Abstract
This paper adds to the emerging dialogue on best practices in teacher education for preparing future teachers to use technology to promote grounded theory-based practices in their classrooms. In it, I report on an evolving model for such training that resulted from a longitudinal case study examining how teacher trainees’ identities, learning and teaching practices changed when exposed to the use of a variety of social networking technologies for language learning in the context of their teacher preparation program. The 12-month classroom-based case study was conducted at a private university in Chile, using a variety of ethnographic tools. I investigated how the integration of certain ICTs into content courses, as opposed to more traditional stand-alone courses on technology use, mattered both in terms of the way the participants viewed themselves as learners and as future teachers of language, as well as of their evolving perspectives on the use of technology for learning and teaching. My aim in conducting the study was twofold: 1) to determine whether innovative technology-infused (TI) courses would serve to enable the beginning teacher participants to shed their traditional, passive, rather narrow cultural mindset as individuals and learners that are contrary to the identities of effective, 21st century teachers; and 2) to see whether opportunities to use a variety of innovative technologies for learning would have an influence on the pedagogies these individuals employed in their teaching practices. While the longitudinal study provided encouraging signs on both accounts within the teacher preparation program, questions remained about whether the model would be supported where it mattered-in ‘real’ classroom teaching. In this article, I report on follow-up qualitative and numbers-based findings that suggest that, generally, the positive changes were not sustained. These findings provide strong support for the need for teacher education models to be tested in ‘real’ practice.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 237-249 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Electronic Journal of e-Learning |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 4 |
Publication status | Published - 2015 |
Keywords
- 21st century teacher identity
- Community-supported teacher training
- ICT in practice teaching
- ICT in teacher education
- ICT-based teacher education model
- Teacher education reform in Chile
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Education
- Computer Science Applications