Students’ Level of Satisfaction and Their Technological Proficiency Growth in Teacher Education Coursework

Trang Phan,Earl Aguilera,Susan Tracz

doi:10.30935/cedtech/11374

Trang Phan, Earl Aguilera + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/11374

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Abstract

Teachers are increasingly expected to demonstrate frequent use of and proficiency with educational technologies in the classroom. Meanwhile, teacher experiences with new technologies prior to their entry into the classroom do not always match these expectations. For many teacher education programs, the solution to this challenge lies in the incorporation of educational technologies into coursework for pre-service teachers (PSTs). This study examines PST reported uses and proficiency with educational technologies before and after taking introductory educational coursework. Based on surveys administered at the beginning and end of introductory education courses, the study found that PSTs reported consistent improvement in their technological skills. There were also positive relationships among skills competence and PST outcomes of satisfaction, effectiveness, and usefulness. These findings support existing efforts to incorporate educational technology into teacher certification coursework, while also suggesting ways to expand on these approaches to better support PSTs experience with educational technologies.

Highlights

Teachers are increasingly expected to demonstrate frequent use of and proficiency with educational technologies in the classroom (Mishra & Kohler, 2006)
Considering technology-enhanced learning (TEL) through the lens of social practice theory, we framed our findings in the order of the research questions we initially outlined as follows: RQ1: Do preservice teachers (PSTs) Report Changes in their Frequency of Technology Use after Taking Introductory Education Courses? If so, How?
To address the changes in the PST frequency of use of technology after taking the introductory education courses, we examined the quantitative results generated from the Pre- and Post-Survey Likert-style item, which asked “Outside of your educational courses, how frequently did you use digital technologies to do the following tasks?” For the scope of this paper, we will only present the data from students who used technology on a regular basis

Summary

Introduction

Teachers are increasingly expected to demonstrate frequent use of and proficiency with educational technologies in the classroom (Mishra & Kohler, 2006). Teachers’ experiences with new technologies prior to their entry into the classroom do not always match these expectations (Project Tomorrow, 2013). For many teacher education programs, the solution to this challenge lies in the incorporation of educational technologies into pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) credentialing coursework (Lei, 2009). To provide further insight into this challenge and course-based approaches to address it, this study examines PSTs reported uses of and proficiency with educational technologies before and after taking introductory education coursework. Drawing on survey research conducted with pre-service teachers at a large public university in the western U.S, we discuss ways that results support existing efforts to incorporate educational. Phan et al / Contemporary Educational Technology, 2022, 14(1), ep337 technology into teacher certification coursework, while suggesting ways to expand on these approaches to better support PST experiences with educational technologies.

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