Technology workshops by in-service teachers for pre-service teachers

Abstract

This project was an initiative through university courses to have graduate in-service teachers, who have learned the use of technology for classroom instruction, offer workshops to undergraduate pre-service teachers. The goals of the project were two-fold. One was to prepare in-service teachers for collegial leadership in using instructional technology through experience in planning and offering workshops to pre-service teachers, and the second was to prepare pre-service teachers for the instructional use of technology in the classroom. To accomplish these objectives, a multiple sections undergraduate professional development course for pre-service teachers was given during a 14 week semester. Forty-three pre-service teachers were in the course. The pre-service teachers were required to develop in conjunction with a classroom teacher a lesson that could be given to elementary or secondary students. Concurrently, a graduate course on using technology in the classroom was offered to the in-service teachers, who were giving the workshops to the pre-service teachers. Twelve in-service teachers administered the workshops. Surveys on all aspects of the project were given to the undergraduates, graduates and cooperating teachers.On a scale from 1 to 4 the undergraduate pre-service teachers' average rating of the success of the workshops given by the graduate in-service teachers was 3.34. The graduate in-service teachers' average rating on the same scale with respect to the success of their experiences with technology and the workshops was 3.40.Finally, 18 cooperating classroom teachers mentored the pre-service teachers' technology lessons in the schools. Their average rating of the success of the pre-service teachers' lessons was 3.79. Evaluation of the successes of the project and weaknesses discovered will be discussed.