Traditional and (or) new media: teachers' work experience and application of media in schools

Intensive use of new media in schools significantly affects the modernization, quality and development of the educational process, especially the teaching activities. However, the use of media in schools is mainly conditioned by several factors, among which are: the attitudes of teachers, their personal opinions on the media tools, and their level of skills for media use. Among the factors influencing the preferences of teachers, especially when it comes to implementing new or traditional media, is the experience of teachers. In line with this, the central issue and the main goal of this paper are to examine the correlation between the years of service of teachers and application of traditional or modern media in school. The starting hypothesis is that teachers with more years of experience prefer the use of traditional media (radio and television), while the younger part of the population of teachers is more directed towards the use of new media, especially the Internet. The work is part of a broader research, which used a sample of teachers from Central and Southern Serbia. The main instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire, which consisted of 32 questions. For the purpose of this paper, items that relate to the use of traditional and modern media were analyzed. Research results confirmed the initial hypothesis and showed that there are statistically significant differences in the attitudes of teachers towards the implementation of the media in relation to their years of work experience. The hypothesis that teachers with fewer years of work experience gladly use the Internet and new media, while older teachers rather use traditional media in teaching, was confirmed. Research findings suggest the need for systematic training of teachers, especially of those with more years of employment, enabling them in the use of modern media resources at the school.