Learning from Pre-Service Teachers: Beliefs and Attitudes towards Computational and Digital Literacies in the Classroom

• In Event: Walking the Walk and Changing the Talk: Teacher Educators and Teacher Candidates Co-Constructing CTDEL (Computational Thinking and Digital Equitable Literacies) Practices

Abstract

Summary and Objectives
Computational and digital literacies (CDLs) refer to the ways of thinking and skills necessary for participating in the digital world. CDLs enable students to have conversations about digital technology, use digital tools to enhance teaching and learning, create and express themselves through digital tools, and resist the harmful impacts of digital technologies (Yadav et al., 2022). Following a study focused on understanding the beliefs and values of teacher-educators after they participated in professional development to integrate CDLs into their courses (Author et al., 2024), this research aims to understand pre-service teachers' (PSTs') beliefs, self-efficacy, and attitudes, regarding CDLs. For the integration of CDLs in K-12 school curricula to be sustainable (Yadav et al., 2021), educating pre-service teachers about what it means to be computationally and digitally literate is fundamental. Understanding preservice teachers' beliefs about and attitudes toward CDLs can help us overcome what Ertmer (1999) defines as second-order barriers to that integration: deeply personal obstacles that pertain to belief systems about teachers' own practices and are entrenched within their identities (Bai & Ertmer, 2004). These beliefs, which significantly influence teaching practices (Levin & Wadmany, 2006) and choices of computing tools (Jääskelä et al., 2017), are influenced by pre-service teachers’ learning experiences as they develop strategies for integrating CDLs in their future classrooms (Admiraal et al. 2017). As preservice teachers learn to teach about, with, through, and against computational and digital literacies (CDLs) (Vogel et al., 2024), understanding their perspectives provides insight into how their beliefs influence their path to becoming literate creators, users, and consumers of digital tools and technologies.
Methods
We used a mixed-methods design combining quantitative and qualitative data to gain detailed insight into PSTs' beliefs, self-efficacy, and attitudes toward CDLs (Plano, 2016). Data collection included pre-and post-surveys and semi-structured interviews, all designed to explore pre-service teachers' beliefs about the value of CDLs and self-efficacy beliefs associated with their learning and understanding of CDLs. Pre- and post-surveys were analyzed using SPSS, and interview transcripts were analyzed using descriptive, deductive coding.
Results
Survey results show a change in pre-service teachers’ beliefs about the value of CDLs and an increase in pre-service teachers’ CDL-related self-efficacy. Initial analysis of interview data aligns with the shift in PSTs’ beliefs about the value of CDLs and also suggests that PSTs who collaborated with their peers during class time developed a stronger sense of self-efficacy regarding CDLs.


Significance
This study connects the experiences of teacher educators and pre-service teachers and is relevant to the ongoing conversation about the role of CDLs at all levels of education. Insights into the CDL learning experiences of pre-service teachers can inform the design of teacher education coursework and related CDL activities. Understanding pre-service teachers’ beliefs, self-efficacy, and attitudes regarding CDLs has implications for how CDLs will reach K-12 learners.

Authors

• Marta Cabral, College of Staten Island - CUNY

• Olamide Boluwatife Ogungbemi, Michigan State University

• Michelle C. Fraboni, Queens College - CUNY

• Line Saint-Hilaire, Queens College - CUNY

• Melissa Garcia, Lehman College - CUNY

• Nadia S. Kennedy, CUNY - New York City College of Technology

• Spence J. Ray, Cornell Tech/Michigan State University

• Aman Yadav, Michigan State University