Abstract
Considering that teachers are central to good education and teacher educators are central to good teacher education, it is logical that due care must be taken to equip teacher educators for digital teaching and learning. In fact, continuing professional development of teacher educators in terms of digital teaching and learning is a necessity of our times. Extending these arguments, the chapter, that is mainly based on the review and analysis of policy documents and practices as well as other available literature and statistics related to teacher educators, begins with discussions on role and importance of teacher educators, details the need and promises of preparing teacher educators for digital teaching and learning, delves upon practices of and challenges before teacher educators to master digital teaching and learning, and ends with presenting innovative strategies to empower teacher educators for the world of digital teaching and learning.
TopIntroduction
Teacher education has gained special importance these days as teachers’ abilities and qualities are identified as decisive to students’ learning (Misra, 2014). The 11th Education for All Global Monitoring Report (UNESCO, 2014) makes it clear that good teachers are essential for enhancing the quality of learning, and teacher education is important because of its impact upon teacher quality. Teacher education is generally perceived as any formal program that has been established for the preparation of schoolteachers. UNESCO Institute of Statistics (2018) defines teacher education as: Formal teacher training (pre-service or in-service) designed to equip teachers with the knowledge, attitude, behavior and skills required for teaching at the relevant level. Teacher education can be divided into two stages, preservice and in-service. Preservice education includes all the stages of education and training that precede the teacher’s entry to paid employment in an educational institution. In-service training is the education and training that the teacher receives after the beginning of their career (Taylor, 2018). Talking about the process and aim of teacher education, Kasemsap (2017) observed:
Teacher education is a continuous process, starting with preservice teacher education, followed by in-service education and continuing education. The aim of teacher education is to create a pedagogically thinking teacher with adequate amounts of theoretical background knowledge and a reflectively-critical attitude toward the challenges encountered in the teaching profession (p.307).
There exists much consensus amongst academics, politicians, parents, teachers and other educational stakeholders that quality teaching is important in order to improve pupil’s learning (Barber & Mourshead, 2007) and teacher education is instrumental in producing quality teachers. Highlighting the role of teacher education in preparing qualified teachers, a report from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2016, p.1) noted:
Every education system is only as good as the teachers who provide the hands-on schooling. Study after study has confirmed their critical role in improving education quality and learning outcomes, which is why SDG 4 [Sustainable Development Goal 4] calls specifically for a major increase in the supply of qualified teachers and more support from the international community for teacher training…
Teacher educators play a key role in improving the quality of teacher education. The reason is that teacher educators are entrusted with the task of training prospective teachers and are supposed to equip trainee teachers with knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values they need to succeed in the 21st Century (Soulé, 2015). To meet these expectations, there is growing focus on the qualities, practices and skills of teacher educators (ETUCE, 2008). Teacher educators are supposed to possess a range of qualities, and mastering digital teaching and learning is one such quality. Considering the observation that technology experiences during teacher training can help preservice teachers see connections between current technology applications and the appropriate uses in a classroom (Vannatta & Beyerbach, 2000), digital teaching and learning competencies of teacher educators become much more important and a significant issue to discuss and debate. Extending this argument, the present research was conducted in order to:
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Assess the role and importance of teacher educators;
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Detail the need and promises of preparing teacher educators for digital teaching and learning;
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Delve into practices of and challenges before teacher educators to master digital teaching and learning; and,
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Present useful strategies to empower teacher educators for digital teaching and learning.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Digital Teaching and Learning: A combination of digital technology, e-content, and instructional strategies to support teaching and learning activities and tasks.
Teacher Educators: Those who work in higher education institutions (universities/colleges) and teach and train prospective teachers to qualify for teaching profession and also support them to professionally develop and become reflective practitioners.
Promises: A prediction about the potential gains.
Strategies: Plan of actions to achieve specified objectives.
Challenges: Difficulties faced in the path of attaining specified objectives.
Practices: The process of doing any task or activity.