Information Technology In Teacher Education Research Articles

Beliefs and ICT: what can we learn from experienced educators?

This article contributes to this special edition of Technology, Pedagogy and Education by looking at beliefs about knowing and learning held by 15 teacher educators with longstanding involvement in the Association for Information Technology in Teacher Education. Beliefs were challenging to identify but were ascribed to participants through examining accounts of practice on the basis of ‘what they held true’ about teaching and learning. The study uncovered a widely held core belief in knowing as constructivist and a more peripheral belief in learner-centred, or social constructivist, pedagogy. Identifying participants’ beliefs helped to understand the frameworks in which judgements about teaching and learning with ICT were made even if the impact of beliefs on every day practice could not be taken for granted. The study discusses the importance of beliefs as a stable point of reference in teaching and learning; tensions in categorising beliefs; and the particular role of beliefs in relation to engagement with ICT.

Technology and Quality in Educational Scholarly Communication

ABSTRACT The move to electronic forms of communication has changed the way educational research is communicated. In particular, it has led to an increased reliance on journals. This change has been more precipitous than one might expect. As journals become a larger proportion of the body of current scholarship, authors and readers seek new methods of determining and communicating journal quality. Methods that have worked for researchers in the sciences are not directly transferable to the education discipline. This paper examines existing tools and looks for new methods of assessing quality in journal publishing. This article was developed from a paper presented at the Society for Information Technology in Teacher Education (SITE) conference in Spring 2007.

Scientifically Based Research

The U.S. Department of Education sponsored a summit that addressed the need for scientifically-based evidence on the use of technology in teaching and learning. One hundred leaders from the Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) federal initiative were invited to participate in the meeting, held in Fall 2003. The recommendations from that meeting offer a framework for future discussion of this topic. These educational leaders agreed on the need for identification through research of the best practices in the use of technology in teacher education. Studies to determine the generalizable effects of technology in teacher preparation programs are essential because of the key role of the teacher in education and because of the existing evidence on the need for in-depth preparation of teachers to use technology effectively.The full range of research approaches and methodologies are essential to find out what works in the Information Society, where rapidly increasing adoption of technology is having complex system-wide effects. Both quantitative and qualitative measures will be essential in this research. The evidence used to identify effective practice should include a variety of outcome measures that encompass preservice teacher and faculty portfolios, classroom observations of teacher candidates during their preparation program and into their induction years, and the achievement of their K–12 students over the years.Teacher education must be a strong force to promote appropriate uses of technology to support educational renewal and to prepare a skilled work force for our Information Society. Identification of the best practices in information technology in teacher education through large-scale, well-designed research programs is essential and will require substantial state and federal resources.

Teacher Training via Distance Learning Focussed on Educational Issues of Information Technology

This paper deals with the main problem of involving information technology in teacher education - structure and contents of teachers' training courses based on distance learning. In Lithuania, the Standard of computer literacy for educators has been developed. It should be the main source of all teachers' training courses on information technology. The Standard consists of two parts: technological and educational. The main attention of the paper is paid to the analysis and requirements of the educational part that becomes more and more urgent: it requires some psy- chological, cognitive, social, and pedagogical knowledge referring to the information technology usage in education. This paper comprehensively covers the problems of application of information technology in education, course planning, and implementation of distance teaching, it referring to the teachers' training course on educational issues of information technology via distance learning, carried out by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania and organized by the Centre of Information Technologies of Education, and summarises its results.

Leadership of information technology for teacher education: a discussion of complex systems with dynamic models to inform shared leadership

Educational systems around the world are changing rapidly in response to the technological and economic restructuring that is sweeping our societies. Teacher educators who have adopted information and communication technologies (ICT) are often cast in the role of agents of change to lead education's response with the promise and potential of technology. However, the complexity of the interacting educational systems in which teacher educators work is demanding and bewildering at times. These leaders can benefit from a set of dynamic models through which to interpret, experience, and inform their vision so that ICT may serve education and today's diverse societies. This article discusses two dynamic models that have proved their value to the author over a decade. The key concepts and characteristics of complex systems and dynamic models to promote appropriate shared leadership of information technology (IT) in teacher education are illustrated by experience and related research to improve the effectiveness of IT in teacher education. Complex systems, as characterized by Paul Cilliers (1998), are used to provide an overarching dynamic model. The aim is to inform our shared leadership of this important aspect of educational systems worldwide. The article ends with an invitation to comment and critique this novel approach

Research in Information Technology in Teacher Education: moving on with a little help from our friends …

(2001). Research in Information Technology in Teacher Education: moving on with a little help from our friends … Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education: Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 197-202.

The Use of Information Technology in Teacher Education

The Use of Information Technology in Teacher Education

International contrasts of information technology in teacher education: multiple perspectives on change

(2000). International contrasts of information technology in teacher education: multiple perspectives on change. Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education: Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 139-148.

International contrasts of information technology in teacher education: multiple perspectives on change

International contrasts of information technology in teacher education: multiple perspectives on change

Research on technology and teacher education: Current status and future directions

Within the context of a brief history of information technology in teacher education (ITTE), current research on ITTE is reviewed. It is argued that ITTE research can be categorized into three paradigms: empirical, critical, and interpretive. The need for a clear, multi-paradigmatic approach for future work is emphasized. Examples of exemplary work are cited. Conclusions suggest needs for more sharing of information of “islands of excellence” in work on technology in teacher education, more case studies on diffusion of innovation, more emphasis on bias-related findings from critical theory, and more development and dissemination of resources and tools for using technology effectively in teacher education. Recommendations for further work in the area also include emphasizing instructional design (ID) work to create innovations and recognizing the need for grounded, reflective papers on innovative approaches that have been implemented and studied over several years.

Does permeation work? promoting the use of information technology in teacher education

Initial Teacher Education Centres have a crucial role in promoting the use of Information Technology in schools through the opportunity to influence new teachers. Valid educational justification, combined with the need to limit course congestion, have resulted in enthusiasm for permeated approaches. The results of a survey of United Kingdom teacher education centres suggest concern about the effectiveness of permeated approaches, especially in the areas of school experience and the ‘non-numeric’ disciplines. The potential educational benefits resulting from a permeated approach are restated and a commitment on the part of institutions to support initiatives which may lead to their realisation is called for.

Technology refusal: Rationalising the failure of student and beginning teachers to use computers

AbstractResearch findings in the area of information technology in teacher education (ITTE) appear to be consistent, suggesting that information technology (IT) is still significantly under‐used by pre‐service teachers, particularly on teaching practice, and by beginning teachers. Investigations that have attempted to attribute the reasons for this have largely addressed students' development of attitudes to IT and their relative success in acquiring IT skills and knowledge. This paper takes a different approach and attempts to rationalise the apparent failure of IT education in pre‐service courses in terms of the individual. More particularly, it offers a conceptual framework for investigating and analysing the failure of IT education, particularly at pre‐service level, suggesting that IT outcomes are likely to be diverse and variable for any one student‐teacher population: and that these outcomes need to be considered in the context of individual students' constructions of IT meaning.

IT in teacher education in Scotland

Abstract This paper outlines the consensual approach to the formulation of curriculum policy in general, and in relation to information technology (IT) in particular, in Scotland. It outlines the approaches to IT that have emerged as a result. These are founded on the premises that all children should develop knowledge and understanding about IT and skills in using IT; that IT should influence both content and delivery of the curriculum; and that IT (computing studies in Scotland) should be an elective for secondary school pupils. Against this background, the paper describes the evolution of policy and practice relating to IT in teacher education. It appraises the strategies which institutes are using for developing the professional skills necessary to deliver IT in the Scottish curriculum. It notes significant progress but highlights the need to develop strategies which integrate IT more deeply with other professional studies so that student teachers develop deeper, more reflective approaches to IT.

The Teacher Education Internet Server: an evolving resource for educators

ABSTRACT The Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) is an international organization of teacher educators from all disciplines who are interested in the creation and dissemination of knowledge about the use of information technology in teacher education. The Teacher Education Internet Server (TEIS) has been established by SITE to support professional interchange and academic discourse and will serve as a complement to traditional ways of sharing academic information such as professional journals and conferences. With the evolution and spread of Internet information servers, it is envisioned that TEIS may make worthwhile contributions to use of technology in teacher education. As telecommunications technologies evolve, from FTP to Gopher to the World Wide Web, a major challenge for TEIS remains: to develop guidelines for collaboration at a distance that allow educators from around the world to work together to identify, acquire, and organize information and related materials. The n...

Effective Strategies for Information Technology in Teacher Education: the use of an evolving permeation model

ABSTRACT This paper examines the debate in recent years about the most effective strategy for establishing the use of information technology in teacher training establishments in the United Kingdom. Evidence is presented to support the notion that efforts should continue to permeate the use of information technology throughout the courses of such establishments. However, the paper suggests that staff development and the degree of permeation of information technology within the culture develop alongside each other. As one of these variables change, it feeds the development of the other; neither is an independent variable though both are influenced by external factors. Recognising this as a relatively slow process, the paper proposes a model of evolutionary permeation.

Informatique Pour Tous: a case study of information technology in teacher education in France

ABSTRACT The national program Informatique Pour Tous was announced in France in 1985. This paper describes a resulting training program conducted in French secondary schools, the assessment of this program, and conclusions that can be drawn from it in terms of contents for pre‐service and in‐service teacher training in the educational use of computers. In this article, after a short background on the French policy of computer equipment in schools, the objectives of the training program are presented. Then the activities of the teachers who were trained in this program are analyzed, on the one hand through information gathered during their annual meetings and on another hand through interviews with the heads of some of the teachers' schools. Requirements for training contents and practices in teacher education are developed.