Toward a pedagogy of educational technology for teacher education programs

Abstract

A pedagogy of educational technology is necessary before the field can join the current educational reform movement. This two-part descriptive study investigated the current needs of pre-service teachers and the current practices of early adopters of technology integration in methods of teaching courses. The goal was to develop a list of guidelines and recommendations for teacher education programs, and to lead the field of educational technology toward a widely accepted pedagogy. The first part of the study, dealing with course content, was a survey of 180 pre-service teachers concerning their technology skills with respect to the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers prior to any formal instruction. Through a principal components analysis, the six standards were reduced to three components: (1) Classroom-Specific Teacher Skills, (2) Professional Development and Curriculum Planning, (3) Routine Applications and Basic Operations. These components were ranked in terms of the content most urgently needed by the pre-service teachers. The second part of the study used the constant comparative method to analyze a series of interviews with four instructors of secondary pre-service methods courses that attempted to integrate technology with various subject areas. Their unique instructional delivery formats were used to identify strengths and weaknesses of their various approaches to technology integration. The emergent themes highlighted the need for instructor preparation, the need for a meaningful connection between lecture and technology laboratory sections, and the need for increased awareness of the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers among faculty and support staff. When viewed together, the results produced six foundational recommendations for improving technology integration and instruction within teacher education programs that are considering technology integration as part of their developing curriculum.