Technological Modeling: Faculty Use of Technologies in Preservice Teacher Education from 2004 to 2012.

This 7-year, cross-sectional study of a 1:1 laptop teacher preparatory program in the United States examined the nature and change in faculty technological modeling. Using survey methods, preservice teachers (n = 932) reported their faculty’s use of technological activities in coursework. Through descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and qualitative analysis, researchers found change in the number of faculty members incorporating presentation, word processing, email, learning management systems, and digital video activities in coursework. Emergent activities with low but increasing use included digital audio, social networking, text messaging, and blog activities. Less widely reported activities included social bookmarking, desktop publishing, webpage creation, and games. Overall results indicated all students did not report similar faculty technological modeling, which also meant that students had divergent technological experiences from which to base their future teaching. The discussion outlines an expansion of educational technology integration across teacher education methods/content courses to increase systematic and contemporary coverage of technological advancements in education through codeveloped curriculum and coteaching by educational technology and teacher education faculty. Teacher education faculty members have an important role in the process of teaching future teachers about technology-supported teaching and learning. The learning experiences they design, with or without technology, serve as examples or models for preservice teachers. Teacher education is armed with standards guiding the integration of technology into preservice teacher education, including technology standards for teachers (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008), teacher education accreditation standards (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, 2008), and content standards (Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators, 2006; National Council for the Social Studies, 2009; National Council of Teachers for Mathematics, 2000; National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010a, 2010b; National Research Council, 1996). Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 16(2) 185 Yet, university faculty members’ content expertise, independence in designing course content, and varied technological knowledge and skills for teaching and learning may lead to unsystematic inclusion of educational technology (edtech) preparation in teacher education. Schools and colleges of education (SCOEs) recognize the importance of the role education faculty members play in modeling technology as they adopt initiatives to assist their faculty in learning more about technology. For example, Kay (2006) identified 30% of SCOEs that aimed to increase technology preparedness of their teacher candidates, focused on improving their education faculty’s computer knowledge and use. Similarly, Polly, Mims, Shepherd, and Inan (2010) found faculty technology development was a common feature of the U.S. Department of Education’s Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) initiatives. Conceptually, modeling—what and how instructors use technologies in the presence of preservice teachers—is an important facet in the preparation of new teachers. Course instruction is a significant influence on preservice teachers’ abilities to understand the usefulness of integrating technology in the classroom (Doering, Hughes, & Huffman, 2003; Lambert, Gong, & Cuper, 2008; Lortie, 1975), and consistent modeling and use of technology by the faculty directly influences preservice teachers’ perceptions of using technology for their teaching (Albee, 2003; Darling-Hammond, Meyerson, LaPointe, & Orr, 2009; Hsu, 2012; Mills, 2014). We refer to these faculty activities as faculty technological modeling. Faculty intentions for technological use may implicitly or explicitly include a goal of serving as a model of technology-supported teaching for students. Given the strength of faculty modeling on shaping preservice teachers’ ideas of technology integration possibilities and because preservice teachers often adopt these modeled practices into a technological repertoire for their future use in teaching (Doering et al., 2003; Cervetti, Damico, & Pearson, 2007; Figg & Jamani, 2011), this study investigated the nature of faculty technology modeling in preservice university coursework over 7 years. This research can reveal the changes in faculty technological practices over time, which may serve as one source to understand or theorize novice PK12 teachers’ technological practices. Theoretical Framework This research is framed by theories of learning to teach (Cochran-Smith, Feiman-Nemser, & Mclntyre, 2008; Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005), situated learning (Wenger, 1998), and new literacies (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, Castek, & Henry, 2013). Working toward learning to think, know, feel, and act like a teacher, preservice teachers need to embrace activities of teaching and learning in a pedagogical framework and critically examine new ideas and practices (Feiman-Nemser, 2008). Borko and Putman (1996) suggested that preservice teachers engage in “an active, constructive process that is heavily influenced by an individual’s existing knowledge and beliefs and is situated in particular contexts” (p. 674-675). One of these contexts is university-based coursework. Preservice teachers, as novices, participate peripherally to learning how to teach by observing the expert, their instructor, which provides one model for teaching that influences their developing knowledge, skills, and attitudes of teaching (Rosaen & Florio-Ruane, 2008; Wenger, 1998). Thus, teacher educator choices in using or not using instructional technologies creates a set of digital technology experiences that embody the new literacies (Leu et al., 2013), influencing preservice teachers’ decision-making in PK-12 classrooms as professionals (Cervetti et al., 2007). These digital technology experiences in a preservice teacher education program are mediated or designed by the teacher education faculty. This study examined the Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 16(2) 186 extent to which preservice teachers’ instructors used technologies to support teacher preparation.