Enabling Secondary Level Teachers to integrate Technology through ICT integrated Instructional System

Abstract: Institutions providing pre-service teacher education are responsible for preparing teachers capable of functioning in the knowledge society, which India aspires to be. Schools of a knowledge society would require teachers to integrate technology into the instructional system and they are to be prepared for it accordingly through teacher education programmes, especially pre-service ones. With this requirement as a backdrop and on the basis of the argument that teachers are to be taught through methods, which they are later expected to adopt, this article aims to highlight the need to integrate technology in the instructional system of teacher education institutions of India. In this article only the secondary level of teacher education of India (Bachelor of Education) has been considered and it has been emphasized that teachers need to be taught during teacher education programmes through methods that integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) so that they may be prepared to integrate ICT when they teach in schools. The article first upholds the rationale for shifting towards ICT integration. It also clarifies the process of ICT integration and thereby underscores the difference between occasional use of ICT and ICT integration in the instructional system. While depicting the present scenario with only occasional use of ICT supplementing traditional methods of teaching, it has been cautioned that the present practice, which does not amount to technology integration, could leave teacher trainees unprepared for integrating technology when they teach in schools. Keywords- knowledge society, teachers, Bachelor of Education programme, instructions, ICT integration 1