Unpacking Preservice Elementary Education Majors’ Pre-Covid Experiences with Instructional Technology: Implications for Post-Covid Technology Use

Abstract

Virtual learning during the Covid-19 pandemic has made the effective use of technology, as a learning tool, more important than it has ever been. One of the challenges within instructional technology courses for preservice elementary education majors was whether or not to train students to use technology as a means to an end or to focus on technology skills. Instructional technology courses could reinforce traditional approaches or encourage higher order thinking or acquisition of twenty first century skills for formal or informal settings. This study explored the pre-Covid inclinations and experiences of undergraduate preservice teachers who engaged in various types of technology that facilitated both the learning of content and the building of technological skills to varying degrees. This basic qualitative exploratory study looked at preservice teachers’ perceptions about their engagement with the technologies and about their own capabilities. The findings show connections that were most salient to the preservice teachers. These pre-Covid pandemic findings have implications for the current state of instructional technology and learning using technology in the post-Covid pandemic era.