Abstract:
Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs) require an awareness and understanding of effective ways to utilise the affordances of educational technology. We seek to develop pedagogical thinking that PSTs will associate with the use of digital technology. Our main goal is to enable PSTs to be able to make informed choices about their selection of tools for effective learning, and to be aware of the affordances, for their learners.
We aim to refine our model to empower PSTs as teachers who can strategically use technology for targeted learning needs. In this paper we highlight a series of multi-ability classroom experiences over two semesters in the Primary and Secondary Masters of Teaching programs within the Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE). The cohorts have at least one prior degree and it can be assumed that they have made some use of a range of technologies in their previous degree. It cannot be assumed that they have a necessary skill set to be able to adapt digital technologies for the benefit of their learners. Past research has indicated that university students have knowledge of technologies for use in their personal lives. Our work indicates that thinking and planning for integrating technology into classroom learning brings its own set of challenges. We surveyed students about their uses of new technologies in their lives and their perceptions of classroom use. Our cohort of students exhibited differences in their responses to their perceptions of classroom affordances both in their everyday lives and in classroom settings. In the teaching and learning experiences provided to our students we explicitly support the development of a refined awareness of the affordances of technologies. We purposefully highlight the uses of a range of technologies in educational environments. Centred in socio-constructivist pedagogical practice, PSTs explore digital technologies and their pedagogical applications. Our pre and post survey data indicates increasing understanding of the affordances of technology tools, and the beginning of a positive shift towards students’ perceptions and visions for the use of technology in their future classrooms.