Research Article

Addressing the challenges associated with LaTeX professional development in Ghanaian higher education: Mathematics students’ perspectives

Ebenezer Kwesi Lotey 1 * , Ebenezer Bonyah 1 , Francis Ohene Boateng 1
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1 Department of Mathematics Education, Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development, Kumasi, GHANA* Corresponding Author
Contemporary Mathematics and Science Education, 6(1), January 2025, ep25007, https://doi.org/10.30935/conmaths/16114
Submitted: 17 November 2024, Published: 11 March 2025
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ABSTRACT

Technology professional development (TPD) is crucial for educators, IT professionals, and other technology users to keep up with rapidly evolving technological landscapes. Pre-service teacher TPD programs aim to equip future educators with knowledge and skills needed to utilize innovation effectively in their instruction. During TPD initiatives, different challenges may arise causing inconvenience during the program. This study is therefore geared towards exploring the challenges students faced during a LaTeX professional development program in one of the universities in Ghana and to provide possible enablers for improving the training. 222 students were sampled for the quantitative data and 25 students were divided into 5 different focus groups for qualitative data. Quantitative data was gathered from an online survey questionnaire while the qualitative data was structured interview. Descriptive statistics was used for the quantitative aspect of the study and the inductive thematic analysis approach was used for the qualitative data. The results from the survey show that insufficient time, large class sizes, and inadequate technological tools were the main challenges students encountered during the LaTeX training. Participants recommended that LaTeX should be taught as a single course, more budget allocation to the computer lab, decrease the number of students in the lab as well as students’ evaluation of the LaTeX application software should be practical.
Keywords: challenges, ICT professional development, Ghanian higher education, pre-service mathematics teachers, LaTeX

CITATION (APA)

Lotey, E. K., Bonyah, E., & Boateng, F. O. (2025). Addressing the challenges associated with LaTeX professional development in Ghanaian higher education: Mathematics students’ perspectives. Contemporary Mathematics and Science Education, 6(1), ep25007. https://doi.org/10.30935/conmaths/16114

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