Abstract:

One of the most significant current discussions in the field of education is the rapidly changing world around us. The critical question facing educators is: what are we going to do to prepare our students to face the future, skilled enough to be ready for its needs? Understanding 21st century pedagogic, knowledge and skills are in a central part of teachers’ professional development. So far, however, there have only been a few discussions about teacher education and its role in this changing process.

As Halinen (2014) states the world in which schools operates, has undergone major changes since the beginning of the 2000s, increasing the impact of globalization and the challenges for a sustainable future. Competencies needed in society and working life have changed, requiring skills for building a sustainable future. Content of teaching, pedagogy and school practices should be reviewed and renewed in relation to the changes in the operating environment and skills. Teacher education is facing a challenge to find answers to questions such as what kind of skills will teachers and other school members require being able to work so as to promote education and learning for the future.

The iPad-education, or tablet education generally, is perhaps the most talked-about phenomenon in education at the moment. However, there is still only a few concrete research on how the iPad is used in the classroom and learning generally, nevertheless teachers are encouraged to use tablets in learning and teaching without fully considering how they should be used.

This article focuses on pre-service teachers´ manners of approach to use iPads in the beginning of Primary School Teacher studies in January 2014 in Adult Teacher Education in Kokkola University Consortium Chydenius. The first measurement, represented in this article, was made in the beginning of the studies. The study results will indicate the starting level of students as both producers and consumers of information, from the point of view of iPad use.

Keywords:

Teacher education, iPad-pedagogy, Contextual-pedagogical learning, 21st Century CSPCK.