Technology Use in Middle-Grades Teacher Preparation Programs

Abstract

Changes in reading and reading comprehension precipitated by the emergence of the Internet and related to information and digital communication applications have been noted in the reading and literacy fields for some time now. Teacher-education programs play a special role in preparing teachers for instruction that capitalizes on such changes. The purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which teacher-education programs help teachers to embrace and critique technology, and literacies they engender, in teaching reading at the middle-school level. The study found the middle-grades teacher-education programs in this study encourage the use of a range of technology tools. Although traditional technology was viewed and used frequently for the purpose of teacher and student productivity (e.g., to record, display, or deliver information), information/communication as well as multimedia applications were viewed more often as sources of multimodal and interactive texts and as tools for meaning representation. Although the new generation web tools such as blogs, Google tools, or webcasting applications were recognized as new types of texts, many of the multimodal texts and media that preservice teachers were exposed to or explored for classroom use in this study were, however, older-generation applications such as PowerPoint presentations, magazines, or environmental signs and symbols. Additionally, teacher educators' and their students' access to basic reading software, including fluency and comprehension programs, was limited. Implications from these findings are further discussed.