Factors that influence student teacher's interest to achieve educational technology standards
Bearing in mind the importance of a transition from teacher-centred, lecture-based teaching to student-centred, technology-based learning, this study examined teachers' interest to achieve educational technology standards (INTEREST) in terms of their computer attitude (ATTITUDE), computer experience (EXPERIENCE) and the professional support to achieve these standards offered to them from their institutions (SUPPORT). The study used a sample of 129 elementary student teachers from Finland and Serbia. The two groups of teachers differed in all examined variables: EXPERIENCE was higher for the Finnish students, whereas ATTITUDE, INTEREST and SUPPORT were higher for the Serbian students. Furthermore, contrary to the Finnish students, the Serbian student indicated that they received some instruction on ET standards during their studies and designed learning activities to promote the examined standards. By applying a two-group path analysis, it was found that to improve INTEREST, we need to improve ATTITUDE by means of EXPERIENCE. The analyzed data evidence that a desired role of SUPPORT (positive impact on EXPERIENCE and ATTITUDE) can be achieved when SUPPORT respects EXPERIENCE. Implications for practice and directions for further research are examined. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
educational technology standards computer attitude elementary teachers pre-service training international study