DIGITAL LIBRARY
SECOND TIME AROUND. NOVICE TEACHERS' COMPLEX JOURNEY TOWARDS ICT PROFICIENCY
University of Johannesburg (SOUTH AFRICA)
About this paper:
Appears in: ICERI2013 Proceedings
Publication year: 2013
Page: 2548 (abstract only)
ISBN: 978-84-616-3847-5
ISSN: 2340-1095
Conference name: 6th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation
Dates: 18-20 November, 2013
Location: Seville, Spain
Abstract:
The education profession requires newly qualified teachers to be of a caliber that demonstrates quality, relevance and high standards in terms of pedagogical integration of ICT into the curriculum. Every year approximately 800 first year pre-service teachers enroll for a teaching qualification at the University of Johannesburg where they are expected to complete a bespoke course aimed to equip these future teachers with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to assimilate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into their everyday practice. Allocated class time is not used for teaching the basic computer skills but learning activities are designed to gently scaffold their learning journey, taking into consideration their diverse skill levels and lack of prior exposure to ICT. A surprising 48% of the cohort reports not having any prior experience with traditional ICT before commencing their studies with a further 16% being introduced to ICTs in the last 3 years. Throughout their initial year, students new to the world of teaching and learning with ICTs are taken on a journey to explore the affordances that these technologies offer to learning. Not all students were successful in achieving the course objectives and therefore enrolled for a second year. This paper reports on the progress of this group of struggling students and in particular on their conceptions of internet safety and risky online behaviour as captured in their recollections and learning activities submitted. Data consists of a questionnaire that was completed online that consisted of open and closed questions that measured their personal opinions regarding technology use in education, self-perceived competencies related to technology use and their daily ICT habits. In addition, data from their completed learning activities over the last two years were compared to track their progress. Initial findings indicate that their academic journey is hampered not only by their lack of technical skill but also to a large extent impeded by their lack of cognitive and conceptual understanding of using new technologies in the classroom for teaching and learning practices. We further also expand on how students were confronted with their own stereotypical and narrow view of learning and somewhat archaic mental models that are still deeply rooted in behaviourism.
Keywords:
Novice teachers, ICT competencies, mental models, pre-service teachers.