Pre-Service Teachers’ Technology Skills and its Effects in Using Technology for Instruction: In Pursuit for Quality Teacher Training

Abstract

The use of technology for instruction is gaining widespread recognition because educators now believe in the potency of technology and how it affects teaching and learning positively. To be able to use technology effectively for instruction, teachers must have the knowledge and technical ability to use technology for instructional delivery. The purpose of this study therefore was to investigate into pre-service teachers’ technical ability to use technology and its effect for instruction. The study is located in the pragmatist paradigm which followed a mixed methods approach using a concurrent triangulation design. A stratified random sample of 417 pre-service teachers were drawn from eight teacher colleges of education as well as a purposive sample of four tutors of teaching technology related courses and four tutors handling other courses participated in the study. Four student focus groups consisting of ten students in each group also provided data qualitative data for the study. The study used semi-structured questionnaires and interview schedules to gather data. Quantitative data were analyzed statistically using relevant descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic approach. It came to light that although there are challenges pre-service teachers face in terms of access to such technologies, they still do their best to include technologies in their lessons whenever possible. It was found that pre-service teachers lack the technical skills needed to use technology effectively for classroom instruction because of the lack of technical training which is missing from the curriculum for training. Pre-service teachers are calling for more technical skills training to equip them to overcome their fears to be able to use technology for instruction. It is therefore being recommended that stakeholders of teacher education would redesign the technology curriculum to include more technical courses to help equip pre-service teachers to teach effectively with technology in the classroom.