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Pre-service teachers' ICT experiences and competencies: New generation of teachers in digital age
Citation
Chen, W., Lim, C., & Tan, A. (2010). Pre-service teachers’ ICT experiences and competencies: New generation of teachers in digital age. In S. L. Wong, S. C. Kong, & F.-Y. Yu (Eds.), Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Computers in Education (pp. 631-638). Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.
Abstract
This study is to gather baseline data on the technology experiences and competencies of the new generation of pre-service teachers who were born after 1980. This paper presents findings from a survey study conducted in 2009 with 1554 young pre-service teachers in Singapore. The results show that ICT permeates all aspects of the new generation of pre-service teachers' lives. It is found that they own the mainstream ICT devices (such as desktop and laptop computers) and they are comfortable with a core set of ICT applications but have less access to emerging devices (such as smartphone, PMP) and are less comfortable with specialised technologies. Student use of ICT and competency with emerging technologies is far from universal. Only a minority of the students are engaged in content creation activities using multimedia tools. There is a gap between their everyday ICT skills and the skills of ICT for teaching and learning. The findings are discussed in light of Prensky's notions of the 'Digital Natives'. The implications for using technology to support teaching and learning in teacher education are discussed.
Date Issued
November 2010
Description
This paper was presented at the 18th International Conference on Computers in Education (ICCE 2010), held in Putrajaya, Malaysia from 29 Nov to 3 Dec 2010