Teaching with Technology

Citation

Blankson, J., Keengwe, J., and Kyei-Blankson, L.  (2010).  Teachers and technology:  Enhancing technology competencies for preservice teachers.  International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education, 6 (1), 45-54.  doi: 10.4018/jicte.2010091104

Main Points

–    Today’s teacher requirements to teach students.

—   Content knowledge, technology skills, and technology tools.

–    Teacher education programs mandate all preservice teachers to enroll in technology courses as part of their teacher preparatory curriculum.

–    International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has established the National Education Technology Standards for teachers (NETS- T) to promote teacher technology competencies.

–    The purpose of the study was to evaluate preservice teachers’ self-assessed technology competency to determine whether preservice teachers perceived that their technology class enabled them to meet ISTE’s required standards focused at a participating midwest college.

Analysis

This article does a very good job of pointing out how prepared incoming students are in basic technology skills like word, e-mailing, and powerpoint as well as some technology tools like blogs, wikis, and ipods.  At the same time, preservice teachers feel that they are not adequately prepared to integrate technology into teaching.  My initial qualms when starting our own CTCH 603, Technology in Higher Education, course gives me the distinct feeling that the authors of this study are on to something.  The authors presented 17 pre-test and post-test questions (to compare for learning attained after classes) focused in three areas for the study; (1) Do the tech classes for the preservice teachers give them skills over and above what students already know, (2) Do they perceive that their tech competencies improve after the tech classes, and (3) Will the tech modules covered ensure they meet the necessary ISTE standards.  Ten preservice candidates enrolled in the preparatory tech classes at a 650 student mid-western college were asked the questions.  The teachers were all white, ages 20-25, with seven female and three male.  They used a five point Likert scale for the questions.

All of the courses the preservice teachers were in were more than applicable for the college’s goal to get them ready for technology in the learning environment.  The study showed a positive growth in perceived understanding in all areas from the pre-test scores to the post-test scores.  It did discover some interesting sidebar items after the tech classes; teachers still had difficulty in installing/uninstalling programs, the tech classes should occur after their methods courses, and teacher focus should be on how to integrate tech into the classroom and less on teaching technology.  I think the research served as a good in-house evaluation of the college’s program more than it was a clinical study.  In my view the study just had much too small and too homogenous of a sample size and should be replicated on a larger scale.  It leaves me with too many questions on its validity at a less homogenous school with a much more diverse faculty.