Choy, Doris

The purpose of this study is to investigate the development of student teachers' intentions and practices in integrating Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into teaching. Data was collected before and after the ICT course on their intentions to use ICT in future teaching, and after the two practicum school attachments to find out their practices in integrating ICT during their student teaching. The results showed that student teachers' intentions to integrate ICT were positive before and after the ICT course. There was a significant decrease in their practices to integrate ICT as an administrative tool and a student learning tool during the first practicum attachment. However, there were significant increases in their ICT practices during their second practicum attachment. The student teachers also reported positive overall attitude towards the use of ICT in teaching throughout their two-year teacher education programme.

This paper reports a part of a longitudinal study of 170 student teachers who were enrolled in the 2004 intake of the Postgraduate Diploma in Education – Primary (PGDE – Primary) initial teacher preparation (ITP) programme at the National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore. It examined the changes, if any, in the student teachers' perceptions of their pedagogical knowledge and skills at the beginning and the end of their teacher preparation using a survey which was administered at these two data points. The survey instrument was found to be reliable for assessing these perceptions of knowledge and skills. The findings also indicated that the student teachers' perception of their pedagogical knowledge and skills in facilitating student learning, planning and preparing lessons, assessing students and accommodating student diversity increased significantly by the end of their teacher preparation programme. However, the level of their perceived knowledge in the area of non-teaching responsibilities remained unchanged while their perceived skills in this factor decreased significantly at the end of the programme. Implications of these findings on the PGDE (Primary) ITP programme will be discussed in this paper.

Blended learning has become an integral component of the curriculum in institutes of higher learning (IHL) worldwide. Problem-based Learning (PBL) is a constructivistic learning approach that can facilitate the development of 21st-century competencies such as self-directed learning (SDL) and collaborative learning (CL). This study investigated if there are any differences in Polytechnic students’ perceptions of self-directed learning and collaborative learning between the blended PBL design and the face-to-face PBL design in terms of self-directed learning and collaborative learning in Singapore. The study adopted a quasi-experimental approach, with 56 student participants completing a 36-item validated pre/post survey instrument (MSDLCL). Statistical analyses suggested that in both PBL approaches, students’ perceptions of self-directed learning with technology and collaborative learning increased significantly. Focus group discussion results suggested that while students were motivated to complete the assigned PBL tasks, they preferred to conduct collaborative learning activities in person and work on self-directed learning activities online.

This study followed a cohort of student teachers from the beginning of their teacher education program to the end of the third year of teaching, looking at their perceived changes in pedagogical knowledge and skills in teaching in Singapore. The PKST survey comprising 37 items with six factors were used to collect data. In the cohort of over 1300 student teachers, 353 participated in all five survey data collections. The results showed that the participants’ overall pedagogical knowledge and skills in teaching increased significantly. The largest increases were found in knowledge in lesson planning and skills in classroom management. The skills in showing care and concern did not show significant increases until the end of third year of teaching.

This paper reports the qualitative findings of a two-year study aimed at investigating the process and impact of video technology-aided and researcher-guided reflection on seven preservice teachers’ learning to teach with information technology (IT). Video technology and guided reflection could afford the participants to develop their embodied understanding about technology-enhanced pedagogy and positively impact their future actions. However, dialogic understanding from guided reflection was found most crucial for preservice teachers to unsettle previously held assumptions, reconstruct new understandings, and consequently could prepare them to be thoughtful for future actions. Implications for teacher education are discussed.

Premised on situated cognition, this study focused on developing preservice teachers’ understanding and performances in technology-based pedagogies during the formal coursework at NIE and during their field placements. A mixed-method research design was proposed. This study aimed to contribute to the field of technology-based pedagogy and preservice teachers’ education.
The first objective was to track if there were any changes in preservice teachers’ technology competency, perceptions and practice in the use of ICT for classroom teaching and learning. This was done by collecting quantitative survey data from a cohort of 300 preservice teachers in the Diploma in Education (Primary) programme at four different points throughout their initial teacher education programme. The research questions were:
 What are the changes of the preservice teachers’ intentions to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in their future teaching?  What are the changes of the preservice teachers’ practices to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in their 5-week Teaching Assistantship and 10-week Teaching Practice?
The second objective was to investigate a small group of 14 preservice teachers’ process of constructing their understanding of technology-based pedagogy throughout their initial teacher education programme.

As technology continues to influence many aspects of our social and work lives, it is important that school experiences equip students the skills and knowledge that will enable them to develop into effective independent, creative, and lifelong learners to cope with the influx of changes. Given that teachers play a key role in the effective use of technology in education, there is a need to ensure that teacher education programs prepare teachers for the effective integration of ICT in the classrooms. We believe that there is a need to adopt a student-centered learning framework to design our ICT based Student-Centred Learning (SCL) curriculum for all pre-service teachers. In this paper, we presents parts of the findings from a curriculum review which evaluated 483 pre-service teachers’ overall satisfaction level towards an ICT based SCL course. We also provide some recommendations to the ICT curriculum based on the results found.

The purpose of this study was to investigate if there were differences in the levels of pedagogical knowledge and skills as perceived by the student teachers who were enrolled in the Primary and the Secondary Post Graduate Diploma in Education programme at the National Institute of Education in Singapore. 170 Primary and 426 Secondary student teachers participated in the study. The results showed that there were no significant differences at the beginning of the programme between the two cohorts. However, there were significant differences between the two groups at the end of programme, with the Primary student teachers tending to perceive themselves as gaining more pedagogical knowledge and skills by the end of their initial teacher preparation programme than the Secondary student teachers.