Understanding Preservice Teachers’ Use of Digital Technology to Support Their Learning & Teaching

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2022Teacher education programs recognize the impact of technology’s rise on the process of learning to teach. Prior studies have examined both the effectiveness of specific digital tools and contextual factors in shaping preservice teachers’ technology use in classrooms (focusing largely on teacher educators’ technology selections, the locations and durations of tool use, and learning outcomes); but little is known about preservice teachers’ own technology preferences or the unique ways they leverage digital tools to support their learning in and across teacher education program settings and to enhance their students’ learning. I therefore employed a sociocultural approach to study teacher learning: a year-long qualitative investigation, with interview, observation, survey, and visually-based data, designed to discover how a sample of six preservice teachers from a secondary teacher education program used established digital practices and new technical skills to develop relationships, acquire knowledge, and gain practical experience. The six participants brought diverse personal histories of technology use into their teacher education program influenced by family, friends, and colleagues who helped shape early technology use behaviors, which in turn affected how they used technologies to support their academic needs and their students’ learning. In selecting and using what they perceived to be helpful and appropriate technology during their teacher education program, the participants negotiated both external factors (availability of technology, participation expectations, and assignment parameters) and internal factors (personal values, goals, and preferences). The preservice teachers developed novel sequences of devices and applications to achieve complex goals and these sequences became familiar routines to support ongoing learning. The preservice teachers exercised agency to implement new tools (and integrate them with preexisting tools in their environments) that further empowered them to search for relevant information, engage with course content, connect with peers and mentors, create structures for planning and teaching, and respond effectively to students. My findings should help teacher education programs and teacher educators understand the influences of preservice teachers’ unique prior histories with digital technologies so that they can better support these future teachers in identifying and adopting the technologies they require to effectively engage in both learning and teaching