Learning how to teach chemistry with technology: pre-service teachers’ experiences with integrating technology into their learning and teaching

The Australian Government initiative, Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF), was a targeted response to improve the preparation of future teachers with integrating technology into their practice. This paper reports on TTF research involving 28 preservice teachers undertaking a chemistry curriculum studies unit that adopted a technological focus. For chemistry teaching the results showed that technological knowledge augmented the fundamental pedagogical knowledge necessary for teaching chemistry content. All the pre-service teachers demonstrated an understanding of the role of technology in teaching and learning and reported an increased skill level in a variety of technologies, many they had not used previously. Some students were sceptical about this learning when schools did not have technological resources available. This paper argues that teacher education courses should include technological skills that match those available in schools, as well as introduce new technologies to support a change in the culture of using technology in schools.

The delivery of teacher education programmes in regional Victoria, Australia: Opportunities and challenges

A significant number of Australian universities have multiple campuses (Winchester and Sterk 2006). To manage successful student learning outcomes, Winchester and Sterk (2006) argue that universities may experience challenging teaching and learning issues such as fragmentation, duplication, inconsistency and lack of equitable opportunities for students across the various sites. In recent years, online educational technology has enabled Australian universities to rethink the ways in which they deliver programmes (Smith, Ling and Hill 2006). Such a paradigm and technological shift provide a ‘window of opportunity’ to meet the challenging demands of serving multiple campuses (Bottomley 2000), especially those in regional areas. In Victoria, at June 2012, the regional population was 1.38 million (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2013). However, Polesel’s (2009) report found that students from regional areas defer university at twice the rate of metropolitan students. There is also evidence that students in regional areas, on the one hand, consider such areas as a learning environment with many advantages (e.g. small classes and a compact campus)(Ellis et al. 2005). On the other hand, students’ different interests can often be overlooked in educational settings (Semke and Sheridan 2012).
This paper will report on the results of a baseline study using survey methodology, which examined the challenges and opportunities of delivering elements of two undergraduate programmes in regional areas in Victoria, Australia. In particular, the research focused on two selected undergraduate teacher education programmes: (1) primary education; and (2) early childhood education. Focused discussion data, gathered from academics involved in delivering the programmes in the regional campuses will be presented as an analysis of issues and practices of teaching and learning in the 21st century. Implications for the provision of a quality learning experience and environment for students and for the course marketing strategies will be discussed.

Exploring connections between the in-field and on-campus components of a preservice teacher education program : a student perspective

This paper discusses the preservice teacher education practicum experience from the perspective of preservice teachers at a regional Australian university. It locates the practicum in the broader context of work integrated learning and associated principles of good practice. The paper argues that there are some perceived disconnections between the in-field and on–campus components of the teacher education program as well as an endorsement of some aspects of the practicum experience in closing the theory-practice gap. Our research adds to international debate about the balance between theory and practice and contributes a much needed student perspective on these issues. The paper concludes with suggestions on ways to improve the quality of the practicum experience.

Exploring connections between the in-field and on-campus components of a preservice teacher education program : a student perspective

This paper discusses the preservice teacher education practicum experience from the perspective of preservice teachers at a regional Australian university. It locates the practicum in the broader context of work integrated learning and associated principles of good practice. The paper argues that there are some perceived disconnections between the in-field and on–campus components of the teacher education program as well as an endorsement of some aspects of the practicum experience in closing the theory-practice gap. Our research adds to international debate about the balance between theory and practice and contributes a much needed student perspective on these issues. The paper concludes with suggestions on ways to improve
the quality of the practicum.

Digital immigrant teachers learning for the information age

This study investigated how experienced teachers learned Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) during their professional development. With the introduction of ICT, experienced teachers encountered change becoming virtually displaced persons – digital immigrants; new settlers – endeavouring to obtain digital citizenship in order to survive in the information age. In the process, these teachers moved from learning how to push buttons, to applying software, and finally to changing their practice. They learned collectively and individually, in communities and networks, like immigrants and adult learners: by doing, experimenting and reflecting on ICT. Unfortunately, for these teachers-as-pedagogues, their focus on pedagogical theory during the action research they conducted, was not fully investigated or embraced during the year-long study. This study used a participant observation qualitative methodology to follow teachers in their university classroom. Interviews were conducted and documentation collected and verified by the teacher educator. The application of Kolb‘s, Gardner‘s, and Vygotsky‘s work allowed for the observation of these teachers within their sociocultural contexts. Kolb‘s work helped to understand their learning processes and Gardner‘s work indicated the learning abilities that these teachers valued in the new ICT environment. Meanwhile Vygotsky‘s work – and in particular three concepts, uchit, perezhivanija, and mislenija – presented a richer and more informed basis to understand immigration and change. Finally, this research proposes that teachers learn ICT through what is termed a hyperuchit model, consisting of developments; action; interaction; and reflection. The recommendation is that future teacher university ICT professional learning incorporates this hyperuchit model

The teacher educator in Ucnit

The role of the teacher educator has changed in the information age. The expectation of learning and teaching has moved beyond the Vygotskian term: uchit (learning/teaching) in a traditional university setting. Although, previous presentations have discussed ICT professional development of experienced teachers (Senjov-Makohon 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 & 2003), the role of the teacher educator in unchi of experienced teachers in a social context. In this research, which is part of a larger study, the role of the teacher educator changed from being the disseminator of information to becoming a participant and facilitator in a community of practitioners

Understanding the balance of experienced teachers' ICT learning

In the Information Age, ICT learning requires a balance between the concrete and experiential learning process and the abstract conceptualisation of Andragogy. Future Teacher Professional Development will need to understand the complexities of the concrete experience and the abstract conceptualisation of new knowledge. Professional Development will need to comprehend how experienced teachers as digital immigrants learn. It will further need to understand what abilities are essential for these experienced teachers and how they develop an awareness of their ICT learning. This paper will examine a study that was undertaken with a group of Post Registration Primary School Educators. These experienced teachers undertook the Post Registration or fourth year of their Bachelor of Education (Primary) course at an Australian Educational Institute. These experienced teachers with limited ICT exposure went through an ICT learning process over a period of one year. They finally acquired the ICT knowledge and skills, however within the time span of one year, theoretical pedagogy was absent or minimal.

Teacher immigrants

In the 21st century teachers are migrating into the Information Age. How effective is their learning in the field of ICT to enhance the learning of their students in their classroom. This paper will examine Learning Styles and the learning process into the Information Age. The data collection is on the Learning Styles and ICT skills of experienced teachers who have extensive classroom teaching experience however who are limited in their ICT skills

Cultural tools to enhance learning

The cultural tools to connect, communicate, and prepare learners for future academic and workplace activities underpin today’s education. In the 21st century, the use of technologies, and in particular social technologies, provide a paradigm shift in the way teachers become engaged and personalize professional development. The technologies are the cultural tools (Vygotsky, 1975, p. 3) deployed to communicate and analyze learners’ realities; however, some experienced teachers are reluctant to embrace these realities. However, there are other teachers who are adopting the 21st century cultural tools to make their learning and the learning of their students relevant, social and personal. This paper examines how social practices and cultural tools deployed, in a study with experienced teachers, adds value to teacher professional development. It examines the scaffolding with social technologies to enable learners to progress to higher order development in a Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky, 1978) in Higher Education.

Shifts in thinking and practice: reflecting on an applied learning programme

The implementation of the first iteration of a curriculum for an applied learning programme for police trainers received a hostile response from participants. It was perceived as irrelevant and supplanting, rather than augmenting, trainers’ fixed and untested training practices. This paper presents the reflections on my journey as a nonpolice person straddling an outsider-insider position while challenging that which is taken-for-granted and introducing an educative intent, as opposed to a doctrinal, technical intent, to police training. On a daily basis I simultaneously work within and against the prevailing D/discourses and dominant subcultures, while establishing and nurturing relationships with police trainers: being teacher, coach and ‘critical friend’. The response to the second and now third iterations of the learning programme has been increasingly positive, revealing shifts in trainers’ thinking and practice.

Ways in which theory and practice are integrated in the pre-service teacher education practicum

This paper reports on a study into pre-service teachers’ perceptions about their professional development during practicum. The study examined to what extent, and how effectively, one group of pre-service teachers was able to integrate theory and practice during a three-week practicum in the first year of their degree. Data for this mixed methods study were drawn from one cohort of first-year students undertaking the Master of Teaching (MTeach), a graduate-level entry program in the Faculty of Education at an urban Australian university. Although there is a strong field of literature around the practicum in pre-service teacher education, there has been a limited focus on how pre-service teachers themselves perceive their development during this learning period. Further, despite widespread and longstanding acknowledgement of the “gap” between theory and practice in teacher education, there is still more to learn about how well the practicum enables an integration of these two dimensions of teacher preparation. In presenting three major findings of the study, this paper goes some way in addressing these shortcomings in the literature. First, opportunities to integrate theory and practice were varied, with many participants reporting supervision and scheduling issues as impacting on their capacity to effectively enact theory in practice. Second, participants’ privileging of theory over practice, identified previously in the literature as commonly characteristic of the pre-service teacher, was found in this study to be particularly prevalent during practicum. Third, participants overwhelmingly supported the notion of linking university coursework assessment to the practicum as a means of bridging the gap between, on the one hand, the university and the school and, on the other hand, theory and practice. The discussion and consideration of findings such as those reported in this paper are pertinent and timely, given the ratification of both the National Professional Standards for Teachers and the Initial Teacher Education Program Standards by the Australian Federal Government earlier this year. Within a number of the seven Professional Standards, graduate teachers are required to demonstrate knowledge and skills associated with both the theory and practice of teaching and with their effective integration in the classroom. To be nationally accredited, pre-service teacher education programs must provide evidence of enabling pre-service teachers to acquire such knowledge and skills.

Then and now: developing capacity and transforming pedagogy in online pre-service teacher education

The aim of the study reported in this paper was to evaluate the perceived benefit of video-recorded interviews as an alternative to the traditional lecture format in pre-service teacher education programs. Pre-service teachers traditionally struggle with the gap that they perceive exists between the theories taught at university and the practical competencies they require as teachers in primary and secondary school contexts. Additionally, they report that the shift from face-to-face to online delivery of course content, rapidly being adopted in the tertiary environment, seems to have often been made without associated shifts in format and pedagogy.

In the previously mentioned study, participants were drawn from cohorts of more than 300 pre-service teachers enrolled in an inclusive Education course in the Faculty of Education of an urban Australian university. The course was delivered both online and face-to-face on three campuses of the university to students in three different Education programs. In order to provide an alternative to the traditional lecture format, the developer of this course initiated and created video-recorded interview dialogues which were subsequently uploaded into the Faculty’s Learning Management System for student access. The interviews, conducted by the Course Coordinator, were held with a number of professionals with field experience relevant to key concepts of the course.

Data were collected from Student Evaluation of Teaching and Learning (SETL) questionnaires. The questionnaires were designed to gather both quantitative and qualitative data from the pre-service teachers about the extent to which the use of video-recorded interview dialogues enhanced their learning. In particular the questionnaires sought to ascertain whether, in the views of the pre-service teachers, this delivery method, first, engaged and interested them, and, second, assisted their learning through linking theory to practice. This paper provides a synthesis of the study’s findings and explores their implications for the delivery of learning experiences in both the online and on-campus modes of pre-service teacher education programs. A focus is placed on how video-recorded interviews can be used to enhance resource accessibility and to increase pre-service teachers’ engagement and learning in coursework.

Australian pre-service secondary teacher education courses : challenges and Dilemmas

Connecting literacy learning outside of school to the Australian Curriculum in the middle years

The complexity of teacher’s work is manifest in the divergent use of digital technologies in and out of school. This paper explores the logical step of connecting students’ out-of-school mediated literacy learning to the content descriptors of the Australian Curriculum. The study uses published evidence from four previous studies of young people to demonstrate the diverse ways that out-of-school practices can be linked to literacy learning in the Australian Curriculum. We frame this linking of informal literacy learning to the Australian Curriculum by highlighting the ‘funds of knowledge’ children bring through the school gate. 

The "theory-practice gap": Turning theory into practice in a pre-service teacher education program

his thesis investigates the theory-practice gap using the exemplar of teacher education. The research is situated in a pre-service teacher education program that explicitly seeks to bridge the theory-practice gap so that it produces “learning managers” who can negotiate the contemporary knowledge society in ways different to those of their predecessors. The empirical work reported in this thesis describes and interprets the experiences of preservice and beginning teachers in turning theory into practice. In order to accomplish this outcome, the thesis draws on Mead’s theory of emergence and symbolic interactionism to provide a theoretical perspective for meaning-making in social situations. Data for the study were collected through interviews and focus groups involving a sample of first-year graduate teachers of an Australian pre-service teacher education program. The main finding of this thesis is that the theory-practice gap in pre-service teacher education under present institutional arrangements is an inevitable phenomenon arising as individuals undergo the process of emergence from pre-service to graduate and then beginning teachers. The study shows that despite the efforts of the program developers, environmental, social and cultural conditions in teacher education processes and structures and in schools inhibit the trainee and novitiate teacher from exercising agency to effect change in traditional classroom practices. Thus, the gap between theory and practice is co-produced and sustained in the model that characterises contemporary preservice teacher education in the perspectives of lecturers, teachers and administrators.