This article reports the perceived learning of a group of Chinese teacher candidates who audited an ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) literacy course while participating in an exchange programme between Southwest University in China and the University of Windsor in Canada.
Data were collected through
1) reflective notes written by visiting students and
2) semi-structured interviews conducted with them towards the end of their visit.
The majority of participants stated that the learning experience helped them to realise the important role theory plays in the learning of ICT and to seek ideas of how to creatively integrate ICT in their future classrooms.
Participants with limited ICT knowledge and skills reported that by being exposed to various functions of frequently used programmes and many free software programmes, they felt more confident in using ICT in their own teaching. Furthermore, those with strong ICT backgrounds found that the course helped them to understand the relationship among ICT, society, and pedagogy.
The teacher candidates’ perceived learning included aspects of culture and pedagogy in addition to ICT knowledge and skills.
Coming to know in ways like this is critically important to international partnerships and foundational to reciprocal learning where each learns from the other.