Preparing Preservice Teachers to Use Mobile Technologies

Introduction

The use of mobile technologies is changing educational landscapes. Accordingly, K-12 schools and teacher education institutions are using mobile technologies to enhance their practices and meet the needs of 21^st century learners. This is due to the increasingly ubiquitous and pervasive nature afforded by mobile technologies that has resulted in teacher education and K-12 classrooms where bring your own device (BYOD) plays a significant role (e.g. Crompton, Burke & Gregory, 2017; Burns-Sardone, 2014). In view of this, preparing preservice teachers (PTs) for K-12 classrooms where BYOD flourishes is an important practice and it also provides additional opportunities to increase the flexibility of teacher preparation. In this chapter PTs refer to student teachers being prepared to gain qualified teaching status in primary or secondary schools upon graduating from their program.

This chapter presents examples of empirical findings and teaching practices across the globe to provide a background on how mobile technologies are used to further prepare PTs for their future classrooms and the digital world as well. First, it identifies PTs’ multiple learning contexts which have been enhanced by mobile technologies. This is followed by a summary of existing literature about preparing PTs to use mobile technologies in educationally effective ways. In particular, two major organizations involved in the preparation of PTs are presented. These are initial teacher education (ITE) programs where PTs take their university-based courses and K-12 schools (partner schools) where PTs gain field experiences. Given the fact that ITE takes place in universities and colleges as well as in partner schools, m-learning would appear to be a natural fit with numerous pedagogical affordances assuming there is infrastructure that support the use of mobile technologies.

The next section presents case studies identified in the literature review focusing on how mobile technologies have fostered pedagogical innovations in teacher preparation. In addition, the chapter discusses different ways mobile technologies have enhanced delivery and accessibility of electronic learning materials especially for distance learning PTs who are separated by time and place. This chapter ends by identifying common challenges of using mobile technologies, and future research directions in teacher preparation. Presenting a comprehensive and contemporary body of knowledge regarding this topic, will increase our understanding about how teacher preparation programs are responding to the call of effectively preparing PTs to use mobile technologies to support K-12 students’ learning (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology, 2017).