A well designed and coordinated teacher training programme is essential to meet the demands of today’s teacher who wants to use ICTs effectively in teaching and learning (Jung, 2005). As such, strategic development of an ICT- pedagogical integration approach is required, not only to consolidate the use of technology and the new opportunities it creates, but to bring with it new implications and challenges indicating a need for a variety of approaches of integration and use of technology in ITE. Jung (2005) presented four approaches, as represented below and discussed
51 | P a g e
next.
Core Technology
Learning how to use ICT Learning via ICT
Complementary
Technology
Figure 2.5: ICT pedagogical integration strategies (Adapted from Jung, 2005)
These approaches Jung (2005:47-49) claims are category organizations for various teacher education efforts found in different countries, and discussed them as follows:
ICT as the main content focus of teacher education emphasises teacher training on how to use the resources in practice (classroom) and address issues, such as selecting appropriate tools (ICT) and supporting students in the use of these tools, using ICT to promote learning activities, and to develop new methods of facilitating and evaluating students’ performance. It therefore focuses on basic ICT skills development, design skills and pedagogical strategies. However, Jung (2005:49) complained that basic ICT skill development, rather than the ICT-pedagogical integration has been a concern of teacher education.
ICT use as part of teaching methods integrates it (ICT) into teacher training and demonstrates how a variety of the tools are adopted as part of effective training methods to provide a more effective way of ICT-pedagogy integration in teacher education programmes. Seemingly, students use ICT to learn about ICT skills, and to develop ICT-integrated pedagogies through actively experiencing ICTs being used by lecturers (Jung, 2005). It is my contention that student teachers will efficiently integrate ICT in their practice if they
ICT as main content focus
ICT as part of content or methods
ICT as facilitating or networking
technology ICT as core delivery technology
52 | P a g e
experience ICTs in their learning process. Further, to facilitate professional development of teacher trainers, develop students ICT skills, and promote ICT-pedagogy integration in teaching and learning, ICT-based environments that challenge and motivate the effective implementation and the use of ICT to support intellectual development and attainment, is required.
ICTs as facilitating or networking, explore the integration of ICT to facilitate some aspects of teacher education, with emphasis on the adoption of a variety of technology resources as part of effective curriculum delivery, while at the same time equipping student- teachers with the required skills to adequately use them in their practice. In this respect, the student-teachers are provided with illustrations of ICT-pedagogy integration through the sharing of practical ideas, and involvement and engagement in ICT integrated training. ICTs as the core technology for delivering teacher training considers the use of ICTs as the major strategy for providing learning experiences in teacher education, with greater focus on the variety of ICT applications, and with little attention given to skill acquisition or development. In this approach, programmes are designed to train prospective teachers to become online course instructors and course developers.
Jung (2005) provided substantial literature on the practical implication of these approaches in different countries, but could not however, provide evidence of the workability of the approaches and how successful and sustainable they were, nor describe the environments provided for the implementation of these approaches. It is my firm belief that these approaches, if well explored and implemented, will increase collaboration and interaction amongst student-teachers, both locally and internationally.
Similarly, reviewing the approaches of teacher training programmes around the world, Khirwadkar (2006: 34-35) refined and merged them and proposed the following approaches:
“ICT skill development approaches – priority training offered to student- teachers to be skilled users of ICT with the provision of knowledge about
53 | P a g e
different software, hardware and their uses in an educational setting.
ICT pedagogy approach – the precept here is integrating ICT skills in content delivery with emphasis on student-centred dimensions of delivery, with adequate use of tools that foster attainment of learning outcomes.
Subject-specific approach requires embedding ICTs in subject content, using the resources to advance innovation and creativity to provide students with a practical understanding of what teaching and learning with ICTs looks like, in a variety of ways. In this perspective, ICT is not an ‘add on’, but an integral tool for subject content delivery.
Practice driven approach – the central phenomenon here is exposure to the use of ICT in practical aspects of teacher education, by using ICT and implementing it in fulfilling task requirements at different levels, as well as providing student-teachers the opportunity to assess and evaluate their ICT potential and capabilities”.
The author excellently outlined these approaches, but could not provide international or local evidence of successful and achievable outcomes of the implementation. This is a gap that could be explored to substantiate whether these approaches could advance the pedagogical integration of ICTs in teacher education curriculum delivery for quality education.
It is worth knowing that the successful integration of ICT in teaching and learning is a multifaceted issue encompassing other things, and thus requires a holistic approach. ICT integration in education involves lecturers changing their traditional ways of teaching, in addition to being more creative in adapting and customizing their teaching materials and strategies (Reid cited in Fu, 2013), with emphasis on collaborative learning, problem-based learning and a constructivist approach (Whelan, 2008). A view expressed by Palak and Walls (2009) and Tezci (2011), is that the desired effect of educational technology integration is attainable within a student-centric teaching and learning environment. This indicates that the implementation of ICT integration in education has to be done holistically, taking into
54 | P a g e
consideration all the contributing factors.