Technological Literacy Courses in Pre-Service Teacher Education

Abstract

The goal of this study was to determine to what extent technological literacy courses were required in K-12 teacher education. A documents review of the appropriate course catalogs for initial teacher preparation was conducted. The documents review identified general education requirements and options for technological literacy courses, as well as requirements and options for these courses for English, social studies, mathematics, and science education majors. For this study, technological literacy was defined as “the ability to use, manage, assess, and understand technology” (ITEA, 2000/2002/2007, p. 9). This definition of literacy is broader than technology literacy associated with computer use and instructional technology, as well as courses limited to the history or philosophy of technology. A finding from this study is that there is very little exposure to technological literacy courses for prospective K-12 teachers. This may be due in part to the confusion between instructional technology literacy and technological literacy.