Examining the impact of educational technology courses on pre-service teachers’ development of technological pedagogical content knowledge

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the impact of educational technology courses on pre-service teachers’ development of knowledge of technology integration in a teacher preparation program in the USA. The present study was conducted with eight pre-service teachers enrolled in the elementary teacher education program at a large university in the mid-western USA. Data sources included interviews, documents, and observations. The findings identified knowledge of technology integration the pre-service teachers developed and identified knowledge of technology integration needed in the technology integration courses. The present study provided a number of suggestions on different activities that could be built into educational technology courses to better prepare pre-service teachers to teach with technology.

Keywords:

• TPACK
• technology integration
• pre-service teachers
• educational technology courses

Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided by the College of Education Scholarship Grant at the Northern Illinois University; without which this work would not have been possible.