Mentoring: A Strategy for Change in Teacher Technology Education

* * * * * * * * * * A preservice mentoring program involving second year mentors and first year proteges focused on concerns regarding the use of the Internet for teaching and learning. The mentoring program was analyzed using the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM). This model describes three developmental phases of concerns regarding innovation and change: self-focus, task, and impact. The Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) was used as both a pre and postassessment of participants concerns. The unique nature of mentoring allowed each group to address relevant concerns and make positive shifts to higher levels of concern. The validity of the SoCQ for preservice teachers is discussed and an alternative is investigated. Using technology to strengthen learning requires teachers who possess the skills and abilities to do so. Teachers need to become competent both with basic technology skills, and with using technology for teaching and learning. Acquiring this knowledge base is not a one-time event; it is an ongoing process of change. A 1999 national survey of teacher education programs has found little correlation between training in formal technology classes and the capacity for integration in actual teaching (Moursund & Bielefeldt, 1999). The current model used in higher education all too frequently reinforces this problem. Preservice teachers' primary experience with technology often occurs in a stand-alone course that focuses on computer skills. Effectively preparing preservice teachers to integrate technology requires a systematic program that recognizes the concerns preservice teachers have with the use of technology. This study examined a peer-mentoring program that was implemented as one method of integrating technology across the preservice teacher program. The program centered on using the Internet for teaching and learning. The mentors were second and third year students enrolled in an instructional technology course. The proteges were first year students enrolled in Introduction to Elementary Education, the first course in the elementary education sequence. Mentors learned Internet and technology integration skills by developing WebQuests for use by K-6 students as part of the instructional technology course. After creating these WebQuests, the mentors coached their proteges in the development of a web page focusing on Internet sources for teachers. The first year students did not receive any training on use of the Internet in the introductory course. The mentoring took place over a five-week time frame. The mentors were responsible for scheduling instruction and developing strategies to meet the individual needs of their proteges. Mentors evaluated their proteges both in terms of their basic technology skills and their attitudes and concerns regarding use of the Internet for teaching and learning. This study covered 45 mentors and 65 proteges in one semester. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Stages of Concern Feelings of concern and disequilibria are normal when preservice teachers learned new skills or an innovation. A theory of the change process was developed by Fuller (1969) who posited three developmental stages that preservice teachers go through: (a) nonconcern, (b) concern with self, and (c) concern with others. Fuller's model led to a more general theory of innovation and change called the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM). CBAM was based on several assumptions: (a) change was not an event, but a process; (b) change was best seen as happening within individuals rather than as within institutions; (c) individuals had different concerns as well as different skill levels at different stages of the change process; and (d) effective facilitation of change meant addressing the specific concerns of individuals who were at different stages of the change process (Berlin & Jensen, 1989). …