Integrating technology in a field-based teacher training program: The PT3@ASU project

Abstract

The Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) initiative has funded various efforts to improve and enhance the technology preparation of preservice teachers. At Arizona State University, these efforts have focused on providing preservice teachers with opportunities to develop, implement, and evaluate their own instructional activities that utilize technology effectively and appropriately in authentic situations, to give them the myriad of tools necessary to integrate technology into teaching and learning activities. This paper focuses on the integration of these efforts into the field-based elementary education program, and discusses our formative evaluation of the field-based technology integration model, through the following questions: What are the preliminary successes of the model with regard to student perceptions, attitudes, and integration of technology into instructional activities? and What components of the model require additions or modifications?The Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) initiative has funded various efforts to improve and enhance the technology preparation of preservice teachers. Many of these efforts have focused on supporting education faculty, others have concentrated primarily on preservice teachers, and still others have developed repositories of resources for dissemination. However, these initiatives have not occurred in isolation. After publication of the Office of Technology Assessment (1995) national report, Teachers and Technology: Making the Connection, many colleges and universities began examining more effective means for technology preparation. This report examined schools' technological capabilities, barriers to student learning via technology, and teachers' current preparedness for technology integration. The report concluded that, "Despite technologies available in schools, a substantial number of teachers report little or no use of computers for instruction" (p. 1). The report also stated that teachers still struggle with integrating technology into the curriculum, and attributed much of this to inadequate training: "Most teachers have not had adequate training to prepare them to use technology effectively in teaching . . . On average, districts devote no more than 15 per- (Schrum, 1999;Strudler & Wetzel, 1999;Topp, Mortensen, & Grandgenett, 1995). This lack of support leads teachers to use technology for low-level, supplemental tasks such as drill and practice activities, word processing, educational games, and computer-based tutorials (Strudler & Wetzel, 1999;Willis, Thompson, & Sadera, 1999). As Abdal-Haqq (1995) stated, " [F]ew teachers routinely use computer-based technologies for instructional purposes" (p. 1).Inadequate instruction and support for technology integration is not an issue only with K-12 teachers; research has demonstrated that technology preparation provided by teacher training institutions to preservice teachers with regard to technology has similar problems. In a review of the literature related to technology and t...

Exploring Teachers Perceptions of Web-Based Learning Tools

“…actual classroom use, as there are still reports of limited access to technology (e.g., Bartlett, 2002;Brush et al, 2003;Russell et al, 2003).…”

Investigating the Use of Learning Objects for Secondary School Mathematics

“…Educators face a number of challenges when attempting to use technology in their classrooms including the amount of time required (Eifler, Greene, & Carroll, 2001;Wepner, Ziomek, & T ao, 2003), having to work with limited technological skills (Eifler et al, 2001;Strudler, Archambault, Bendixen, Anderson, & Weiss, 2003;T hompson, Schmidt, & Davis, 2003), fear of technology (Bullock, 2004;Doering, Hughes, & Huffman., 2003), difficulty in understanding how to integrate technology into teaching (Cuban, 2001), and insufficient access (Bartlett, 2002;Brush et al, 2003;Russell et al, 2003).…”

Towards a TPACK-fostering ICT instructional process for teachers: Lessons from the implementation of interactive whiteboard instruction

“…Teacher educators have reported successful methodologies for instructing pre-service teachers about ICT integration practices even before the conceptualization of TPACK (e.g. Brush et al, 2003). Their influences on teachers' TPACK, if examined thoroughly, can potentially enrich the practical use of the TPACK framework towards teacher ICT development.…”

“…Before the conception of TPACK, a considerable number of studies have discussed programme-wide strategies to strengthen teachers' confidence in ICT integration. These studies largely concluded the need for teacher education curricula to provide pervasive faculty modelling of technology integration practices, hands-on ICT lesson design activities, and ICT field-based practicum (Brush, et al, 2003;Handler, 1993;Strudler & Wetzel, 1999). The TPACK framework extends these studies because it suggests a theoretical basis for teacher educators to measure the outcomes of ICT courses, which, in earlier studies were largely centred upon building teachers' confidence for ICT integration.…”