The purpose of this study was to examine the proficiency or lack of proficiency of prospective teacher education students at two-year community colleges to use and integrate instructional technologies. In addition, this study also examined the perceived perceptions of prospective teacher education students levels of preparedness to use instructional technologies in their future classrooms. Participants in the study were students in a teacher preparation program. The survey was administered to students from six community colleges in the southeastern part of the United States. The Prospective Teacher Education Students Survey was developed and administered to a sample of 109 prospective teacher education students. Results of the study revealed a low proficiency in technology use for database, ethical use understanding, and spreadsheet. Prospective teacher education students reported greater proficiency in computer operation, word processing, and internet use. Low frequency and effectiveness were reported in the use of technology mediated instructional strategies for synchronous communication and simulations. Results indicated higher frequency and effectiveness in technology mediated instructional strategies for word processing and Internet use by students. Generally, students perceived their level of preparedness to implement various technology skills as somewhat well prepared . Descriptive statistics, raw percentages, and independent t-tests were used to analyze the data.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MAGISTER EDUCATIONIS (MATHS, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION) TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION at the UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND, 2010. / The study investigated the attitudes of in-service, teacher education students at a South African University. The study is set in a rural context with participants drawn from the University of Zululand, situated on the north coast of KwaZulu¬Natal province. Data was collected from 88 teachers, enrolled for a National Professional Diploma in Education (NPDE) in technology education at the University. The study aimed at generating information from respondents in an open, qualitative research framework. The study utilized a confirmatory survey approach and the data collection instrument used for the study was adapted from the "Pupils' Attitude Towards Technology" (PATT) instrument used successfully in other countries e.g. Netherlands, United States of America and Thailand. The results of the study indicated that, teachers showed a strong conceptual understanding of technology, and they assigned a great level of importance to knowing how technologies work. Similarly, the study's findings showed that teachers are aware of the positive and negative impact of technology, and that they showed a keen interest in wanting to know more about different technologies. In contrast with their interest, teachers showed a moderate to low level of knowledge and understanding concerning technologies used in their everyday lives. Teachers also felt that they have some influence when it comes to making decisions about technology, but they have very low confidence in leaders of their communities to make decisions about technology. Teachers were also unanimous in their view that technology must play an important role in the school curriculum, and they placed very high expectations on what they believed a high school learner should know about technology.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education in the Faculty of Education at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / The research question that guided this doctoral study is: How do pre-entry academic and non-academic factors influence teacher education students’ first-year experience and academic performance? The study was designed within the qualitative research paradigm and employed a case study strategy to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative approach included a questionnaire that was completed by 195 respondents. The qualitative data was obtained from one-on-one and focus-group interviews with eight participants that were purposively selected. The conceptual framework developed for this enquiry took into consideration the significance of student diversity in understanding first-year experience and thus employed concepts from two sociological models, Tinto’s (1975; 1993) integration model (social and academic integration) and Bourdieu’s (1984; 1990) theoretical tools of capital, habitus and field. Six key themes emerged from the data: determination, self-reliance, fitting-in, out-of-habitus experience, positioning oneself to succeed and challenges. The unequal distribution of economic, social and cultural capital created disparities between students’ habitus and schooling experiences which influenced the way they integrated into their first year at university. The study revealed that more mature students than school-leavers and gap-students are entering higher education. Further, the majority of first-year students are unable to fund their studies and source external funding or engage in part-time employment. Students pursued financial aid before focusing on academic activities. Engagement in the social domain remained marginal. Students’ determination to change their economic circumstances was the primary factor that influenced their attitudes and actions at university. Higher education needs to consider student diversity, financial constraints of disadvantaged students, first-year curriculum planning and delivery, and the high cost of university studies. It needs to move away from viewing entering students from a deficit model, to capitalise on their qualities of determination, optimism, enthusiasm and openness to learning, thereby creating an inclusive first-year experience that could encourage retention and student success.

Critical pedagogy asserts that in education there is regressive politics of knowledge that is inculcated as “infallible” information to passive students through all kinds of texts that conceal the power, inequality and injustice in human relationships. Education has thus degenerated into becoming techinicist and consequently oppressive. Techinicist education aims at maintaining the status quo. The creators of texts that are used in oppressive education systems and society in general focus on the question, “How do we best get knowledge that serves our interests into the heads of our young people?” Thus critical literacy which encourages consumers of texts to read, reflect and react is now indispensable to learners who nowadays are exposed to various texts with hidden agendas. This research focused on perceptions of critical literacy of teacher education students in Masvingo province in Zimbabwe. The research participants were third year diploma students in their final residential phase of teacher education. The mixed methodology was employed bearing in mind its principal role that it provides strengths that offset the weaknesses of both quantitative and qualitative research. The research instruments used were the questionnaire and the interview guide. The questionnaire was administered to convenience samples of one hundred teacher education students per each of the three institutions studied and the interview guide was used to generate data from ten participants per college. The research findings reveal that there are some socio-cultural and political influences on perceptions of critical literacy of the teacher education students. In this thesis it is recommended that the teacher education curriculum in Zimbabwe should have a formal programme for the promotion of critical literacy in teacher education students. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

Critical pedagogy asserts that in education there is regressive politics of knowledge that is inculcated as “infallible” information to passive students through all kinds of texts that conceal the power, inequality and injustice in human relationships. Education has thus degenerated into becoming techinicist and consequently oppressive. Techinicist education aims at maintaining the status quo. The creators of texts that are used in oppressive education systems and society in general focus on the question, “How do we best get knowledge that serves our interests into the heads of our young people?” Thus critical literacy which encourages consumers of texts to read, reflect and react is now indispensable to learners who nowadays are exposed to various texts with hidden agendas. This research focused on perceptions of critical literacy of teacher education students in Masvingo province in Zimbabwe. The research participants were third year diploma students in their final residential phase of teacher education. The mixed methodology was employed bearing in mind its principal role that it provides strengths that offset the weaknesses of both quantitative and qualitative research. The research instruments used were the questionnaire and the interview guide. The questionnaire was administered to convenience samples of one hundred teacher education students per each of the three institutions studied and the interview guide was used to generate data from ten participants per college. The research findings reveal that there are some socio-cultural and political influences on perceptions of critical literacy of the teacher education students. In this thesis it is recommended that the teacher education curriculum in Zimbabwe should have a formal programme for the promotion of critical literacy in teacher education students. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

在知識急速進步與變動的時代，知識共享與共構是未來的新趨勢。傳統師資培育偏重理論與知識傳遞的教學方式，固然有其優點，但面對未來知識社會的挑戰，師培課程也需要不斷進行反思與改進。為了改善傳統偏重知識傳遞的教學模式，本研究嘗試運用知識翻新(knowledge-building)理論於師資培育課程，並使用知識論壇平台(Knowledge Forum©)作為本課程的線上輔助學習環境。研究目的在讓師培生於課堂中實際進行體驗教學，並利用教室與線上知識論壇的學習環境進行大量教學反思，以期能幫助師培生發展更多元創新的教學信念，並且實踐於教學活動中。 研究對象為修習國民小學自然科教材教法的28位師資培育生，以個案研究法進行資料的蒐集和分析，資料包括：(1)整學期師培生在知識論壇平台上的互動與對話--使用知識論壇分析工具(Analytic Toolkit, ATK)計算學生於知識論壇平台進行知識建構的互動次數，亦使用社會網絡分析軟體(social network analysis)分析閱讀與回文訊息的流通情況，最後透過知識論壇學生的實際貼文內容，呈現師培生在平台上的互動情形；(2)師培生試教結束後在知識論壇的教學回饋內容--透過對教學回饋品質與教學回饋信念的質性編碼和兩階段相依樣本t考驗進行分析；(3)期初與期末的自我檢核表問卷--以質性分析軟體Nvivo進行開放式編碼，依據師培生對於問題的陳述內容進行編碼和兩階段相依樣本t考驗；(4)期初與期末的教學本質問卷--以質性分析軟體Nvivo進行編碼，依據師培生對開放性問題的陳述內容進行編碼和兩階段相依樣本t考驗；(5)期末試教反思問卷--計算師培生在試教活動中，教師中心與學生中心活動所佔時間的百分比，進行兩階段相依樣本t考驗，並根據師培生在教學設計、教法、教材和評量的反思內容，以貼文為分析單位，進行編碼和描述性統計。 研究結果顯示：(1)使用知識論壇平台有助師培生進行線上知識分享與自我反思；(2)透過知識翻新學習可以幫助師培生改進教學的回饋品質；(3)經由知識翻新學習讓師培生進行自我反思，可以幫助教學實務知識的發展；(4)經由知識翻新學習可以幫助師培生建立主動學習的教學信念；(5)讓師培生經由實際體驗教學與省思後，需要有更長的時間進行信念的內化，才能有效幫助師培生教學信念的實踐。 根據本研究結果，提出以下幾點建議供未來師資教育之參考：(1)教師可善用數位學習平台（如知識論壇）以輔助教學，促進學生想法的分享和改進；(2)營造開放自主的師資培育環境，可以建構多元的教學信念；(3)師資培育課程應提供更多實際體驗教學的機會，讓師培生檢視自我如何將教學信念付諸實踐；(4)課程革新應進一步思考如何促進教師教學信念與課程理念間的聯結，以協助教師在教學現場有效的落實課程。 / We are entering into a knowledge age, during which knowledge changes rapidly; accordingly, sustained knowledge sharing and constructing is essential. Although the traditional teacher education--that tends to emphasize more of the learning of educational theory than practical knowledge--has its advantage, teacher educators still need to reflect on and improve teacher preparation approaches continuously in order to face the challenge in the knowledge society. To this end, this study employed knowledge-building theory and Knowledge Forum© technology in a teacher education course. The purpose of this study was to help teacher-education students develop more informed science teaching beliefs by guiding them to effectively practice their teaching in classes, and to discuss and reflect on their teaching both in class and online. Participants were 28 teacher-education students who took a course about science teaching. Data sources (and analysis) mainly came from: (1) Teacher-education students’ interaction and discourse on Knowledge Forum (KF) (using the Analytic Toolkit to calculate the students’ frequency of activities on the KF platform; then, social network analysis was used to analyze the betweenness centrality and network density. Finally, examples of teacher-education students’ notes was analyzed to understand the interaction of teacher-education students in the KF platform); (2) Teacher-education students’ teaching feedback posted in Knowledge Forum (based on students’ answers, quantitative analysis was performed by means of paired-sample t tests); (3) An open-ended questionnaire that surveyed teacher-education students’ practical knowledge at the beginning and the end of semester was coded using key concepts as unit of analysis (quantitative analysis was performed via paired-sample t test); (4) A questionnaire with 6 open-ended questions that surveyed teacher-education students’ teaching beliefs at the beginning and the end of the semester was coded (quantitative analysis was performed via paired-sample t tests); (5) A questionnaire that surveys teacher-education students’ reflection on teaching practices (analysis was done by calculating the percentage of time on teacher-centered and student-centered teaching/learning activities using paired-sample t tests; and in addition, students’ texted answers were analyzed qualitatively). The results showed that: (1) using Knowledge Forum was helpful for teacher-education students’ sharing of their knowledge and reflection on their teaching; (2) Engaging in knowledge building could help improve teacher-education students’ teaching feedback quality; (3) Engaging in knowledge building could help teacher-education students’ development of their practical knowledge; (4) After engaging in knowledge building for a semester, teacher-education students developed more constructivist-oriented learning beliefs; (5) It was time-consuming to help teacher-education students develop more informed teaching beliefs. Building on the results, this study made the following suggestions: (1) Teachers should make good use of online learning platforms (e.g., Knowledge Forum) to facilitate students’ idea sharing and improvement; (2) Teacher education programs should help foster an open learning environment, in order to foster the development of multiple teaching beliefs; (3) Teacher education programs should provide teacher education students with more opportunities for teaching practice and for reflection on their teaching beliefs; and (4) Curriculum reform should try to better relate curriculum development and teachers' beliefs development.

本研究旨在探究兩個不同電腦支援合作學習環境，知識論壇平台（Knowledge Forum, KF）與黑板數位學習平台（Blackboard, BB），在支援師培生學習教育理論、教師專業與教學實務等概念過程中之影響。BB的設計主要以一般的學習理論為基礎，KF的設計則是以知識建構（knowledge building）理論為中心。研究設計採混合研究法之橫斷取向策略，研究對象為某國立大學修習一師培必修課程「教育理念與實際之整合」之49位學生。於學期初將研究對象分成二組，其中BB組25人，KF組24人。課程目標主要希望學生在修課後能對自己即將投入之事業，以及對於教學理論、教師專業與教學實務間的關係，能有更深入的瞭解，並進一步反思自己在未來實習階段需要加強之處。 研究資料主要來自兩個數位學習平台上自動存取的紀錄(例如：建立文章次數、對他人文章回覆次數等)、以及學生於兩平台上所發表的文章內容。資料分析主要為推論統計之單因子變異數分析及質性的內容分析法。根據分析結果，本研究提出以下三點結論： 一、兩組學生在相同教師及相同課程設計下，在兩個學習平台上的活動量大致相同，但是於KF環境下學習的學生則表現出較多的成員互動。根據本研究結果推論，會產生此現象是因為BB的平台設計僅提供單一回文機制，供學生對他人的文章做回饋。而KF平台的設計則提供較多元的互動機制，除了可以對他人文章做回應(build-on)外，還可以對別人的文章做註解(annotation)、引用他人文章(reference)、以及統整文章(rise-above)等功能。 二、在學生於教育理論與教學實務間關係概念的理解上，首先，於低層次的理解面向上（主要包含教師要能「知道且理解教學理論」和「應用教學理論」）兩組學生沒有顯著差異。但是，在高層次的理解上（主要為教師要能「分析理論和實務上的關係」），KF組則比BB組表現好。根據本研究結果推論，KF的學習環境可以幫助學生發展更高層次的思考。 三、在學生對教師專業與教學實務間關係概念的理解上，首先，在低層次的理解面向上（主要包含教師要「理解並應用專業於實務」和「從實務中歸納專業為多面向的整合」），兩組學生沒有顯著差異。然而，在較高層次的理解上（主要包含教師要能「分析專業和實務上的關係」和「評鑑、反思自己在專業上的表現」），KF組的表現比BB組好。研究推論KF環境較能幫助提昇學生的概念學習至較成熟的理解層次。 根據上述結論，本研究提出下列四點建議：（1）電腦支援合作式學習環境應發展更多元的文章互動機制；（2）師培教育應更重視師培生對教學理論、教師專業與教學實務間關係的理解；（3）教師選擇使用電腦支援合作式學習環境時，應將是否能幫助學生產生深層理解做為其中考量；以及（4）教師應幫助學生發展知識創新概念。 / This study investigated the effects of two different computer-supported collaborative learning environments, Knowledge Forum (KF) and Blackboard (BB), on teacher-education students’ conceptual understanding of theories, expertise, and practices in teaching. Blackboard is designed generally based on conventional learning theories. In contrast, Knowledge Forum is designed particularly based on knowledge building theory and pedagogy. Participants were 49 students who took a course titled “Integrating Instructional Theory and Practice,” which was offered by a teacher-education program in a national university, Taiwan. The study employed a mixed-method design, with the participants being divided into a BB group (N=25) and a KF group (N=24), with the later serving as an experimental group. The main instructional goal was to help students deepen their understanding of the relationships between theories, expertise and practices in teaching and to become more reflective on their future teaching practice. Data primarily came from students’ online discourse posted in the form of notes and were recorded in the aforementioned two BB and KF databases. To analyze, one-way ANOVA was employed to describe students’ online activities (e.g., number of notes posted) and an open-coding procedure were adapted to content-analyze student notes. There were three main findings as follows: (1) It was found there was no significant difference observed between the two groups in terms of the number of notes posted online in each database. But in terms of interactivity, there were more note linking actives in the KF group than in the BB group. It is suggested that this might be due to the design mechanism of the BB environment being less supportive for discourse interaction among students. In contrast, the KF environment has more design features such as annotations, references, and rise-above to support student interactions. (2) In terms of students’ conceptual understanding of the relationships between theories and practices in teaching, it was found that there were no significant differences between the two groups at the two lower conceptual levels (including teachers should “know and understand most teaching theories” and “be able to put theories into practices”.) But in contrast, it was found that there was a significant difference between the two groups at a higher level of understanding (i.e., teachers should be able to “analyze the relationship between theory and practice”). The findings suggest that as compared with Blackboard, Knowledge Forum seemed to be a more supportive environment that tended to help students achieve a deeper conceptual understanding of the relationships between theories and practices in teaching. (3) In terms of students’ conceptual understanding of the relationships between expertise and practices in teaching, it was found that there were no significant differences between the two groups at the two lower levels (including teachers should “understand the practice and the application of teacher expertise” and be able to “integrate practice into the multifaceted teaching expertise.”) But in contrast, it was found that there was a significant difference between the two groups at a higher level (i.e., teachers should be able to “analyze the relationships between teacher expertise and teaching practice” and “evaluate, reflect on their own professional performance.”) The findings suggest that Knowledge Forum seemed to be a more supportive environment capable of helping students achieve a higher level of conceptual understanding of the relationships between teacher expertise and practices in teaching. Building on the above results, this study made the following four suggestions: (1) a good computer-supported collaborative learning environment should include necessary design features that support multiple interactive mechanisms; (2) teacher education program should help its students develop deeper conceptual understanding of educational theories, teacher expertise, and teaching practices; (3) teachers should be equipped with the necessary knowledge in order to choose a good computer-supported collaborative learning environment to support teaching; and (4) Teacher education program should help its students develop more knowledge building oriented concepts towards teaching and learning.