards educational technologies (see Table 4). In other words, school principals who are future-directed about the use of technology at school, who can follow and share technological developments with school staff and who can improve facilities and offer opportunities for the integration of technology might help develop a positive attitude towards technology use at school.

Table 4. Effects of Technology Leadership Dimensions on Teachers' Positive Attitudes towards Educational Technology

As Ross and Bailey state, technology leaders should provide teachers with a vision which directs and guides the integration of technology into education [START_REF] Ross | Technology-based learning: A handbook for teachers and technology leaders[END_REF]. Inkster notes that creating a vision regarding the use of technology by both teachers and students is a significant indicator of a principals' technology leadership [START_REF] Inkster | Technology leadership in elementary school principals: A comparative case study[END_REF]. Bailey highlights the importance of providing access to technology resources and increasing opportunities to acquire these resources as well as pointing out the significance of providing service and technical support in schools [START_REF] Bailey | What technology leaders need to know: The essential top 10 concepts for technology integration in the 21st century?[END_REF]. Our findings support these ideas from the literature, although the effect of technology leadership seems to be inconsiderable.

Conclusion

A review of the literature demonstrates controversial findings on the effect of school principals' technological leadership on teachers' attitudes towards technology. Although many researchers indicate the importance of leadership in the effective integration of new technologies in teaching and learning [START_REF] Aten | An analysis of the nature of educational technology leadership in California's SB 1274 restructuring schools[END_REF][START_REF] Murphy | Technology integration: The importance of administrative supports[END_REF][START_REF] Hughes | An investigation into the relationship between effective administrative leadership styles and the use of technology[END_REF][START_REF] Deryakulu | Technology leadership and supervision: an analysis based on Turkish computer teachers' professional memories[END_REF], there are some researchers that suggest teachers' perceptions regarding technology could be more influential in their use of technology [START_REF] Teo | Factors influencing teachers' intention to use technology: Model development and test[END_REF][START_REF] Davis | Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology[END_REF][START_REF] Davis | User Acceptance of Computer Technology: A Comparison of Two Theoretical Models[END_REF][START_REF] Robert | Information technology acceptance in a sample of government employees: A test of the technology acceptance model[END_REF][START_REF] Hayytov | Eğitim Yöneticileri Teknoloji Liderliği Yeterlik Algıları ile Öğretmenlerin Teknolojiye Yönelik tutumları Arasındaki İlişki[END_REF].

The findings of our study support the second view, in that technology leadership had a little effect on teachers' positive attitudes towards technology use, and did not have a significant effect on their negative attitudes. This is considered to be the result of recent initiatives taken by the Turkish Ministry of Education, especially the FATİH project. In the scope of the FATIH project, schools are provided with interactive whiteboards and projectors as well as computers and Internet connection. As such, teachers are provided with a large amount of free and ready-to-use electronic resources. These developments might have increased teachers' perceived ease of use and this might have increased their positive attitudes towards the use of educational technologies. In addition, the centralised management system of education in Turkey could be another reason why school principals' technology leadership did not have a significant influence on teachers' attitudes towards technology. As a result of this management system, the Ministry of Education is in charge of providing technology tools and promoting the use of technology at schools. Therefore, the recent initiatives taken by the Ministry might have been more effective on teachers' attitudes towards technology. Similarly, teachers' could have regarded the Ministry as their subjective norm rather than school principals, and the recent focus of the Ministry on the use of technology might have resulted in their positive attitudes towards the use of technology.

Although teachers were found to have a positive attitude towards educational technologies, there are still teachers who are cautious about using technology in classroom interactions. In addition, our investigation revealed that teachers are trying to use technology in a way that supports their traditional teacher-based views of teaching. However, it is highlighted in the literature that effective use of technology in teaching and learning requires a student-centered approach to teaching [START_REF] Mccain | Teaching for tomorrow: Teaching content and problem-solving skills[END_REF][START_REF] Means | Technology and Education Reform[END_REF]. Therefore, teachers should be offered courses where they can find the opportunity to adopt new approaches to teaching to integrate technology more efficiently into classroom practice. Moreover, rapid technological changes require on-going training for teachers so that they can develop more advanced skills and knowledge on the use of educational technologies. In short, teacher professional development should be central in the management of technology integration into education processes.

Further empirical and theoretical work seems to be necessary in order to understand the role of school principals as technology leaders as well as to identify factors that affect the attitude of teachers towards educational technologies. The use of technology in education has become significant globally and also culture is considered to be influential in the use of technologies [START_REF] Gullivan | Information technology and culture: Identifying fragmentary and holistic perspectives of culture[END_REF]. Therefore, further studies could be conducted to compare the use of educational technologies in different countries and cultures.

  Celep, Tijen Tülübaş To cite this version: Cevat Celep, Tijen Tülübaş. Effect of Principals' Technological Leadership on Teachers' Attitude towards the Use of Educational Technologies. IFIP Conference on Information Technology in Educational Management (ITEM) and IFIP Conference on Key Competencies for Educating ICT Professionals (KCICTP), Jul 2014, Potsdam, Germany. pp.247-258, 10.1007/978-3-662-45770-2_21. hal-01342708

Table 1 :

 1 Teachers' Attitudes towards Educational Technology

		N	X	SS
	Positive Attitude	252	3.964	0.611
	Negative Attitude	252	2.285	0.565

Table 2 .

 2 Perceived Technology Leadership of School Principals N

	SS
	X

Table 3 :

 3 Effects of Technology Leadership on Teachers' Attitudes towards Educational Technology

		B	SE	β	T		p
	Constant	3.305	0,178		18,516	0,000
	Technology Leadership	0.195	0,052	0,232	3,776	0,000
		Dependent Variable: Positive Attitude
		F=14. 259	R=0.232	R 2 =0.054	p < .01
		B	SE	β	T		p
	Constant	2.527	0,169	14,952	0,000
	Technology Leadership	0.071	0,049	0,092	1,462	0,145
		Dependent Variable: Negative Attitude
		F=2.137	R=0.092	R 2 =0.008		p > .01


Cevat Celep
email: celep@kocaeli.edu.tr

Tuğba Konaklı

Nur Kuyumcu

Creating Knowledge Sharing Culture via Social Network Sites at

Keywords: Social networks, knowledge sharing culture, teachers, content analysis

établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Introduction

Social network lexically means "individuals (partnerships and roles in rare situations) that are connected to each other with one or more social relations, and thus form a social bond" [START_REF] Marshall | Sociology Dictionary[END_REF]. These relational bonds can include affinity, communication, friendship, and authority. Social networks likewise establish a virtual "community" and act together, share ideas, produce solutions, and undertake similar studies.

Networks in an educational sense support change and sustainability of change. Social and professional networks connected by users via the Internet get connected to each other through interaction, relation and shared information and with time this transforms into professional support [START_REF] Hargreaves | Sustainability of educational change: The role of social geographies[END_REF].

The first website examples fitting the social networking definition were "Classmates.com" (in 1995) and "SixDegrees.com" (in 1997). Whereas Classmates.com particularly offered a way to find ex-classmates, SixDegrees.com offered profile making and friends, listing opportunities to users [START_REF] Boyd | Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship[END_REF].

Social network services can be defined as web pages that collect beneficial information online, share it with others and provide an environment to communicate with other people. Social networks such as "MySpace", "Facebook", "Hi5" and "Cyworld" enable their users to interact with other people with similar interests by participating in groups or creating groups [START_REF] Kwon | An empirical study of the factors affecting social network service use[END_REF]. Another social network system is the blog. Blogs are websites that can be updated regularly and display text entries in reverse chronological order (the most recent entry first) and cover text, images, news, etc. [START_REF] O'reilly | What is web 2.0: Design patterns and business models for the next generation of software[END_REF]. In contrast, the wiki is composed of web pages that allow users to edit them as they wish. It is a free environment where all individuals can reach and change information on any subject. Facebook, the most popular social network, is known as the social network used by students most [START_REF] Biçen | The most preferred social network sites by students[END_REF].

Generally, social network services are based on friendship, affinity, interests and activities. However, this is not the only function of social network services. These networks enable individuals to share information, establish and develop relations, etc. Social network websites enable people working inside and outside of organizations to communicate with their colleagues. Cooperation, by utilizing social networks, provides opportunity to exchange information between education implementers and information producers (universities). Even though social networks are used in an informal manner, they bear the potential to be used to support teaching and learning activities. Besides providing more apparent identities for class discussion socially, social networks can host several learning styles inside and outside of a class by communicating with users in a more individual manner [START_REF] Ellison | Introduction: Reshaping campus communication and community through social network sites[END_REF]. Social networks have properties such as developing student and teacher communication abilities, expanding participation, strengthening peer support, and enabling cooperation based learning [START_REF] Lepi | 25 ways teachers can integrate social media into education[END_REF]. Social networks can improve student learning, enable interactions between school-student and studentstudent relations, increase access of students with regards to lessons, improve writing skills of students, and these networks can be integrated into lessons easily [START_REF] Ajjan | Investigating faculty decisions to adopt web 2.0 technologies: Theory and empirical tests[END_REF]. Social networks form an environment where teachers participating associate their personal and professional identities and teachers also use Facebook groups so as to form a teacher network and cooperate [START_REF] Mazman | Sosyal ağların benimsenme süreci ve eğitsel bağlamda kullanımı[END_REF][START_REF] Saunders | The role of social networking sites in teacher education programs: a qualitative exploration[END_REF].

Children and young people gain basic skills and competencies necessary for schools and work places on their own by interacting with popular culture [START_REF] Jenkins | What is learning in a participatory culture?[END_REF]. Social networks can be used for digital media sharing among students, asking questions, sharing lesson-related resources, creating study groups and communicating with classmates [START_REF] Yuen | Web 2.0 in education[END_REF].

Knowledge sharing among individuals is defined as a process which covers exchange of knowledge with other individuals so as to make them understand, adopt and use it [START_REF] Ipe | Knowledge sharing in organizations: A conceptual framework[END_REF]. It is very crucial in knowledge sharing that knowledge comes out of one source and reaches a certain target. This is the way knowledge sharing distinguishes itself from knowledge transfer. Knowledge sharing behaviour includes the highest contribution to organizational activity and covers individual behaviours of working people such as sharing existing work knowledge, competencies and experiences with other employees [START_REF] Yi | A measure of knowledge sharing behavior: Scale development and validation[END_REF].

Technological facilities such as Internet and social network websites play an important role in strengthening collaboration between new members and experienced members [START_REF] Lave | Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation[END_REF].

While many traditional web applications focus on the delivery of content, social networks such as blogs, wikis, and podcasts focus on social connectivity and since these instruments are managed with participation and interaction of users, it is stated that they highly support knowledge sharing and collaboration necessary for social and active learning [START_REF] Ajjan | Investigating faculty decisions to adopt Web 2.0 technologies: Theory and empirical tests[END_REF].

Method

This research is designed with a qualitative method and aims at determining at which level and with which purposes social networks are used by teachers in their knowledge sharing with their administrators and managers, students, other colleagues and parents. To this end, a semi-structured interview form that included open-ended questions was applied to a working group consisting of 13 teachers. The population of the study consisted of randomly selected teachers working in primary schools in the İzmit/Kocaeli district. The data obtained were examined through content analysis.

Discussion

Teachers who participated in this study stated that they mostly used social networks "to share knowledge and resources with educators". It was found that teachers widely prefer social networks such as Facebook, Google+ and e-school. E-school is an information management system prepared by the Ministry of Education enabling duplex communication particularly with parents. Teachers who follow policy makers, trade unions and government bodies on Twitter and establish contact with them, use e-blogs in order to create diaries for lessons.

Teachers pointed out that administrators and managers widely preferred Facebook in announcing school events and in-service training programs, developing project cooperation, reminding about the times of school meetings, discussing regulation amendments, and enlightening teachers and students about social issues. Teachers stating their administrators and managers did not use social networks noted that this stemmed from not trusting an informal environment, not delivering the content quickly and accurately, manipulation of knowledge, thinking of possible misuse of information due to virtual environments, and open characteristics of social networks.

Teachers explained that they mostly used social networks to share school activities and information regarding education and assessment processes. Apart from that, YouTube was the social network preferred by all of the teachers included in the study due to its educational videos that were used in lessons. Teachers share contents by loading course content, quizzes, homework, study forms, videos, and Microsoft (MS) PowerPoint presentations in the groups they create with their students on Facebook, Wikispace and Google +. One of the obstacles of a knowledge sharing culture teachers try to establish in schools is students' lack of knowledge and desire to use social networks effectively.

Teachers indicated that they share files, records, audio-visual materials relating to lessons, and also establish networks in the preparation phase for assessment tools and share materials with their colleagues via social networks such as Facebook, Google + , and Twitter. Teachers also point out that lesson plans, materials, working papers, MS PowerPoint presentations, etc. prepared in collaboration with district schools are shared through Wikispace and additionally, seminar and training announcements among teachers are communicated through social networks. Schools create virtual networks where best practices are shared, by sharing photographs of school activities on Instagram. It is known that discussion groups are formed among teachers to discuss the future of the profession, improvement of conditions and sharing of up-to-date information in various forums. Teachers admit that they particularly benefit from social networks in knowledge sharing with colleagues living a long distance away and social networks are indispensable for them.

The teachers who participated in the study stated that they especially use eschool in knowledge sharing with parents. However, leaving aside the social networking function of e-school, they also expressed they use e-school as an announcement system that reports academic success, absenteeism and disciplinary status of students to parents. Most of the teachers do not deem it appropriate to share information with parents on Facebook. They prefer e-school since it is secure software and accessed with personal passwords whereas Facebook makes data accessible for everyone. Teachers think that parents should not know about their personal ideas and private life; this can lead to prejudices in parents. Besides, teachers put forward that knowledge sharing with parents on social networks can draw them into lazy practice and diminish their physical presence in schools and thus school-family collaboration will dwindle. Especially as the teachers received reactions by parents when they share visuals on Facebook belonging to students, they prefer not to share information on students or activities through these social networks. However, some teachers emphasize that knowledge sharing on such social networks increases a sense of belonging about their schools for each stakeholder.

Conclusion

Generalizing the use of social networks among teachers is crucial in terms of rendering education processes more up-to-date and functional. Considering that students use technology in more effective and beneficial ways than teachers, the outcomes of creating a knowledge sharing culture through social networks by the teachers keeping up with these trends will favourably affect education processes in schools.

As a result of this research, it is seen that the knowledge sharing through social networks is limited mostly in parent-teacher relations. In order to increase this sharing, parents should be informed of social networks and their consciousness should be raised to the harmlessness of secure knowledge sharing. Moreover, it is understood from responses of teachers that teachers do not limit knowledge sharing for the purpose of education; they are concerned with sharing their personal information and thus they are afraid of change in the attitude of parents towards them.

Disapproval of knowledge sharing on social networks by administrators, managers and parents can be associated with organization culture. The bureaucratic structure of institutions and the formality of actions and procedures in Turkey do not match up with the informal nature of social networks.

Teachers should limit their knowledge sharing on social networks only to "educational" matters. In this way, preferring to use social networks in their sharing of knowledge with parents will not harm their private lives.

This study is a descriptive study demonstrating the creation process of a knowledge sharing culture by teachers through social networks. It is important in terms of highlighting the need for delivering solutions to the challenges in the process; it is one of the rare qualitative studies conducted on this subject.


Javier Osorio
email: javier.osorio@ulpgc.es

Julia Nieves

Key ICT Competencies within the European Higher Education Area

Keywords: Competencies, ICT competencies, EHEA

de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Introduction

The implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has produced a significant transformation in the teaching-learning approaches used in Spanish public universities. In a relatively short period of time, university education has gone from being based on memorizing contents to being based on developing skills and competencies. It has evolved from instruction focused on the figure of the professor as the source of knowledge to a system where the student becomes the protagonist in his/her learning process, while the professor takes on a secondary role of support or guidance. Some tension has been experienced by professors and students during this transition. Both collectives have had to adapt to a new environment, in many cases after being accustomed to other methodologies or work methods for many years. The natural inertia often reflected in resistance to change became evident in Spanish universities. At times, both professors and students have tacitly limited themselves to merely transforming the terminology, while maintaining the essence of the old teaching-learning systems [START_REF] Gonzalez | The change towards a teaching methodology based in competencies: a case study in a Spanish university[END_REF].

One of the main changes imposed by the new situation involves assimilating and understanding the concept of competencies. The term competency has been widely addressed in the educational literature [START_REF] Stewart | Competence-based Qualifications: The Case for Established Methodologies[END_REF][START_REF] Martinez | Propuestas para el cambio docente en la Universidad[END_REF]. A competency can be defined as the skills or knowledge acquired in a certain area [START_REF] Short | Competence reexamined[END_REF]. The EHEA framework has developed qualification guidelines for developing homogeneous competencies in the universities of the different member countries. The purpose was to adopt a common terminology and establish a set of competencies that can be considered general, and that, in the current socio-economic context, must be developed by all students in higher education.

One of the most frequently mentioned competencies in the different reports elaborated for higher education is the one related to the use of information and communications technology (ICT). There is widespread agreement that students in higher education must show that they have skills in this domain. However, although they highlight the importance of this competence, relatively few studies have addressed which specific ICT skills should be developed in higher education, beyond merely knowing the main steps in operating an electronic device for a certain purpose.

The different actors in the educational process often have a vision of ICT competencies that is limited to their use, without considering aspects related to their link to other educational competencies. ICT has a transversal nature; that is, its existence makes sense as far as it supports and facilitates a more efficient or competitive way of performing activities and processes that lead to value generation. ICT competencies should, at the same time, make it possible to develop other competencies, so that the students reinforce their capacity to develop skills in certain specific areas, such as team work, leadership, problem-solving, etc., using the potential that ICT offers [START_REF] Llorens | The ICT skills gap in Spain: Industry expectations versus university preparation[END_REF].

Therefore, within Spanish universities' process of incorporation into the EHEA framework, this paper analyzes the competencies that internal and external agents to the university consider fundamental in guaranteeing the success of the educational process. For this purpose, it reviews recommendations and studies of a general nature in the European setting, as well as a specific study in the Spanish context. Finally, the paper examines a medium-sized Spanish public university, showing the results of a questionnaire completed by business management students on the use of ICT tools. The objective was to find out whether there was a relationship between students' rating of ICT and the development of other educational competencies. The results, although not generalizable, can offer a sort of guide to managing the development of key ICT competencies in the educational setting.

The paper begins with a review of the EHEA. Next, it presents a summary of some topics related to competencies in the educational setting, followed by a description of different studies related to the competencies that should be developed in higher education. Then the results are presented from a 2013 study about the perceptions of business management students from a Spanish university about the interest in the use of ICT in their knowledge field. Finally, some recommendations are proposed for making ICT competencies compatible with other educational competencies.

Conceptual Framework

The European Higher Education Area

The June 1999 Bologna Declaration opted for the creation, by 2010, of a European higher education area that would be compatible among all the signing countries. At the same time, it was supposed to be competitive, offering a high level of attraction for European students and those from other continents. The European education ministers determined six lines of action in Bologna, and three more were added in May 2001 in Prague:

1. Adoption of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees.

2. Adoption of a system essentially based on two main cycles (undergraduate and postgraduate studies). 3. Establishment of a system of credits. 4. Promotion of mobility. 5. Promotion of European cooperation in quality assurance. 6. Promotion of the European dimensions in higher education. 7. Promotion of lifelong learning. 8. Support to higher education institutions and students. 9. Promotion of the attractiveness of the European Higher Education Area. The guidelines would have to be refined to offer universities and higher education institutions in the signing countries a set of well-defined rules to assure homogeneity in the structure of higher education programs. The Bologna Declaration was an important landmark because it represented the will of the signing countries to advance in the construction of a common educational framework that would facilitate the free circulation of professionals through all the European Union countries. Thus, based on this framework, employers could know and compare the competencies acquired by the professionals they wanted to hire, regardless of their country of origin. However, although agreement on higher education was reached by the European Union and other neighboring areas, it has not yet been possible to create a common structure for primary and secondary education.

In order to develop the strategic lines established in the Bologna Declaration, a pilot study was carried out called "Tuning educational structures in Europe", launched in the year 2000, through the joint work of representatives from a large group of European universities [START_REF] Gonzalez | Tuning educational structures in Europe[END_REF]. Some of the objectives proposed were the establishment of a system of homogeneous and comparable degrees, the adoption of a system based on two cycles (undergraduate and postgraduate studies), with another one for specializing in research, and the establishment of a credit system as a reference to measure and compare the student's personal work during his/her training process. The project was designed to determine the generic and specific competencies students should acquire in different first and second cycle disciplines in a series of thematic areas: business studies, educational sciences, geology, history, mathematics, physics and chemistry. In sum, the competencies describe the learning results, that is, what a student knows or can demonstrate after completing a stage in his/her learning process. The competencies act as frames of reference for elaborating and evaluating study plans. Their purpose is to allow flexibility and autonomy in the elaboration of curricula, while introducing a common language to describe the study plans of the diverse higher education degree programmes. To draw conclusions from the Tuning project, questionnaires were elaborated that were filled out by 7,125 graduates, professors and business owners in 16 European countries.

Dublin descriptors

After the publication of the first conclusions of the Tuning Project, the Dublin descriptors were published. They consist of a set of generic competencies that make it possible to differentiate the skills and knowledge the students should have developed at the end of each cycle in the framework of studies adapted to the EHEA. They were defined by a group of international experts who called themselves the Joint Quality Initiative (JQI) and published their conclusions in 2004 [START_REF]Shared 'Dublin' descriptors for Short Cycle, First Cycle, Second Cycle and Third Cycle Awards[END_REF]. Five sets of criteria were established that would develop in different ways depending on the study cycle considered:

1. Acquiring knowledge and understanding.

2. Applying knowledge and understanding.

3. Making informed judgements and choices. 4. Communicating knowledge and understanding. 5. Capacities to continue learning. The sets of criteria are not exhaustive; instead, they are skills that must be developed at each higher education level, but to different degrees. They include: (i) the most basic, which is called the short cycle within the first cycle and refers to studies that take about 2 years; (ii) first-cycle studies, also called bachelor's degrees, with a duration of 3 to 4 years; (iii) second-cycle studies, which take 1 to 2 years and correspond to the master's degree; and, finally, (iv) third-cycle studies, or doctorates, with an estimated duration of 3 years. The Dublin descriptors are compatible with the agreements reached in the Tuning project. They complement and develop the definition of the competencies established in this project.

Tuning project explicitly establishes the development of skills in the use of information and communications technologies as a generic competence. That is, the importance of this tool is recognized, leaving more precise description for a second level the specific ICT competencies that must be acquired depending on the students' degree programme. In the first phase of the Tuning project, specific competencies were identified for each subject, reaching certain areas that were later broadened in new phases. The specific ICT competencies identified were the following:

• Art History: No specific competencies in ICT use. • Physics: Be able to perform calculations independently, even when a small [personal computer] PC or a large computer is needed, including capacity to utilize or develop computation systems or programmes for information processing, numerical calculus, simulation of physical processes, or control of experiments. As can be observed, some subjects do not have specific associated competencies in the use of ICT, and others are quite generic, in spite of being specific competencies. This information, although limited, offers a certain guide about what skills should be developed by the students. In order to examine the relative importance awarded by different agents to acquiring competencies in the use of ICT, reference will be made to two studies at the national and local levels. These studies, although reflecting the situation of only one country and area, can be quite useful.

Importance given to ICT Competencies

Coinciding with the beginning of the implementation of the EHEA in Spain, a report by Accenture was published on the professional competencies of Spanish university graduates [START_REF]Accenture: Las competencias profesionales en los titulados. Contraste y diálogo Universidad-Empresa [Graduates professional competencies[END_REF]. The purpose of this study was to find out the perceptions of the three most important agents in professional training and development, that is, companies, professors and students. The objective was to contrast the competencies that companies' human resources departments valued most in hiring professionals with what the professors thought the graduates should have. The students were the third element to be contrasted, through the identification of the competencies they value most. In all, 398 questionnaires were evaluated. Table 1 organizes the 16 most valued competencies the three types of agents were asked to rate, regarding their importance in the professional realm. Few significant differences can be seen in the ratings of some of the competencies, while in others the differences are noteworthy. This is the case with knowledge of a second language, which the students rated in last place for their professional activity compared to the opinion of the professors (8th place) and the human resources managers (5th place).

However, regarding the importance given to ICT competencies, the gap between graduates and firms was smaller (7th and 6th places, respectively), compared to the opinions of the professors, who rated it in 10th place. This report was limited to indicating that ICT is considered a necessary requisite for obtaining a job with a university degree and that the perception of firms' human resources departments is that computer use has improved considerably in recent years.

In addition, continuing within the Spanish territory, in 2009 a study was conducted on the most valued competencies in the specific socio-economic setting of Gran Canaria Island [START_REF]Social Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University: Analysis of most valued competencies in the specific socio-economic setting of Gran Canaria Island[END_REF]. This study was sponsored by the Social Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University. The Social Council is an organization that controls the university's functioning, and it is made up of a representation of social collectives and public institutions. The purpose of the study was to identify the priorities in the professional competencies of the graduates of this university, to find out whether they differed from those included in the Accenture report. The justification for the study was the possibility that the priorities regarding the most valued competencies for the professional activity would be different in these specific environmental conditions. Gran Canaria Island is located 1,300 kilometres from the Spanish coast; it has a population of 850,391 inhabitants [START_REF]INE: Informe Anual 2012[END_REF] and a surface area of 1,560 square kilometres. It has a specific socio-economic situation stemming from its distance from the European continent and the fact that its economy is mainly based on the services sector and more specifically, on tourism. The study was carried out using questionnaires sent to firms and local trade unions. The questionnaire was responded to by 45 human resources managers with people with university degrees as members of their staff and by 44 trade union representatives with jobs in firms and public organizations on the island. The questionnaire was sent to the trade union representatives due to the vision this collective could have of the professional setting, given that, although forming part of it, they might value the competencies differently from the way the human resources managers would. As in the Accenture report, the initial references were the 32 competencies identified in the Tuning project. Of these 32 competencies, the 16 most-valued ones were selected. Table 2 shows the results obtained, organized by priorities given to the different competencies evaluated. This table identifies those competencies for which there is agreement between the national and local reports on the responses to the questionnaires filled out by the firms (local trade unions representatives' responses are also compared with national managers' ones).

Yes

The table shows that the similarity between the 16 most-valued competencies in the two reports was about 50% in the case of the firms and 63% for the trade unions, which implies certain variations in the different perceptions on a national report compared to a local one. Regarding the position occupied by competence in handling ICT, the respondents from the firms put it in 11th place, while those belonging to trade unions put it in 8th place. For this competency, the differences between the three agents interviewed was not significant.

ICT Competencies: What Are They?

As can be observed, both the reports and the agents participating in the aforementioned studies coincide in highlighting the importance of acquiring competencies in ICT. Traditionally, ICT competencies have been defined as the ability to use the computer, peripheral equipment, operating system and software [START_REF] Moore | Curriculum for an engineering renaissance[END_REF].

Among the set of skills mentioned, it is understood that handling software refers to the use of applications related to basic tasks (e.g. office automation and browsers), as well as specific applications depending on the user's professional field. This vision of the ICT competencies has possibly become one of the most widely extended in the area of higher education. Currently, in the majority of the higher education institutions, when students begin their university studies, it is assumed that they have competencies in the use of the computer, peripheral equipment and the operating system. Based on this premise, it is common practice for university professors to require the students to know how to use the specific software related to the subject they teach. This type of learning has the obvious advantage of bringing the students closer to knowing and handling tools that they will probably in their professional lives. On the other hand, from the point of view of the professors, they can argue that they collaborate to develop a skill, the use of ICT, which is considered important in studies on higher education [START_REF] Evans | ECE curriculum in 2013 and beyond: Vision for a metropolitan public research university[END_REF].

However, this approach reiterates the model frequently repeated in higher education, according to which the teaching of a discipline is fragmented in subjects that are taught in an unconnected way. This means that the students acquire very specific knowledge and skills, but they do not develop the capacity to understand the interactions among them, losing the global view. Teaching specific software applications for each subject in an isolated way from other subjects can only strengthen the effect of fragmentation of knowledge.

As an alternative to this teaching approach, there is an argument for the usefulness of developing competence in using ICT by relating it to other learning competencies. This proposal would involve developing competencies in a combined way, that is, by promoting the development of ICT skills together with one or more of the other competencies proposed in international studies such as the Tuning project. This approach would facilitate the ability to use specific software, which, in turn, would lead to developing competencies such as teamwork, problem-solving, organizing and planning, initiative and entrepreneurship or the capacity to generate new ideas, among others. Obviously, combining capacities is not a simple process, given that certain types of software do not facilitate the development of capacities like those mentioned. However, this limitation can be overcome by integrating the software as part of a broader activity where the objective is not limited to the use of specific software, but rather includes the parallel development of other generic competencies. This proposal undoubtedly involves greater effort on the part of the professor and the students, who would probably have to dedicate more time to performing these types of tasks. The time these two agents have available, as well as other subjects that need the students' attention, can be an important inhibitor of this type of proposal. However, the present study proposes that the students, as leading actors in their own educational process, positively value learning based on competencies that are valued in the job market. Therefore, this paper establishes the following research hypothesis: University students will more positively rate activities involving the combination of ICT competencies with others of a more generic nature than activities that require the development of competencies focused exclusively on ICT use.

Method

To contrast the proposed hypothesis, a questionnaire was given to students in the fourth and last year of the business management study plan. The study plan followed by the students is characterized by the traditional approach of fragmenting knowledge into subjects in the form of isolated compartments. The questionnaire was responded to in May 2013 by the 41 students present in the classroom on the last day of instruction. The subject they were enrolled in called 'Decision and Simulation Models', an optional subject with a transversal nature. The course highlighted the importance of contemplating a firm's decision-making as a coherent set of decisions that can affect all the functional areas, at the same time that both the short and medium term are considered in the temporal horizon of decision-making. There is an intensive use of simulation models and tools, with the computer playing a key role, which means that all the sessions are carried out in the computer room.

During the 2013 course, the teaching was structured with a competitive business game as the main thread. The students were grouped in teams of 3. The teams competed with each other to obtain the best result on an indicator of the performance of the company they managed. The teams' incentives on this activity were the desire to win and become the best decision-makers in the class, and the chance to obtain up to 5% of the final grade for the best positioned team at the end of the competitive game. Moreover, using the setting proposed by the business game as a reference, as well as the characteristics of the company the students had to manage, the groups were asked to elaborate other activities, all of them based on the use of ICT. All of the activities were related to modelling and decision-making. In summary, the activities requested from the students consisted of:

• Assignment 1: Create a conceptual model, using software for representing conceptual maps, of the functioning pattern and structure of the business game in which the group participates. • Assignment 2: Construct, using a spreadsheet, a quantitative decision-making support tool that would be useful for making decisions in the company managed by the group in the business game. • Assignment 3: Diagnose the competitive situation of the company being managed in the business game and make a strategic plan for it using software for strategic planning. • Assignment 4: Model and simulate, using systems dynamics software, the results forecast in any variable (e.g. benefits, personnel, savings, etc.) of one of the strategies proposed by the students for the company in the business game. • Assignment 5: Manage a virtual company using competitive business game software. Table 3 shows the link between the proposed activities and the general competencies described in the Tuning project to be developed in higher education. As can be observed, the 5th activity included a greater number of generic learning competencies. Several of these activities were those most highly rated by the students in the results of the Tuning project (see Table 1). the activities on a 5-point Likert scale. Table 4 shows the means and standard deviation values obtained for the different activities. All the assignments were highly valued. The table shows that the most highly rated activity was the business game (5th assignment). To find out whether the value reached was significant compared to the score obtained for the other activities, a paired t-test was carried out between the business game activity and each of the other activities. The results, shown in Table 5, yielded significant differences at 99% (p-value=0.000). These results may well show that the students, aware of the competencies they have to develop to prepare for their entrance in the job market, positively value both the ICT applications that develop specific competencies and those that develop general ones.

Implications for the Educational Management of ICT

Managers of higher education face the dilemma of which ICT competencies the students have to develop. There is still some lack of definition about which ICT competencies the students need, not only in their specialized field, but also in light of new issues and requirements in the modern world and in the job market. Throughout

  • Business: (a) identify and operate adequate software; (b) design and implement information systems. • Chemistry: Skill at using modern computer and communication techniques applied to chemistry. • Earth Sciences: No specific competencies in ICT use. • Education: Ability to make use of e-learning and to integrate it into the learning environment. • History: Ability to use computer and Internet resources and techniques for elaborating historical or related data (using, for example, statistical or cartographic methods, or creating databases). • Linguistics: No specific competencies in ICT use.

• Mathematics: (a) ability to use computational tools of numerical and symbolic calculations for posing and solving problems; (b) knowledge of specific programming languages or software.

• Nursing: Demonstrate the ability to use modern technologies to assess and respond appropriately to patient/client need (for example through telenursing, multimedia and web resources).

Table 1 :

 1 Competencies defined by the Tuning Project according to the priority given to them by different agents in a national study. Source: adapted from Accenture[START_REF]Accenture: Las competencias profesionales en los titulados. Contraste y diálogo Universidad-Empresa [Graduates professional competencies[END_REF]

	ACADEMIC	COMPANIES	GRADUATES
	1 Determination and	Determination and	Ability to evaluate and
	perseverance in the	perseverance in the tasks	maintain the quality of
	tasks given and	given and responsibilities	work produced
	responsibilities taken	taken
	2 Ability to adapt to and	Ability to adapt to and	Ability to plan and
	act in new situations	act in new situations	manage time
	3 Ability to communicate	Interpersonal and	Interpersonal and
	both orally and through	interaction skills	interaction skills
	the written word in first
	language
	4 Ability to evaluate and	Ability to evaluate and	Ability to adapt to and
	maintain the quality of	maintain the quality of	act in new situations
	work produced	work produced
	5 Ability to plan and	Ability to communicate	Ability to identify, pose
	manage time	in a second language	and resolve problems
	6 Ability for abstract	Skills in the use of	Determination and
	thinking, analysis and	information and	perseverance in the
	synthesis	communications	tasks given and
		technologies	responsibilities taken
	7 Interpersonal and	Spirit of enterprise,	Skills in the use of
	interaction skills	ability to take initiative	information and
			communications
			technologies
	8 Ability to communicate	Ability to communicate	Ability to work
	in a second language	both orally and through	autonomously
		the written word in first
		language

Table 2 :

 2 Competencies defined by the Tuning project according to priority assigned by different agents in a study on Gran Canaria[START_REF]Social Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University: Analysis of most valued competencies in the specific socio-economic setting of Gran Canaria Island[END_REF]

		COMPANIES	Coincidence	UNIONS	Coincidence
	1	Determination and	Yes	Ability to apply	No
		perseverance in the		knowledge in
		tasks given and		practical situations
		responsibilities taken
	2	Ability to apply	No	Knowledge and	No
		knowledge in practical		understanding of
		situations		the subject area and
				understanding of
				the profession
	3	Spirit of enterprise,	Yes	Ability to	Yes
		ability to take initiative		communicate both
				orally and through
				the written word in
				first language
	4	Capacity to generate	Yes	Capacity to learn	No
		new ideas (creativity)		and stay up-to-date
				with learning
	5	Interpersonal and	Yes	Ability to identify,	Yes
		interaction skills		pose and resolve
				problems
	6	Capacity to learn and	No	Ability to work in a	Yes
		stay up-to-date with		team
		learning
	7	Ability to work in an	No	Ability to plan and	Yes
		international context		manage time
	8	Ability to be critical	No	Skills in the use of	Yes
		and self-critical		information and
				communications
				technologies

Table 4 :

 4 Means and standard deviation values obtained by the different activities

		DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
		N	Mean	Std. Deviation
	Assignment 1	39	3.5385	.75555
	Assignment 2	40	3.9250	.97106
	Assignment 3	39	3.8974	.75376
	Assignment 4	41	3.2439	1.09042
	Assignment 5	40	4.5500	.59700
	Valid N (listwise)	33

Table 5 :

 5 Paired t-tests between the business game activity and each of the other assignments

	PAIRED SAMPLES TEST
		T	df	Sig. (2-tailed)
	Pair 1 Assignment 1-Assignment 5	-6.812	36	.000
	Pair 2 Assignment 2-Assignment 5	-3.321	37	.002
	Pair 3 Assignment 3-Assignment 5	-4.789	36	.000
	Pair 4 Assignment 4-Assignment 5	-7.514	38	.000

The Role of ICT Competencies in the EHEAAs explained above, the competencies represent a dynamic combination of knowledge, understanding, skills and abilities. In the area of ICT, the development of competencies is the key to establishing standards that make it possible to measure the degree of adaptation to educational objectives. Clearly and coherently defining competencies is extremely important for facilitating the educators' task. The ICT field is constantly evolving, with technologies that emerge and then become outdated in very short periods of time. The life cycle of all the ICT-related products is, on average, shorter than that of any other technology[START_REF] Laudon | Management Information systems: managing the digital firm[END_REF]. For this reason, the students' acquisition of fundamental knowledge and skills that are not dependent on the ICT available at any given time becomes a continual challenge for educators in this field.In this sense, reports like the Tuning project or the Dublin descriptors do not shed much light on which competencies must be developed in the specific area of ICT. The

this paper we have proposed an approach that would relate ICT competencies with more generic ones associated with the educational process. For this purpose, based on generic competencies defined in highly respected international reports, it is advisable to identify the most relevant ones in the specific socio-economic environment in which the teaching-learning process takes place. Then, people responsible for educational management could propose that ICT competencies be taught under an integrating prism that not only develops specific competencies related to the students' future professional field, but also more general competencies that companies and organizations offering jobs consider necessary in university students' training.