MAGDAIRE: A model to foster pre-service teachers' ability in integrating ICT and teaching in Taiwan

Abstract

This report describes our efforts in fostering Taiwanese pre-service teachers' ability to integrate information and communication technology (ICT) and teaching. The current state of science teacher education and ICT policies in Taiwan are documented briefly. The course model, MAGDAIRE (abbreviated from Modeled Analysis, Guided Development, Articulated Implementation, and Reflected Evaluation) is then introduced to counterbalance the insufficiency of the current teacher education courses in Taiwan. The model is subsequently employed to enhance a science teacher education course at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). The study conducted along with the course indicates that MAGDAIRE can significantly improve pre-service teachers' ICT knowledge and skills. Moreover, MAGDAIRE can significantly enhance pre-service teachers' sensitivity to the complex interactions between ICT, pedagogy, and subject matter. Some recommendations for employing the proposed model to enhance teacher education courses are discussed. IntroductionEducating all pre-service primary and secondary teachers in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to enhance teaching has become a social commitment and an important objective for all teacher education programs in Taiwan. In 2005, the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan enacted the project Establishing ICT Literacy Standards for Primary and Secondary Teachers (MOE, 2008a). The project argued that a modern teacher in this digital age must know how to utilise ICT for enhancing instructional planning, teaching, assessment, and classroom management. It was expected that, by the end of 2011, more than 90% of primary and secondary school teachers would have implemented ICT-integrated curriculums into their classrooms (MOE, 2008b). In order to meet this demand, the Primary and Secondary School Information Education White Paper (MOE, 2008b) further emphasised the need to initiate training programs to build up pre-service teachers' ICT capacity for teaching.However, there has been little pedagogical innovation to reframe ICT-related courses for teacher education programs. The course list, issued by MOE for all teacher education programs, has not been updated since 2004. As shown in Table 1, only one ICT-related course can be found on the list of required courses; the course is called Instructional Media, in the field of instructional methods. However, pre-service teachers are asked to take only three courses out of the six courses in the field of instructional methods. Thus this ICT course has to compete with other courses for survival within the same field, including Principles of Teaching, Classroom Management, Educational Assessment and Evaluation, Theory and Practice in Counseling, and Curriculum 984 Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2012, 28(Special issue, 6) Development and Design. In essence, ICT knowledge and skills are optional rather than fundamental requirements for pre-service teachers. Besides, the focus of Instructional Media is to train pre-servi...

Developing and validating technological pedagogical content knowledge‐practical (TPACK‐practical) through the Delphi survey technique

“…For example, Angeli and Valanides () proposed a framework called TPCK‐ICT and urged the importance of mapping content representations and pedagogy with tool affordances, varying both by different situated contexts and by students' respective levels of learning progress. TPACK‐COPR (TPACK Comprehension, Observation, Practice and Reflection) refers to a teacher education model that strengthens teachers' TPACK knowledge with regard to web resources through repetitively running stages of comprehension, observation, practice and reflection (Jang & Chen, ); MAGDAIRE is another teacher education model that can be used to develop teachers' knowledge on Flash through modeled analysis, guided development, articulated implementation and reflected evaluation (Chang, Chien, Chang & Lin, ). From these models, we can see that the transformative approach further realizes what Shulman defines as PCK: a set of knowledge within which knowledge infusion is dynamic and transactional.…”

Professional Development of New Higher Education Teachers With Information and Communication Technology in Shanghai

“…To foster the development of teaching expertise, the instructional approach of this module follows the cognitive apprenticeship model (Collins, Brown, & Newman, 1989). The instructional process includes online course modeling, instructor coaching of online course design, scaffolding of ICT tool use, exploration and preparation of open educational resources, articulation of blended learning implementation, and reflected evaluation (Chang, Chien, Chang, & Lin, 2012; Divaharan & Koh, 2010; Koh et al., 2013).…”

Developing Preservice Teachers’ Sensitivity to the Interplay Between Subject Matter, Pedagogy, and ICTs

“…It will facilitate students in exploring the relationship between water depth and wave speed. It also helps to explain the differences between deep and shallow waves Adapted from Chang et al ( 2012 ) The case of John's group from Chien et al ( 2012 ) illustrates the changes in these preservice science teachers' reasoning and its relation to their practice. John's group chose the topic "typhoon" from the Taiwanese high school Earth Science textbook as the subject matter to be taught.…”

“…Within the modeled analysis phase, they decomposed the teaching-with-ICT scenarios, which were demonstrated by the mentoring team, to justify why and how Flash should be used in teaching. John's group thought Chang et al, 2012 ) that Flash would be powerful to compile the textbook's static diagrams with explanatory text into animations. They believed that animations would attract students' attention and make the topic more comprehensible.…”

“…The preliminary model of MAGDAIRE, which is abbreviated from modeled analysis, guided development, articulated implementation, and refl ected evaluation, was proposed in Chien, Chang, Yeh, and Chang ( 2012 ). Based on previous studies (Chang, Chien, Chang, & Lin, 2012 ;Chien et al, 2012 ), we revised MAGDAIRE to better develop preservice science teachers' sensitivity to the interplay between subject matter, pedagogy, and ICT. Our 4-phase cyclic model is shown in Fig.…”