Pre-service teachers and their experiences of technology: A mixed methods study

Abstract

This research study explored pre-service teachers? experiences of technology in personal and professional capacities. It sought to establish if participants were millennials, by virtue of their uses of those technologies and proceeded to identify any factors that aided or impeded technology use on school placement. The research was conducted based on a pragmatic epistemological paradigm, and utilised a mixed methods approach. The methods used included surveys and interviews, administered in a sequential explanatory design over three years, with each of two cohorts of pre-service teachers. The first survey was administered when the pre-service teachers entered their Bachelor in Education course, in first year, and then subsequent surveys were administered after school placements in second and third years. A sub-sample of survey respondents were invited to interview in the third year of the research study. Cohort one (C1) had 80 participants and cohort two (C2) had 104 participants. Of these, fourteen (n=14) respondents completed semi-structured interviews. Statistical and thematic analysis was conducted on the survey and interview data. The results of the research demonstrated a complex and multi-faceted interplay of components that impacted on use of technology by the pre-service teacher participants. These participants were frequent, and confident, users of personal technologies. However, physical, social and cultural factors impeded technology use in the classroom. These factors included extrinsic barriers such as technology not being available, and intrinsic barriers such as participants own lack of competence using technology. Contextual factors included the influence of the mentor teacher; the college-based preparation course and the social norms experienced while on school placement. The implications of the results for general educational policies and specific teacher education practice are discussed.