Investigating Practices in Teacher Education that Promote and Inhibit Technology Integration Transfer in Early Career Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify instructional technology integration strategies and practices in preservice teacher education that contribute to the transfer of technology integration knowledge and skills to the instructional practices of early career teachers. This study used a two-phase, sequential explanatory strategy. Data were collected through surveys and interviews. Participating early career teachers assessed themselves as proficient users of instructional technologies and comfortable with their level of technology integration in the classroom. They identified modeling of, reflecting on, and experimenting with technology integration in their teacher education programs as prevalent promoters of technology integration, and ineffective field experiences as the most prominent barrier. Findings from this study lead to naturalistic recommendations, corroborated by the literature, on how to improve technology integration in teacher education programs. In addition, the study offers a survey that can be utilized in future studies to investigate further technology integration transfer factors in the education of preservice teachers.