Digital Natives As Preservice Teachers

Abstract

AbstractThis study focused on “digital natives” as preservice teachers to examine their beliefs, attitudes, and technology experiences and expertise, identify the strengths and weaknesses in their technology knowledge and skills, and explore what technology preparation was needed to prepare them to integrate technology in their future classrooms. Results reveal that (a) the digital-native preservice teachers reported strong positive belief in technology, yet moderate confidence and reserved attitude in using technology; (b) the majority (80%) of them spent the most time on social-communication activities, and only about 10% of them spent the most time on learning-related activities; (c) they were very proficient with basic technologies but were not familiar with more advanced technologies; (d) the scope of their use of Web 2.0 technologies was limited to mainly social-networking Web sites, and they lacked the experiences and expertise in using Web 2.0 technologies with great potential for classroom applic...