Two-Way Mirror: Technology-Rich K–8 and Teacher Education Programs

Abstract

Teacher education programs must continue to find greater parallels between the experiences provided to teacher candidates and what is occurring in classrooms. In this article, we describe technology use in schools, our courses, and our students' field experiences. Specifically, we describe the results of our efforts to mirror our teacher education program with what is technologically happening in schools. By modeling technology integration in our course work (based on what we observed in schools) and by collaborating with technologyrich classrooms and teachers, we found that teacher candidates became natural users of technology in their student teaching. We also found a need to continue seeking support and resources to provide adequate access to technology, as well as the opportunity to apply what is learned. As teacher educators, we must continue to consider the role that technology plays as we strive to best prepare teachers for 21st-century learning environments.

K-12 art teacher technology use and preparation

“…Since some of the teachers went through their programs more recently, newer technologies and more readily accessible internet resources would be available, which could mean other factors are at play. This could suggest that technology integration courses need to either model more examples of technology integration for future art teachers, bring in specific examples of how local art teachers are using technology in their classrooms ( Donovan and Green, 2009 ), a specific technology integration course solely for art teachers could be implemented to allow for greater focus on art classroom applications, provide service-learning opportunities ( Jia et al., 2017 ), and/or more modeling may be necessary within art and art education courses to help future art teachers to see more examples and have their entrenched beliefs about the use of technology in the art classroom challenged ( Ertmer and Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010 ; Marner and Örtegren, 2013 ).…”

“…Past experiments have included focusing on teaching integration strategies using a project-based approach ( Marra, 2004 ) or having the course be more focused on technology skills and linked to specific field experiences ( Brush et al., 2003 ). Other experiments have included focusing on the specific technologies being used in area schools ( Donovan and Green, 2009 ) or redesigning the course around 21 st Century Skills (e.g. collaboration, communication, critical thinking, media literacy) instead of focusing on technical skill development ( Lambert and Gong, 2010 ).…”

One-to-One Laptop Teacher Education

“…Monroe & Tolman, 2004), faculty need to be men to red through the process of being involved (Donovan & Green, 2010). Other literature focuses on implementation logistics (e.g., Donovan & Green, 2009;Resta & LeBeoufTothero, 2002). What is missing from the literature is a systematic discussion of candidate technology outcomes in the different models.…”

“…What we can learn from this and apply in teacher education programs is the implementation logistics of facilitating a 1:1 laptop program. Donovan and Green (2009) discuss how aligning a 1:1 teacher education program with a K -8 1:1 program allowed for teacher candidates to see the technology they were learning about and using in c~mrsework being applied in authentic learning situations in K-8 classrooms. We continue (and encourage others) to examine more specifically how the laptops were used in each course and whether there was transfer of use across courses independent of instructor.…”