Source: Journal of Technology and Teacher Education. Volume 16, Issue 4, October 2008, p. 385-410.
Research on the impact of technology integration in colleges of education is often conflicting and rarely evaluated well. Therefore, It remains unclear which strategies are most effective for integrating technology in a teacher preparation program and how those strategies should be delivered over time. To better understand the effectiveness of particular strategies, researchers must begin by formally analyzing personal differences in preservice teachers attitudes and abilities that may play a role in technology-related learning.
This paper reports on a year-long study conducted to examine the relationships between 62 preservice teachers’ perceived computer ability and attitudes toward computers. The two factors most associated with resistance to computers and the impact of a single technology course on these variables. Utilizing a pretest posttest group design, statistical analyses indicated that a single course greatly impacts perceived computer ability but not general computer attitudes. Furthermore, course instruction as well as prior technology experience has a significant influence on preservice teachers’ ability to understand the usefulness of integrating technology in the classroom. The results also revealed that student outcomes are strongly related to the use of particular instructional strategies that accommodate widely varying experience levels in learners.