University Faculty Opinions of Preservice Teachers’ Technological Readiness

Abstract

This paper examines university faculty perceptions on whether preservice teachers are sufficiently prepared to use information and communication technology (ICT) for teaching in early grades and barriers faced in incorporating these technological interventions in classroom settings. This study employed a qualitative research approach and semi-structured questionnaires to investigate faculty perceptions from a teacher education university and considered their responses through the lens of growth and fixed mindsets. The findings revealed that, despite preservice teachers being exposed to instructional technology as part of their academic preparation for early grades teaching, faculty perceived that challenges exist that inhibit preservice teachers’ readiness to integrate technologies in their teaching of mathematics. In particular, many significant disagreements existed among the teacher education faculty as to how prepared they perceived their preservice teachers to be in the use of technology in their future classrooms. Findings from this study led to additional observations regarding university faculty opinions regarding their own use of ICT and its implementation in the department and programme.