Providing Context for Technology Integration: Teacher Candidates Engage in Real-World Data Collection
Abstract: Teaching future teachers to understand the ISTE Standards for Students and Educators can be complex as preservice teachers may not possess the background knowledge to operationalize what the standards might look like in practice. Teacher candidates can gain understandings as they demonstrate that they are learners by engaging and practicing being leaders, collaborators by designing data collection, which is then analyzed. The paper provides an example of teacher candidates using technology in collaboration with faculty to investigate and answer a real-world question; What is the student perception of their college teacher preparation experience? Student-scholars designed and administered a college-wide survey gathering valuable information on the students’ perceptions of their teacher preparation program. The data were then analyzed and shared with college faculty and at the undergraduate research symposium. Additionally, this paper will share these student scholars experiences of taking what they learned about technology integration from this experience into their student teaching.