Will Tomorrow’s Physical Educators Be Prepared to Teach in the Digital Age?

This study was conducted to determine how preservice physical educators feel about their level of competence to integrate technology effectively in their professional careers. Billions of dollars have been invested in curriculum and instruction reform and preparing tomorrow’s technology -proficient educators. Few grants or projects, however, have focused on helping physical education teacher education programs and K-12 physical education programs in preparing technology-proficient physical educators. International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) instruments were used for self-assessments on (a) basic computer skill levels and (b) integrating technology into their learning, research, and future teaching. By far, the greatest proportion of each of the three groups of preservice teachers (general preparation, pre-student-teaching/internship, and post-student-teaching/internship) rated their level of competence to be minimal. The findings of the present research demonstrated that preservice physical educators have not been well prepared to be technology proficient in order to teach in this digital age. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 6(1) 144 The United States has made tremendous progress toward equipping schools with computers and modern communication networks. Now, approximately 98% of our schools are connected to the Internet and the powerful opportunities for learning that the Internet makes possible (Parsad & Jones, 2005). These investments in computers and Internet access, professional development, technical support, and content have allowed many K-12 teachers and students to reap the benefits of powerful teaching and learning applications. Research and evaluation studies demonstrate that school improvement programs employing technology for teaching and learning yield positive results for students and teachers. For example, elementary and secondary students demonstrated significantly more learning when technologies were integrated into language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies lessons than when the same subject matter was taught without integration of technologies (Taylor, Casto, & Walls, 2004). In response to the demand that teachers be prepared to educate 21 st-century learners, great efforts and investments have been made in many projects and districts to prepare technology-profic ient teachers. Despite the generous investment in putting computers and connectivity into schools, computers are not as widely used by students and teachers as many would suppose (Zhao, Pugh, Sheldon, & Byers, 2002). An “ecological perspective” was suggested by Zhao and Frank (2003), in which progressive (evolutionary) phases of technology adoption have been (or would be) more productive than sudden mandates (revolutionary) on teachers to learn and integrate technologies. Perhaps compromise between these two extremes might be most productive. Although many educators and policy analysts consider technology a vehicle for transforming education, in fact, a National Center for Education Statistics study (U.S. Department of Education, 2000) found that only 33% of teachers (overall) and 44% of new teachers (three or fewer years in the classroom) feel well prepared to use computers and the Internet for a variety of potential applications in their teaching. That NCES report commented that it may be understandable that teachers who are many years removed from their undergraduate or graduate training would be less comfortable using newer, technology-infused teaching methods. However, a current problem is that too many of today's new teachers are uncomfortable using technology in the classroom. The report held this circumstance, given the nearly ubiquitous nature of technology in society today, to be the fault of teacher preparation programs still producing underprepared teachers. Ten years ago, Willis and Mehlinger (1996) indicated that, although a large number of students in teacher education programs were taking some coursework in information technology, by and large this instruction was not tied to curriculum, methods, field experience, or practice teaching. Current in-service and preservice education systems have been struggling to keep up with the rapid pace of change. Since the late 1990s, billions of dollars have been invested in preparing tomorrow’s technology-proficient educators, but few grants, programs, or projects have focused on preparing technology proficient physical educators. Physical education is a critical component of schooling. The physical education teacher has important roles as a planner, manager, colleague, professional physical educator, counselor, and representative of the school (Siedentop, Herkowitz, & Rink, 1984), as well as the primary role of instructor. Although it might seem that the gymnasium would be the last place where technology would have a strong influence in curriculum and instruc tion, it is certainly not the case. For instance, the principles that contribute to multimedia teaching effectiveness are as applicable to “catch” and “throw” for physical education teachers and students as to sentence construction in language arts or electric motor operation in vocational education (Mayer, Dow, & Mayer, 2003). Examples of using technology to enhance and improve physical education are everywhere: Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 6(1) 145 • Physical-education listservs for e-mail can be created for each class or for a school physical education program. Electronic bulletin boards can allow individuals to post and read messages about physical education topics. Chat rooms can be created so that students may discuss issues related to their physical education class work. Web pages can be created for physical education programs to allow communication to students, parents, and the community. Links from Web pages can allow direct access to physical education resources needed by students and their parents (see Physical Education List Servs and PE Central). Editor’s note: For Web site URLs , see the Resources section at the end of this paper. • Instructional CD, DVD video, and Internet-based student research on physical education topics offer learning resources and tools (e.g., Online Technology Newsletter). • Heart monitors have enabled students to track exercise patterns, and the data collected may be downloaded or entered into a personal computer, where the data can be graphically displayed and analyzed by students and teachers (e.g., see EKHO Web site). • Florida Virtual School is an Internet-based public high school offering online high school curriculum to more than 10,000 students. Of 65 courses offered in 2002-03, three were Fitness Lifestyle Design, Life Management Skills, and Personal Fitness. • In recent years, some physical education teacher education programs in higher education across the country have been offering online master’s degrees (e.g., West Virginia University , University of Texas system, Virginia Tech University ). The purpose of this study was to investigate the confidence of preservice physical educators in their basic computer skills, as well as in integrating technology into their professional learning, research, and future teaching. The participants of this study were college physical education teacher education major students. The surveys conducted in this study were created by the International Society of Technology in Education and were designed specifically for college education-major students to assess technology proficiency by self-assessment. The surveys were (a) the Basic Computer Skills Survey (Appendix A ), (b) the General Preparation Survey (Appendix B), (c) the Professional Preparation Survey (Appendix C), and (d) the Student Teaching Profile Survey (Appendix D). All the surveys were conducted as online surveys, which were hosted on a secure university server. The overall research question of this study was “How self-confident are preservice physical educators of their own technology proficiency?” More specifically, how do preservice physical educators, (general preparation, pre-studentteaching/internship, and post-student-teaching/internship) rate their own competence on (a) basic computer skill levels and (b) how well they could integrate technology into their learning, research, and future teaching?