When the Field Site Goes One-to-One: Preservice Teacher Development and Beliefs About Technology and Learning

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 1
  In Poster Session: Technology as an Agent of Change in Teaching and Learning SIG Poster Session

Abstract

Field sites in teacher preparation programs (TPP) have rapidly begun adoption of one-to-one computing programs, altering the resources and pedagogy of the field environment. Using case study methodology, this paper investigates pre-service teacher (PST) experiences in this changing environment. The study found that when that PSTs engage in clinical work in a diverse setting which also prioritizes technology, their beliefs about technology change as they develop in the profession. PSTs early in their TPP have difficulty implementing technology for transformative learning, probably because they focus on their own performance and not on student learning. Further, the PSTs rarely considered issues of race, poverty, bi-lingual learners, or the ways in which technology might support-- or further marginalize-- already marginalized groups.

Authors

• Marie K. Heath, Loyola University Maryland

• Pamela Hope Segal, Towson University