Aligning Preservice Teachers’ Experiences for ICT Integration in Education in the School of Education at the University of Technology in South Africa

Abstract

The poor correlation between fieldwork and the preservice teachers' coursework for technology integration has been observed since the introduction of technology as a teaching and learning tool in education. The quantity and quality of the preservice technological experiences as part of the teacher education program have a significant impact on how new teachers use technology. This paper highlights how the educational programs and the fieldwork experiences of the preservice teachers should be aligned to integrate technology in teaching and learning. To gain insight into the current practices in the School of Education at the University of Technology in South Africa, the embedded mixed method approach, was utilised. For quantitative data, a TPACK questionnaire was distributed to 480 preservice teachers. Observation, interviews, an open-ended questionnaire and document analysis were employed for qualitative data. To analyse quantitative and qualitative data, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Atlas.ti were employed, respectively. The findings revealed a lack of synergy between the preservice teachers’ coursework and the fieldwork for technology integration in education. It was recommended that for the preservice teachers to thrive in integrating technology in teaching practicals and in their future workplaces, the School of Education should ensure the development of programs that involve coursework and fieldwork in the school context.