Evaluating the effectiveness of a preservice teacher technology training module incorporating SQD strategies

Yu-Yin Hsu,Chin-Hsi Lin

doi:10.1186/s41239-020-00205-2

Abstract

Preparation to use information and communication technology (ICT) is an important component of preservice language teachers’ training, and various existing teacher training models propose a range of strategies for increasing their technology knowledge and technology adoption rates. However, the relative effectiveness of these strategies remains unclear. Based on Tondeur et al.’s (2012) Synthesis of Qualitative Data model, which delineates the six main teacher preparation strategies (i.e., role modeling, reflection, instructional design, collaboration, authentic experience, and continuous feedback), the present study designed a 4 week training module for preservice language teachers and examined how these training strategies affected 63 participants’ perceived technology knowledge and attitudes toward technology adoption. Among the six training strategies, reflection and instructional design had the highest positive impacts on these preservice teachers’ self-reported knowledge about and attitudes towards using ICT. As well as revealing the relative impacts of each training strategy, the results indicate that our designed training module has considerable potential for application to teacher training in other subjects.

Highlights

Preparation to use information and communication technology (ICT) is an important component of preservice language teachers’ training, and various existing teacher training models propose a range of strategies for increasing their technology knowledge and technology adoption rates
The first uses technology adoption models to identify factors that may predict the uptake of ICT among educators (e.g., Lin et al, 2017), while the second focuses on the provision of ICT training within language teacher education programs, and testing its effects on the development of teacher knowledge (Chao, 2015; Cheng, 2014, 2017; Tai, 2015)
The participants had generally positive attitudes toward all six of those strategies, with authentic experience receiving the highest score (M = 3.90, SD = 0.80; 79.4% agreed) and reflection the second highest (M = 3.86, SD = 0.71; 80.9% agreed). Their responses to the open-ended questions suggested that the ICT training model was well received, as prompting good discussions, providing multiple forms of feedback and opportunities to reflect, and inspiring them to go beyond traditional teacher centered methods

Summary

Introduction

Preparation to use information and communication technology (ICT) is an important component of preservice language teachers’ training, and various existing teacher training models propose a range of strategies for increasing their technology knowledge and technology adoption rates. The module’s design was rooted in Tondeur et al (2012) Synthesis of Qualitative Data model (SQD-model): an evidence-based teacher training model that divides teacher education programs’ technology integration components into six main types (see below, under ICT Training in Language Teacher Education), and measures preservice teachers’ perceptions of each of them via a self report instrument called the SQD-scale This scale has been found capable of providing informative evaluations of teacher education programs in general (e.g., Baran et al, 2017; Tondeur et al, 2018), but has not yet been widely studied in the context of L2 teaching – a gap that the current study helps to fill. They are: ICT training in language teacher education; such training’s effects on preservice language teachers’ knowledge; and its effects on such teachers’ technology adoption

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion