Tool use in open learning environments: In search of learner-related determinants

Abstract

IntroductionBeliefs about teaching and learning play an important role in transforming classrooms through the use of technology (Ertmer, 1999(Ertmer, , 2005. Additionally, attitudes toward technology can influence teachers' technology uses (Myers & Halpin, 2002;Yildirim, 2000). In order to prepare preservice teachers to use technology effectively, it is necessary to examine their beliefs about learning and teaching and their attitudes toward technology. Teacher educators must act as role models for preservice teachers and prepare them to use technology in their future professional practices. In this paper we report the results of a study that examined teacher educators' beliefs and technology uses in relation to preservice teachers' beliefs and technology attitudes. Ertmer (1999) described two types of barriers to technology integration: first-order barriers and secondorder barriers. First-order barriers are extrinsic to teachers and include lack of access to hardware and software, time, and necessary support. Second-order barriers are intrinsic to teachers and include teachers' belief systems about teaching and learning, as well as their familiar teaching practices, which can affect meaningful technology integration. Since second-order barriers are more ingrained and personal than first-order barriers, they may be harder to overcome. Current literature Niederhauser & Stoddart, 2001; Norm, Grabinger & Duffield, 1999) indicated that teachers who had more constructivist or student-centered beliefs tended to use technology and engage the students in more technology-supported student-centered learning activities, while those who had more traditional or teacher-centered beliefs tended to use less technology and had students use technology to reinforce skills.Some researchers (Cifuentes, 1997;Daniel, 1996; Friel & Carboni, 2000; Hart, 2002) suggested that participation in teacher education programs could influence preservice teachers' beliefs. In teacher education courses, teacher educators create learning environments through specific teaching strategies that allow preservice teachers to experience models of teaching and learning that they might use in their future teaching. Supporting the strategies that teacher educators employ are their underlying beliefs about teaching and learning (Pajares, 1992). Since we may be able to predict teacher educators' teaching practices from their beliefs, and their practices are likely to influence preservice teachers' beliefs, it may be possible to predict preservice teachers' beliefs from teacher educators' beliefs. Thus, one of the research interests in this study was the relationship between teacher educators' beliefs and preservice teachers' beliefs.Besides beliefs, attitudes are thought to serve as predictors of behaviors (Richardson, 2003). Applied to technology use, attitudes toward technology are expected to predict one's uses of technology. According to Aiken (1980), attitudes can be "learned directly by observing the activities of people who are perceived as signific...

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