Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions of Their Abilities to Teach Students with Special Needs by Integrating Technology in Their Classrooms

Abdulaziz Alawadh ,Faisal M Almutairi ,Talal Alhuzimi ,Naser Ali

doi:10.7176/jep/10-35-12

Abstract

This inquiry is grounded in the theoretical framework of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). The study investigates pre-service special education teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, their perceptions of technology use for learning and teaching, their pedagogical approaches, and the challenges they face. A case study research design was employed to acquire quantitative data. Questionnaires were administered to a sample of 81 pre-service teachers from one teacher training college. The questionnaire also contained open-ended questions. Quantitative data was analysed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 21 software while responses to the open-ended questions were thematically analysed. This study found that the pre-service teachers' use of technology may have developed over time and through the personal use of the devices in their classroom practices. Although the pre-service teachers had varied self-efficacy beliefs, they had positive attitudes towards the use of technology. Findings also suggest that the pre-service teachers lacked TPACK skills to use technology. Although most findings reinforce what is already known about the field, this study is unique as these results are new for Kuwait and possibly more widely for the Middle East. The study recommends that TPACK workshops may not only enhance better understanding of pre-service teachers’ perceptions and beliefs about integrating technology to teach students with special needs but also provide increased support for them to improve their attitudes towards emerging technologies. Keywords: Pre-service teachers, students with special needs, technology and integrating DOI : 10.7176/JEP/10-35-12 Publication date: December 31 st 2019

Highlights

This study examines pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and perceptions of technology when integrating technology for teaching students with special needs
4.Results A close examination of the descriptive statistics (Table 6) makes it clear that teachers were able to use technology, none of the pre-service teachers had any exposure to the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework
The mean score of preservice teachers for all items were high. Moving from these results, it can be said that the levels of pre-service teachers towards technology competencies and perception of technology integration self-efficacy is high

Summary

Introduction

This study examines pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and perceptions of technology when integrating technology for teaching students with special needs. The chosen context, within which this study takes place, is a teacher training college in Kuwait where pre-service teachers are being prepared for integrating technological tools and resources to support teaching and learning. Education reforms in this Gulf state have provided a perfect opportunity for the integration of new and emerging technologies (Almutairi, 2017; Alenezi, 2018; Safar & AlKhezzi, 2013). A review of the literature, related to pre-service teachers’ perceptions use of technologies to teach students with special education in Kuwaiti schools, suggests that there is very little research in these settings This study addresses this gap by aiming to examine pre-service teachers' perceptions of their abilities to teach students with special needs by integrating technology in classrooms. The research question that guided this small scale study was: What are pre-service teachers' perceptions of their abilities to teach students with special needs by integrating technology in classrooms?

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion