Technology Integration for Pre-Service Teachers in a Team-Taught Cohort Experience
Abstract: University of Maine at Farmington is a public liberal arts university in Western Maine known for its teacher preparation program. A 12-credit “block” of courses in the Secondary/Middle Education program gives pre-service teachers a powerful cohort experience in their second year, which endows pre-service teachers with an authentic opportunity to integrate technology into a unit based on strong educational theory and current research, and an opportunity to spend quality time in a middle or high school classroom with a mentor teacher while being supported and coached by a team of university faculty members in a technology-rich environment. Two semesters of data, including a comparison with a more traditional program, indicate that the block approach is successful in increasing pre-service teachers’ competence and confidence in technology integration in the classroom.
Presider: Jan Tucker, Columbia Southern University