Abstract:

A 21st century leadership challenge is how to model the effective use of digital technologies to enhance student learning. Little is known regarding whether or not preservice teachers see this modeling in their teacher preparation programs and value it. This study is intended to begin to address this gap in the literature. Preservice teachers also may value aspects of their program during the program, but their perceptions of what is valuable in preservice education may change once they are out in the field. To evaluate teacher graduates’ perceptions of preservice, this study follows a model proposed by Darling-Hammond (2006) at Stanford. For the purposes of the study described here, five cohort years of teacher graduates were asked to complete a survey identifying the most significant aspects of their program and why these were the most significant. The survey contained both Likert-scale and open-ended responses. Two hundred teacher graduates completed the survey, indicating that they valued the technology-supported aspects of their learning more than other aspects of their program. Survey respondents were then contacted for follow up interviews and the quantitative and qualitative data from the surveys and from the interviews provide rich a rich data source and shed some light on how teacher graduates perceive that technology supported their transitions into teaching.
Canadian faculties of education use diverse models for ICT integration. In some, technology is taught as a separate course. In the specific teacher education program reviewed here, preservice teachers were offered a technology course and in addition, technology was applied to subject-specific learning in all courses. All preservice teachers were assigned the same hardware (laptop) and software for their one-year program. Technology is clearly stated as one of goals of the preservice program, and it is an expectation that all professors model the use technology for learning. The teacher education building provides ubiquitous wireless access, and a learning management system is used for a-synchronous digital access to learning materials.
Ertmer (2005) outlines first and second order barriers to teachers’ use of technology. First-order barriers include lack of access to the technology, and second-order barriers include lack of exposure to technology-supported learning, as well as beliefs about technology that inhibit teacher use. Most of the preservice teachers did not use significant digital technologies for learning in elementary, secondary and undergraduate studies. One of the hurdles that a technology-focused program must address, then is changing beliefs about the efficacy of digital technology for learning. The findings of this study indicate that preservice teacher beliefs about technology for learning change when the technology is modeled for transformative purposes (Hughes, 2005) in the context of subject-specific teaching.

References:
Darling-Hammond, L. (2006). Constructing 21st-century teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 57(3), 300-314.
Ertmer, P. A. (2005). Teacher pedagogical beliefs: The final frontier in our quest for technology integration? Educational Technology Research and Development, 53(4), 41-56.
Hughes, J. E. (2005). The role of teacher knowledge and learning experiences in forming technology-integrated pedagogy. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 13, 277–302.

Keywords:

Preservice education, digital technologies, transformative education.