Section archive - ICT & Teaching

This case study describes how 18 preservice teachers learned to nurture literary meaning-making via activities based on Louise Rosenblatt's Reader Response Theory within a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE). The authors found that these preservice teachers were able to learn about a technology integration activity within the context of building English Language Arts (ELA) pedagogical content knowledge.

The present paper examines a collaborative study that two teacher educators conducted across two sites. The researchers designed the wiki to support teacher candidates’ critical thinking about learner characteristics; community, classroom, and school factors; and pedagogical content necessary to support elementary school students’ literacy development. Results show that peer collaboration on wiki exchanges supported collaboration and critical thinking about student characteristics and instructional pedagogy. The wiki posts indicated that the wiki supported candidates in considering the developmental needs of students; students’ diverse approaches to learning; and students’ existing skills, abilities, and prior knowledge. The wiki also supported candidates in considering their pedagogical practices in relation to their students’ levels of literacy development.

This research provides a comprehensive look at a constructivist one-to-one computing program’s effects on teaching and learning practices as well as student learning achievements. Findings indicated consistent and highly positive findings of the efficacy of a constructivist one-to-one computing program in terms of student math and reading achievement, differentiation in teaching and learning, higher student attendance, and decreased disciplinary actions.

In this article, the authors reflect upon, revisit, and rethink the original guidelines for using digital technologies to prepare social studies teachers in an effort to facilitate theoretical and practical discussions that may serve as a foundation from which to approach the preparation and development of social studies teachers over the next few years. The authors revisit the guidelines for using digital technologies in light of current scholarship and current contexts. They conclude that 15 years ago they focused on the Internet and the materials accessible online. Since then, the authors have seen the emergence of more advanced technologies. All of these developments have played into the concept of 21st-century classrooms. As a result, they see great value in supporting teachers to develop the critically aware dispositions that enable them to be ready and engage with online professional learning sites.