Methods and Technology Instructors Reflective Thinking about Good Teaching
Computer technology has been playing an increasingly important role in education in the digital age. Technology integration has been a trend in education for more than a decade. With lots of money, time and effort invested into computer technology, there are still numerous problems that keep emerging. One of the problems is many teachers do not clearly know how to integrate technology into their curriculum and instruction though they were trained to use computer applications. Shoffher et al. (2001, p.395) point out, When technology instruction was provided, it involved teaching about technology not teaching with technology. Teaching about technology refers to technology content knowledge and skills (what to teach), which is normally pervasive in the traditional stand-alone technology course in most teacher education programs. Teaching with technology, on the other hand, refers to methods of using technology in teaching and learning (how to teach it). The purpose of the study is to investigate how methods and technology instructors think about good practice and how they think of pedagogy and technology integration. Three methods instructors and three technology instructors were recruited for an extensive interview. The results show that there are some similarities and differences between methods instructors and technology instructors, including their similar definitions of good teaching practices, applying similar teaching strategies in their teaching, and having similar perceptions of the role of computer technology in teaching. In terms of differences, methods instructors tend to be more focused on critical and higher-order thinking skills and topic-oriented issues related to their background (Social Studies). Additionally, they express some difficulty and frustration with technology use. In other words, they focus on content first and then what technology to use afterwards. Technology instructors are more interested in applying various pedagogical strategies and taking a student-centered approach in a project-oriented technology learning environment but without a strong focus on any particular content. Lacking content constitutes a dilemma and perhaps a substantial disadvantage for technology instructors because it forces them to accept all content when trying to advocate for technology into their students teaching. Accordingly, integration can become a superficial issue.
Li-chu Sung
Department of Applied English,Ming Chuan University
国际会议
2009 International Conference on Applied Linguistics & Language Teaching(2009应用语言学暨语言教学国际研讨会)
台湾
英文
203-215
2009-04-01（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）