Information and Communication Technology Teachers' Initial Education

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Information and Communication Technology Teachers’ Initial Education ANDREJA ISTENIČ STARČIČ University of Primorska, Faculty of Education, Cankarjeva 5, 6000 Koper, Slovenia University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, Jamova 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia SLOVENIA [email protected] http://www2.fgg.uni-lj.si/ Abstract: - In the paper the course “Educational use of ICT” in initial education of information and communication technology teachers is presented. ICT teachers are facing challenges within school environment when working with students and teachers in cross-curricular teaching and learning. ICT teachers are change agents in enhancing interest and excitement in computer science in school environments enriching teaching and learning experiences. For effective pedagogical work ICT teacher needs professional knowledge with strong basis of content-specific knowledge and pedagogical, didactic and psychological knowledge. In the process of developing wisdom of practice ICT teachers are engaged in school and wider projects of ICT deployment in teaching and learning. The impact on students’ and teachers’ digital literacy and competences for learning and teaching with ICT depends on ICT teachers’ creativity. The project based learning was implemented to foster creativity. Key-Words: - ICT teacher, Initial education, Creativity, Project based learning, Multimodality, ICT assisted learning Maribor and University of Primorska. ICT teachers are also educated within faculties of computing of the three universities. In the academic years 2007/08 and 2008/09 the project based learning was introduced. The aim of project based learning was to foster creativity and autonomy of ICT teachers in students teaching, in project leadership and team collaboration with fellow teachers in school environments. ICT teachers are faced with a challenge of change agents in enhancing interest and excitement in computer science in school environments enriching teaching and learning experiences. Among possible ways and solutions to be implemented are: cross-curricular collaboration, and the design of repositories of teaching and learning resources. In the present situation of open and free resources is the implementation of systems, tools and applications possible without intensive institutional support. The community of interest is main facilitator for design and development of resources needed.

1 Introduction Teacher’s role is to prepare students for knowledge society. Among key teacher’s competences are competences for introduction of new teaching and learning methods assisted with information communication technologies (ICT) and competences for teacher’s own professional learning with ICT. In teacher training, the need for a shift from the technical competences to the competences of directing the teacher’s own professional development is of crucial importance [6], therefore teacher will be ready to respond to changes, and to incorporate innovation into their teaching [1]. Among main challenges is integration of ICT in teaching and learning for a shift in classroom management. New generations of students are bringing new expectations for learning in virtual learning environments. Contemporary learning needs are defined with the expectations of young generations of students, who have grown up with immersive computermediated experience as a norm [14]. ICT teachers in schools are facing new roles in processes of ICT proliferations in schools and society. They are leading students and teachers into digital literacy. Competences for participation in information society and for learning with ICT are among key generic competences. ICT teachers are recognized as main support for teachers and school leaders in ICT deployment in schools. In the paper the course “Educational use of ICT” in initial education of information communication technology teacher (ICT teacher) is presented. In Slovenia are three Faculties of Education educating ICT teachers within three universities: University of Ljubljana, University of

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2 A course “Educational use of ICT” Teachers’ initial preparation and professional learning is aiming at developing teachers’ autonomy and reflectivity when connecting theory and practice. To build professional knowledge and develop competences aligning basic areas which form teacher’s professional knowledge project work was introduced. Within the course “Educational use of ICT” crosscurricular or interdisciplinary teaching and learning is facilitated.

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competences and skills for leading, managing the projects and has to be open for creative approaches. Students were introduced into organizational structure of project work with study outcomes, learning methods for collaborative and individual learning, assessment criteria, and teacher educator role. Teacher educator was giving interactive lectures at the beginning of each project phase, covering theory topics which students then applied in their project work phase. During collaborative work teacher’s role was facilitative, when tutoring and guiding students. Assessment was process and product oriented evaluating individual and group work during project stages. The introduced project type was “A directed project” aiming at applying defined knowledge base during a structured learning process. Phases of the project are introduced by topic related content delivery. The mastering of knowledge and competence is under teacher’s guidance and tutoring [11].

Students in the process of development professional knowledge integrate knowledge and competences from subject-specific areas, special didactic knowledge for teaching computer science, and pedagogical, didactic and psychological knowledge. Curricular knowledge and wisdom of practice is an important area within the course. ICT teacher with a strong combination of all areas of professional knowledge can approach teaching with creativity and autonomy. Table 1. Project work structure Project Stage

Interactive Lectures

Group work

Independe nt Work

Tutoring

Organization

45 hours

45 hours

15 hours

3 hours per group during the semester

5 4

0 0

IDEA GENERATION Novelty - topic 5 Novelty3 teaching methods Novelty3 applicability DIDACTIC PLANNING Learning 3 objectives Contents 3 Activities 4 PRODUCT DESIGN Multimodality 6 Visual 6 presentation Technical 6 solutions User6 friendliness

1 1

0

5

2

2 3

2 3

5 7

2 2

8

2

5

2

3 Creativity framework: Project work The creativity is recognized as an important factor fostering motivation and students achievements [12], [17], [18]. In Computer science teaching and learning the creativity-related factors are enhancing students’ motivation in programming [18] and in free / open source programming [8]. The creativity and creative thinking is a key generic competence in learning society. According to Tuning methodology, competences are described as a dynamic combination of characteristics, capability and knowledge, marking the learning results of a study program. They are described by the general-generic competences and subject-specific competences. Generic competences consist of instrumental competences (e.g. cognitive, linguistic skills), interpersonal competences and social skills (e.g. cooperativeness) and systemic competences, capabilities and skills concerning the system as a whole (e.g. capability of use of knowledge in practice, adapting to new situations) [19]. Subjectspecific competences consist of knowledge and skills in professional disciplines in relation to which the common reference frameworks are designed. In developing competences, it needs to be taken into account that competences mostly do not depend on the specific contents only, but that they are developed as an “intersubject” result. Simultaneously, it is significant that the general competences facilitate and enable inter-subject linkages, thereby influencing the development of competences. The framework for the description of a creative ICT-use in a teacher’s pedagogical work was proposed by Loveless et al. [13]. The model is based on “interaction

1

1

For the course 45 hours of lectures is combined with 45 hours of tutorials in a computer lab. Besides 90 hour students are requested to work 15 hours independently. Teacher educator was giving all together 3 hours of tutoring per group during the semester. Teacher educator was giving lectures covering the course topics, which were followed with project work. The main aim of project work was to provide authentic and autonomous learning [7] based on authentic project work environment for students to build their knowledge and competence by collaborative learning. In the processes of deployment of ICT with a new teaching and learning methods of project work, critical success factor is collaboration. Three dimensions of school support are needed: competence support, autonomy support, and collegial support [9]. ICT teacher needs to develop

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was implemented for the production of mathematical, chemistry and physics texts. The evaluation of the projects was based on three general criteria, presented in Table 3. Achieved average mark is presented.

between three elements of creative practices with ICT: creative process (for example, using imagination, fashioning, pursuing purpose and evaluating originality and value), the features of ICT (for example, provisionality, interactivity, capacity, range, speed, automatic functioning and multimodality) and ICT capability as an expression of elements of higher order thinking-finding things out, developing ideas and making things happen, exchanging and sharing information, and reviewing, modifying and evaluating work as it progress, through a breadth of study. According to Wheeler, Waite and Bromfield (2002), the author includes also the dimensions of problem-solving, creative cognition and social interaction. A development of the framework would therefore need to incorporate the social interaction within the community of activity.” The creativity was applied as a concept, a tool, a method and a technique in a teaching and learning process. Students were engage in a discovery learning process and hands-on learning when designing their projects aiming at novel achievements. Teacher educator was assisting students project based learning as a facilitator. The organization of project based learning was combining individual and collaborative learning.

Table 2. Summary of selected students’ projects applications Selected APls

MediaWiki

4 A case study In the case study all together 40 students participated in the second semester of the academic years 2007/08 and 2008/09. The project work was introduced at the beginning of the course. Students received detailed plan and instructions for their work (Table 1). During the course formative evaluation was conducted ending with summative evaluation performed by teacher. The evaluation results are presented in Table 3. Main motivation for students in the project work was to design didactical programs for cross-curricular teaching. Anticipated user group are teachers who are average ICT users and not ICT experts. Based on this challenge students were learning pedagogy, didactic, and psychology. In the table the selected applications are listed according to assessment rank list of first 7th projects. MediaWiki [15] was used for collaborative peer learning and creation of community in variety of cross-curriculum combinations. Google earth [5] was applied for geography teaching. Google docs [4] were applied for collaborative active learning of foreign languages. Game maker [3] was applied for diverse cross-curriculum teaching and learning. Pivot animator [16] use for story writing and animation with Pivot in foreign language teaching (English) and in Slovene language teaching. Freemind [2] for teaching and learning with mind maps in diverse cross-curriculum applications. LaTeX [10]

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CrossCurriculum Applications http://www.mediawiki.o ICT – Diverse rg/wiki/MediaWiki

Google earth

http://earth.google.com/

Google docs

http://docs.google.com/s ICT-Foreign upport/?hl=en language

Game maker

http://www.yoyogames. com/gamemaker/

Pivot

http://www.pivotlog.net/ ICT - Languages

Freemind

http://freemind.en.softon ICT – Diverse ic.com/ http://www.latexICT – project.org/ Mathematics

Latex

ICT-Geography

ICT – Diverse

In the table the selected applications are listed according to assessment rank list of first 7th projects. MediaWiki [15] was used for collaborative peer learning and creation of community in variety of cross-curriculum combinations. Google earth [5] was applied for geography teaching. Google docs [4] were applied for collaborative active learning of foreign languages. Game maker [3] was applied for diverse cross-curriculum teaching and learning. Pivot animator [16] use for story writing and animation with Pivot in foreign language teaching (English) and in Slovene language teaching. Freemind [2] for teaching and learning with mind maps in diverse cross-curriculum applications. LaTeX [10] was implemented for the production of mathematical, chemistry and physics texts. The evaluation of the projects was based on three general criteria, presented in Table 3. Achieved average mark is presented.

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References: 1. Buchberger, F., Campos, B. P., Kallos, D., Stephenson, J. (eds.): Green paper on teacher education in Europe. Thematic Network on Teacher Education in Europe, Umeå (2000) 2. Freemind, http://freemind.en.softonic.com/3. Foster, I., Kesselman, C.: The Grid: Blueprint for a New Computing Infrastructure. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco (1999) 3. Gamemaker, http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/ 4. Google docs, http://docs.google.com/support/?hl=en 5. Google Earth, http://earth.google.com/ 6. Istenic Starcic, A., Brodnik, A.: In-service teacher training for the use of information communication technology. Annales. Ser. Hist. Sociol. 15/1, 163-168 (2005) 7. Kilpatrick, V. H.: The project method. Teachers College Bulletin 19, 319-335 (1918) 8. Lakhani, K. and Wolf, R.: Why Hackers Do What They Do: Understanding Motivation Effort in Free/Open Source Software Projects. In: J. Feller, B. F., S. Hissam, and K. R. Lakhani (eds). Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software. 3--22. MIT Press (2005) 9. Lam, S., Cheng, R. W., Choy, H. C.: School support and teacher motivation to implement project-based learning. Learning and Instruction. 1--11 (2009) 10. Latex, http://www.latex-project.org/ 11. Lee, N.: Project methods as the vehicle for learning in undergraduate design educational typology. Design Studies. 30/5, 541--560 (2009) 12. Long, J.: Just For Fun: Using Programming Games in Software Programming Training and Education A Field Study of IBM Robocode Community. Journal of Information Technology Education. 6, 279--290 (2007) 13. Loveless, A., Burton, J., Turvey, K.: Developing Conceptual Framework for Creativity, ICT and Teacher Education. Thinking Skills and Creativity. 1, 3--13 (2006) 14. Lynch, M. A., Tunstall, R. J.: When world collide: Developing game-design partnerships at universities. Simmulation and Gaming. Sage, http://sag.sagepub.com/cgi/rapidpdf/1046878108319 275v1 (2008) 15.MediaWiki, http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki 16. Pivot, http://www.pivotlog.net/ 17. Resnick, M.: All I really need to know (about creative thinking) I learned (by studying how

Table 3. Evaluation of project work Activities IDEA GENERATION

DIDACTIC PLANNING

PRODUCT DESIGN

Outcomes description

Assessment Average

Novelty - topic Novelty – teaching methods Novelty - applicability

8.2 7.7 8.4

Learning objectives Contents Activities

7.2 8.2 7.9

Multimodality Visual presentation Technical solutions User-friendliness

8.7 8.6 9.2 8.8

Students’ project work was evaluated with formative evaluation (presented in Table 3). Each outcome had 10 %, together in idea generation 30 %, Didactic planning 30 % and in Product design 40 %. Teacher Educator was assisting and guiding students within their work process. Students were more focused on technical planning and instructions and needed additional guidance to focus on didactical planning and instructions. The lowest average was in didactical planning of learning objectives. The highest average is for technical solutions in product design.

5 Conclusion ICT teachers when providing ICT expertise in a school environment perform best when applying pedagogical / didactic / psychological knowledge. In the preparation of ICT teachers all contents of teacher’s professional knowledge have to be integrated and applied in authentic tasks. Learning process based on project work foster development of generic competences communication, interpersonal skills, collaboration, organization, management, leadership skills, which are needed in a school environment when working with students and teachers. ICT teacher needs experiences in creative thinking skills and creative project work which foster autonomous decision making in school environments. The project based learning in initial ICT teacher education was presented to enhance creativity and autonomy.

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children learn) in kindergarten. In: Proc. of the 6th ACM SIGCHI conference on Creativity & cognition, Washington, pp. 1--6. ACM Press (2007) 18. Romeike, R.: Applying Creativity in CS High School Education – Criteria, Teaching Example and Evaluation. In: Seventh Baltic Sea Conference on Computing Education Research Koli National Park, Finland, Nov. 15-18, 2007 Conferences in Research and Practice In Information technology, Vol 88 (2007) 19. TUNING Report 2 (2003-2005), Educational sciences. In J. González, Wagenaar, R. (eds.). Tuning Universities’ Contribution to the Bologna Process. pp. 75--93. University of Groningen. Education Sciences, (2005) http://www.pef.unilj.si/bologna/dokumenti/tuning2-teachereducation.pdf

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