An Integrated Framework Used to Increase Preservice Teacher NETS-T Ability

Abstract

Under a PT3 initiative, a framework was developed to help 34 special education preservice teachers obtain technology related skills. The framework embedded the use of three online Macromedia Flash-MX based tutorials and three hands-on cooperative based learning experiences. Pre- and postsurveys were used to collect data on student ability and value orientation changes. Results indicate that the framework led to a significant perceived gain in National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) ability (p = .001). The preservice teachers showed no significant changes in their perceived value of technology in education. Furthermore, the findings suggest that a preservice teacher's affiliation with the constructivist or behaviorist pedagogy offers some predictability towards their value of technology in education. However, this pedagogical affiliation offers no predictability towards their technological ability. It is concluded that skill-based technology training can be done online, but that skill-based training is not enough to produce teachers who value and feel comfortable integrating technology in the classroom. ********** Research indicates that one of the greatest challenges in preparing teachers to teach is designing a curriculum that exposes preservice teachers to the conceptual and practical understandings of integrating technology into the P-12 classroom (Moursund & Bielefeldt, 1999, Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), 1995). A survey by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (2000) indicated that only 23% of teachers ranked themselves as feeling well prepared to use technology when they teach and only 10% of teachers felt very well prepared to use computers and the Internet during instruction. Similarly, even after technology training has taken place in preservice education, research has shown that it is lacking continuity with the rest of the curriculum (Education Week, 1999; Moursund & Bielefeldt, 1999; OTA, 1995). Consequently, preservice teachers are left with the difficult task of determining the relationship between their technology training and effective classroom technology integration practices. Although the need for a curriculum that supports technology integration is apparent, teacher preparation institutions are faced with overcrowded standards-based curriculums and a lack of faculty educated in how to effectively model the integration of technology with their students (Moursund & Bielefeldt, 1999; OTA, 1995; President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology [PCAST], 1999). The recent efforts of the U.S. Department of Education's Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) Program have afforded teacher preparation institutions opportunities to investigate models and tools for enhancing preservice teacher education programs. One of the primary goals of PT3 is to prepare teachers to teach with technology and to understand the importance of enhancing curricula with technology. As a result, this initiative has produced a wide variety of methods to meet this goal. In an analysis of the 1999-2000 performance reports, Mathematica Policy Research (2001) found that faculty development, curricular redesign, and applying technology in new ways were the three common methods employed across the diverse PT3 projects. In 2001, the College of Education was awarded a PT3 catalyst grant, known to the college as Technology Across Learning Environments for New Teachers (TALENT). This article will focus on the implementation and results of one project within TALENT that illustrated the integration of faculty development, curricular redesign, and the application of technology in new ways. The main goal of the project was to help two instructors within the department of special education tailor a technology-rich framework that would aid their students in increasing their technology competencies. The resulting framework combined the use of three online tutorials and three face-to-face cooperative learning sessions. …