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TopTeacher Preparation And The Digital Age
A pedagogical shift has occurred driven by the forces of disruptive technology effectively altering and expanding the role of teacher from that of, primarily, knowledge “dispenser” to learning systems manager, guiding students through individualized learning pathways and creating connected and collaborative learning opportunities (American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, 2010; Christensen, Horn, & Johnson, 2008). With the onset of Web 2.0 and the practice of immersive learning, the “technologizing of schools” has created the need for what might be called the “cyber-teacher,” a new learning agent who conceptualizes teaching as a transformative, dynamic, and visionary experience (Lawless & Pellegrino, 2007; Piro & Marksbury, 2012). However, despite the nearly unanimous agreement on the need for this type of instructional professional, many teacher education programs across the U.S. continue to be notoriously slow in programmatic modifications and enhancements to ensure this outcome, not demonstrating the leadership or vision to break the teacher education mold and champion new directions for educators-in-training (Clifford, Friesen, & Lock, 2004; Sheldon, 2012).
As Foray and Raffo (2012) note:
The educational sector is often characterized by experts as a sector suffering from an innovation deficit and a structural inability to advance instructional technologies and practical knowledge and knowhow about pedagogy at the same rate as what is occurring in some other sectors. (p. 6)
How pre-service teacher training not only exposes but embeds future educators in instructional technologies research and practice will be a critical link in the teaching cycle whose end point is the delivery of meaningful, utilitarian, and effective pedagogy across the nation’s K-12 schools. The ultimate goal of this training must be the turning out teachers ready for networked, globalized, and technology-driven digital classrooms that increasingly populate the American education landscape (Davis & Falba, 2002; Dawson, Pringle, & Adams, 2003; Kelly, & McAnear, 2002; National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, 1997; Thomas, 1999; Thompson, Schmidt, & Davis, 2003). Utilizing an operational standpoint, this article will focus on how teacher education programs in the U.S. can become more responsive to preparing a new generation of teachers to match the expectations of a 21st century post-industrial, high-tech, global society (Blackboard, 2013; Vander Ark, 2011).