Exploring Teachers' Lived Experiences and Phenomenological Insights on Technology Integration in Traditional Classrooms
Main Article Content
Abstract
The integration of technology into traditional classrooms has become an essential focus in modern education. However, little research has delved into the subjective, emotional, and practical experiences of teachers as they incorporate these digital tools into their teaching practices. This gap leaves a significant understanding of how technology is truly affecting educators at an experiential level. In this study, we apply a phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of teachers who use technology in traditional classrooms, addressing the gap in understanding the emotional and cognitive aspects of this process. We conducted in-depth interviews with ten teachers (5 male and 5 female) from primary and secondary schools with teaching experience ranging from 5 to 20 years, which revealed four key themes: navigating technological barriers, emotional responses to technology, perceived benefits, and the need for support. Data were analyzed using Colaizzi’s seven-step phenomenological analysis, including transcription, extraction of significant statements, formulation of meanings, clustering into themes, and validation with participants. The findings emphasize that while technology brings benefits, such as increased engagement, it also presents challenges, including technical difficulties and emotional stress. The study highlights practical implications for designing professional development programs that not only build technical proficiency but also provide psychological and institutional support. However, the study is limited by its small sample size and focus on a specific regional context, which may affect the generalizability of the results. These insights suggest that a more holistic approach, including emotional support for teachers, is needed to successfully integrate technology into teaching practices. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of how educators make sense of their experiences with technology and offers implications for future professional development and policy design.
Article Details
Section
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
Abramowitz, B., Antonenko, P. D., Ennes, M., & Killingsworth, S. (2025). A Narrative Inquiry into Teacher Efficacy for Teaching Climate Science with Technology in a Scientist-Teacher Partnership Program. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 34(3), 582–593. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-024-10169-x
Al-Dein Al-Zebdyah, S. W. (2022). English Language Teachers’ Perceptions about Design Thinking. Journal of Curriculum and Teaching, 11(4), 97–107. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.5430/jct.v11n4p97
Amador, J. M., Wallin, A., Keehr, J., & Chilton, C. (2023). Collective noticing: Teachers’ experiences and reflection on a mathematics video club. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 35(3), 557–582. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-021-00403-9
Bice, H., & Tang, H. (2023). A Longitudinal Qualitative Study on Teachers’ Technology Barriers to Distance Learning: A School for Students with Dyslexia. Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange, 16(1), 1–23. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.18785/jetde.1601.01
Byun, S., & Jeon, L. (2023). Early Childhood Teachers’ Work Environment, Perceived Personal Stress, and Professional Commitment in South Korea. Child and Youth Care Forum, 52(5), 1019–1039. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-022-09722-9
Cann, R. F., Riedel-Prabhakar, R., & Powell, D. (2021). A Model of Positive School Leadership to Improve Teacher Wellbeing. International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, 6(2), 195–218. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41042-020-00045-5
Carpenter, D., & Munshower, P. (2020). Broadening borders to build better schools: Virtual professional learning communities. International Journal of Educational Management, 34(2), 296–314. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-09-2018-0296
Cherrington, S., Cooper, K., & Shuker, M. J. (2021). Beyond Invisibility: Early Childhood Teachers’ Inclusion of Rainbow Families. Early Childhood Education Journal, 49(6), 1099–1111. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-020-01121-w
Choi, S., & Lee, S. W. (2020). Enhancing Teacher Self-Efficacy in Multicultural Classrooms and School Climate: The Role of Professional Development in Multicultural Education in the United States and South Korea. AERA Open, 6(4). Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858420973574
Colwell, J., Hutchison, A., Gutierrez, K., Offutt, J., & Evmenova, A. (2024). Elementary teachers’ experiences in online professional development for literacy-focused computer science instruction for all learners. Computer Science Education, 34(3), 546–565. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1080/08993408.2023.2263831
Cronin, L., Greenfield, R., & Maher, A. (2023). A Qualitative Investigation of Teachers’ Experiences of Life Skills Development in Physical Education. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 15(6), 789–804. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2023.2222774
Dalim, S. F., Azliza, N. Z. M., Ibrahim, N., Zulkipli, Z. A., & Yusof, M. M. M. (2019). Digital storytelling for 21st century learning: A study on pre-service teachers’ perception. Asian Journal of University Education, 15(3), 226–234. Scopus.
Dzemidzic Kristiansen, S. (2022). Exploring pupils’ and teachers’ perspectives on face-to-face promotive interaction in cooperative learning. Education 3-13, 50(1), 54–69. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2020.1833060
ElSayary, A., Kuhail, M. A., & Hojeij, Z. (2025). Examining the Role of Prompt Engineering in Utilizing Generative AI Tools for Lesson Planning: Insights From Teachers’ Experiences and Perceptions. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 2025(1). Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1155/hbe2/9986139
Fife, W. (2020). Counting as a Qualitative Method: Grappling with the Reliability Issue in Ethnographic Research (p. 140). Springer International Publishing; Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34803-8
Forrester, S. H. (2019). Community Engagement in Music Education: Preservice Music Teachers’ Perceptions of an Urban Service-Learning Initiative. Journal of Music Teacher Education, 29(1), 26–40. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1177/1057083719871472
Hasnain, S., & Halder, S. (2023). Exploring the impediments for successful implementation of the task-based language teaching approach: A review of studies on teachers’ perceptions. Language Learning Journal, 51(2), 208–222. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2021.1989015
Hunt, J., Taub, M., Duarte, A., Bentley, B., Womack-Adams, K., Marino, M., Holman, K., & Kuhlman, A. (2023). Elementary Teachers’ Perceptions and Enactment of Supplemental, Game-Enhanced Fraction Intervention. Education Sciences, 13(11). Scopus. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13111071
Iipinge, K., & Huddlestone, K. (2023). English lingua franca as a language of learning and teaching in northern Namibia: A report on Oshiwambo teachers’ experiences. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 41(3), 280–297. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2022.2127412
Javid, Z. S., Nazeer, Z., Sewani, R., & Laghari, A. (2023). Effect of using mobile devices as an instructional tool on teachers’ creativity: An interpretive phenomenological study of Pakistani teachers’ experiences. Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, 18(3), 292–305. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAOUJ-01-2023-0011
Jovanović, R., & Marić, D. (2020). Controversy in the classroom: How history teachers in the Western Balkans approach difficult topics? Journal of Curriculum Studies, 52(5), 636–653. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2020.1780326
Keller-Schneider, M., Zhong, H. F., & Yeung, A. S. (2020). Competence and challenge in professional development: Teacher perceptions at different stages of career. Journal of Education for Teaching, 46(1), 36–54. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2019.1708626
Kim, S., & Choi, J. (2024). English Teachers’ Post-COVID-19 Adoption of Digital Textbooks and Their Prospects for Future Learning Platforms and Textbook Formats. Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics, 24, 689–707. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.24..202407.689
Köse, A., & Köse, F. (2019). An analysis of teachers’ perception of organizational silence in terms of various demographic variables. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 7(2), 307–317. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2019.070201
Lima, N., Viegas, C., & Garcia-Penalvo, F. J. (2019). Different Didactical Approaches Using a Remote Lab: Identification of Impact Factors. Revista Iberoamericana de Tecnologias Del Aprendizaje, 14(3), 76–86. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1109/RITA.2019.2942256
Lomelí, K., Perez, G., Taube, J., & Lomelí, R. S. (2024). ‘But You Are Changing Everything I know!’ Teachers’ Views of Pedagogical Change: A Case Study of a Literacy Intervention with Immigrant-Origin Latinx Students. Journal of Latinos and Education, 23(5), 1817–1832. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2024.2333898
Maué, E., Goller, M., Bonnes, C., & Kärner, T. (2024). Between Trust and Ambivalence: How Does Trainee Teachers’ Perception of the Relationship With Their Mentors Explain How Trainee Teachers Experience Their Work? Vocations and Learning, 17(2), 219–251. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-023-09340-z
Mohebi, L., & Bailey, F. (2020). Exploring Bem’s self-perception theory in an educational context. Encyclopaideia, 24(58), 1–10. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1825-8670/9891
Nida, S., Rahayu, S., & Eilks, I. (2020). A survey of Indonesian science teachers’ experience and perceptions toward socio-scientific issues-based science education. Education Sciences, 10(2). Scopus. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10020039
Noonan, J. (2019). An Affinity for Learning: Teacher Identity and Powerful Professional Development. Journal of Teacher Education, 70(5), 526–537. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487118788838
Poole, A. (2025). Accountability with Chinese characteristics: Exploring foreign teachers’ experiences of curriculum reform in international schools in China. Journal of Education Policy, 40(4), 647–666. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2025.2474939
Shamir-Inbal, T., & Blau, I. (2021). Facilitating Emergency Remote K-12 Teaching in Computing-Enhanced Virtual Learning Environments During COVID-19 Pandemic—Blessing or Curse? Journal of Educational Computing Research, 59(7), 1243–1271. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735633121992781
Shlowiy, A. A., & Layali, K. (2023). EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of a Long Shift to Online Learning in a Saudi University during the Coronavirus Pandemic. Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition, 9(1). Scopus. https://doi.org/10.31261/TAPSLA.12096
Spiteri, D., & Sang, G. (2019). A comparison of student teachers’ perceptions of school placement experience in Malta and China Compare. Compare, 49(6), 888–904. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2018.1471342
Sungurtekin, S. (2021). Classroom and music teachers’ perceptions about the development of imagination and creativity in primary music education. Journal of Pedagogical Research, 5(3), 164–186. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPR.2021371364
Van Wyk, G., & De Beer, J. (2019). Bridging the Theory–Practice Divide: Life Sciences Student Teachers’ Perceptions of Teaching in Communities of Practice at a Teaching School. African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 23(3), 276–285. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1080/18117295.2019.1658454
Willermark, S., & Gellerstedt, M. (2022). Facing Radical Digitalization: Capturing Teachers’ Transition to Virtual Classrooms Through Ideal Type Experiences. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 60(6), 1351–1372. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1177/07356331211069424
Wyant, J. D., Olsen, E. B., Towner, B., Keath, A., Huang, J., Meeteer, W., Tsuda, E., & Burneisen, L. (2024). Elementary physical education teachers’ perceptions of socializing agents during the COVID-19 pandemic. European Physical Education Review, 30(2), 302–320. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1177/1356336X231205466
Yaşar, M. Ö., & Polat, M. (2021). A MOOC-based flipped classroom model: Reflecting on pre-service english language teachers’ experience and perceptions. Participatory Educational Research, 8(4), 103–123. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.17275/PER.21.81.8.4
Yazici, S. Ç., & Nakıboğlu, C. (2024). Examining experienced chemistry teachers’ perception and usage of virtual labs in chemistry classes: A qualitative study using the technology acceptance model 3. Education and Information Technologies, 29(4), 4337–4370. Scopus. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-11985-1