ICT and learning theories: Preparing pre-service

teachers for the classroom

Anthony J. Jones
Institute for Education
La Trobe University
Melbourne, Australia

Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the British Educational Research

Association, University of Exeter, England, 12-14 September 2002

Background
Too many teachers still lack confidence in using ICT and this is often made worse by a lack
of appropriate software, unreliable computers and Internet connections, and insufficient
technical support when things go wrong.
(OFSTED, 2002, p.15)

Effective use of ICT for teaching and learning in schools and universities is not widespread, even though
the technology is now almost ubiquitous. Some teachers and lecturers have been able to integrate ICT use
into their teaching, and more importantly engage students in making use of ICT as part of the process of
learning. However there are still many barriers and impediments in the way of ICT becoming an integral
part of teaching and learning. Some of these impediments will be discussed, with a special focus on
beginning teachers and ICT. Throughout this paper, the term “beginning teachers” will be taken to include
teachers who have recently entered the teaching professions as well as teacher education students in
universities and other teacher education institutions.
The progress report from OFSTED (2002) quoted above contains lists of faults including:
 ICT tasks not related to objectives of lessons;
 lack of guidance by teachers;
 lack of knowledge about when to use and when not to use ICT;
 lack of teacher skills and confidence;
 lack of appropriate intervention by teachers; and
 lack of recognition of student expertise in ICT.
Although these comments are negative, they provide information that is crucial to those responsible for
designing and implementing teacher education programs that aim to change the current state of educational
use of ICT. It must also be noted that the report contains many positive examples of effective use of ICT
by schools and individual teachers.
Studies from several countries suggest that in general teacher education has not been able to keep
up with the pace and scope of technological change in schools and society. Such studies have been
reported from Australia (Ramsay, 2000), the UK (McKinsey, 1997), and the USA (CEO Forum, 1999). In
the Australian state of Victoria, stated government policy is that both primary and secondary schools should
aim for a ratio of 1 computer used for teaching and/or learning for every 4 students. The designated
curriculum states that ICT use should be integrated into all curriculum areas and not be taught as a separate
subject until middle secondary school. While schools work towards achieving these goals, there are no
equivalent statements or aims for teacher education.

Table 1. Teacher computer use for student teaching/learning (percentages).

Amount of computer use over 4 weeks

Anthony Jones BERA 2002

 Never Less than weekly Weekly Daily
20.5 25.6 46.2 7.7

Analysis of survey data collected in 2001 from 46 primary school classrooms in metropolitan
Melbourne over a four week period, indicated a very low level of ICT use (Jones, 2002). Every classroom
surveyed had access to computers, but their use could best be described as being occasional. The data in
Table 1 indicates that more than 90% of the supervising teachers in the survey used their classroom
computers with students once per week or less over a four week teaching practicum.
Several large focus group interviews were conducted with volunteers from among the teacher
education students when they returned from the teaching round. At one stage of each interview the seven
descriptors from the Levels of Use (LoU) model (Hall et al.,1975) were introduced, and participants were
asked to categorise their supervising teacher. The descriptors were to be related to classroom use of
computers, and ranged from non-user through orientation, preparation, mechanical, routine, refinement to
integration. A brief explanation was provided for each descriptor. There are many reasons why this was a
flawed experiment, but the results were interesting if not necessarily creditable. Surprisingly, given the low
level of use indicated in Table 1, none of the participants rated their supervisor as a non-user. Most were at
the preparation level, because they had talked to the student teacher about what they were planning to do
and when they were going to start.
A concern about change is one reason proposed for teachers not rushing to adopt ICT in their
teaching. Hodas (1993, p.1) has noted that because technology is never neutral, introducing ICT into
teaching has both advantages and disadvantages for teachers and learners. Many teachers, both school and
university, have tried to implement ICT by transferring parts of what they previously did without
technology into some form of electronic text. Whatever the format used, for example word processing,
presentation or PDF files on CD or the WWW, there has been a minimum of change. Watson notes
IT is not only perceived as a catalyst for change, but also change in teaching style,
change in learning approaches, and change in access to information. Yet research
indicates that teachers are both threatened by change, and conversely not impressed by
change that appears to focus on what the technology can do rather than on learning.
(Watson, 2001 p.252)
She goes on to argue that the reason for many of the failures in educational uses of ICT relate to an over
emphasis on the technology to the detriment of the pedagogy. Papert (1980) noted the problem of
technocentrism and has continued to argue that it is still a major issue in all levels of education.

Beginning a career in teaching

Why do graduates enrol in pre-service teacher education courses? Beginning teacher education students
give many reasons including teaching being a people-centred profession, almost certain employment [at the
moment], longer holidays than most jobs, and for a one-year course it is usually possible to do some part-
time work. Many of these beginning teacher education students have idealistic views about education in
general, and teaching in particular. There is commonly held belief that they will be able to change
teaching and learning to fit in with their idealistic view.
Several years ago we asked teacher education students, on the first day of their course, to make a
sketch of what they anticipated they would do on a teaching round. They were asked to represent
themselves and some students in a learning environment. Not surprisingly there was a great diversity
among the sketches. However there appeared to be one obvious difference between the sketches produced
by prospective secondary teachers and prospective primary teachers. Almost all the primary teacher
education students showed themselves among, or at least next to, children. In general this appeared to be
on the floor or at tables arranged in a circle around the teacher. In contrast, the majority of secondary
students drew themselves as a teacher in front of students sitting in rows. Sometimes the teacher was doing
something, for example using scientific apparatus or writing on the board.
Both sets of sketches showed variations of teacher-centred classrooms. In all cases the teacher
was the centre of attention. This is the mental image of classroom practice most beginning teachers bring
to their studies. Both sets of sketches also showed something about perceptions of teacher-student
interaction. Apart from the fact that there was definitely interaction occurring, it was not possible to
categorise the primary perceptions. However the secondary teachers drew traditional classrooms with the
teacher in control and appearing to be in transmission mode. This correlates with comments from the two

Anthony Jones BERA 2002

groups. When asked, “What is the major strength of a successful teacher?” secondary students tended to
focus on having a sound knowledge of the subjects they would be teaching. They claimed teaching was
about the transfer of knowledge that they as teachers possess, to students.
In many years of questioning, surveying, and asking students to role-play or sketch what they
anticipate, no one has ever included a computer or any ICT. Indeed it is a major shock to many students to
discover that they have to attend compulsory ICT classes and workshops. They do not know, and
sometimes do not believe, that the major employer of teachers in the state has made it mandatory for every
graduating teacher to undertake a series of subjects that will prepare them to use a range of ICT skills and
applications for both teaching and non-teaching purposes.
The OFSTED report quoted at the beginning of this paper appears to contain some contradictory
statements. In contrast to the quotation used earlier, consider the following:
There is now an unprecedented willingness in the teaching profession to embrace ICT.
Initial teacher training has provided a strong emphasis on the use of ICT across the
curriculum. As a result, newly qualified teachers accept ICT as an integral part of their
professional life, as do many of their more experienced colleagues. (OFSTED,
2002 p.4).

Pre-service teacher education courses

If there is some divergence of opinion in official reports, there is even more among staff in teacher
education institutions. In Australia over the past decade we have witnessed the forcible incorporation of
teacher training colleges into universities. This is especially true for primary teacher education, where the
traditional model has been an undergraduate vocational teacher training course. A complicating factor is
that teacher accreditation is a state issue, and so expectations and curricula differ according to geographic
location.
The latest formal guidelines relating to ICT in teacher education courses in Victoria (currently
under revision) consist of eight bullet points (SCTP, 1999). The points are vague rather than specific, and
in 2002 seem inadequate. These points relate to what is expected of graduates of all teacher education
courses, and include:
• demonstrate a developing competence and confidence in the use of a range of learning
technologies in the classroom. Beginning teachers need not be expert in all aspects of
learning technologies, they are however expected to be computer literate and proficiency
is desirable in:
* using basic computer applications, including word processing, data base and
spread sheet packages
* using desktop publishing and presentation software
* using multi-media and interactive presentations
* using communication technologies including the world wide web and
electronic mail
* using courseware specific to particular KLAs.
• demonstrate an awareness of a range of learning technology resources and how they
can be integrated constructively and creatively with other resources to produce a
challenging and rigorous curriculum
• create a classroom environment in which learning technologies are an integral
component (SCTP, 1999 p.8)

These points are guidelines that indicate areas that will be considered when pre-service teacher
education course are evaluated by the state Department of Education and Training. Otherwise there are no
procedures in place to assist teacher educators develop appropriate ICT related courses. The guidelines
mention integration into all curriculum areas, and indeed this is an aim clearly stated in curriculum
documents for ICT in the primary grades. Pre-service teacher education courses then need to ensure
students acquire basic ICT skills, as well as providing examples, demonstrations and activities that illustrate
exemplary classroom use of ICT across the curriculum.
For most teacher education students, both primary and secondary, ICT in education units are
compulsory. At La Trobe and Melbourne universities the development of these units is informed by both
research and school practice. It has been noted earlier that use of ICT in classrooms is spasmodic, meaning

Anthony Jones BERA 2002

that any examples of effective classroom ICT use for learning presented to students will not necessarily be
something that students will encounter during teaching practice. The same is obviously going to be true of
much of the recently reported research.
A pre-service teacher education course should focus on at least the following aspects of ICT use:
1. personal skills that link to professional use;
2. organisational and administration use;
3. applications and techniques for effective teaching and learning.
There is a degree of hierarchy within these three aspects, as many studies have shown that if teachers are
not able or willing to use ICT for personal purposes, they will not use it for teaching and learning in their
classrooms. Once teachers have basic skills they can be expected to perform administrative or
organisational tasks such as word processing reports, keeping electronic rolls, producing teaching materials,
and reading and responding to e-mail messages from their employer. However even teachers who can
accomplish these things do not necessarily believe they are ready to use ICT for teaching and learning.
In addition to having a range of ICT related experiences, beginning teacher also need to be
introduced theories and concepts that assist them to understand why certain things occur in the interaction
between teacher and learner. While beginning teachers might focus more on classroom management and
other ‘survival’ skills, as they spend more time in the classroom they discover the need for theory to exist
alongside practice.
Most classroom teachers are interested to know what and how their students learn. In pre-service
teacher education programs students study philosophical and psychological issues relating to knowledge
and learning. In general none of these theories and the educational issues they raise are discussed by
students in the context of learning technologies in the classroom. Over the three decades computers have
been entering classrooms, educational theories have moved from behaviourism to cognitivism and then to
constructivism. Underlying many of the theories is the concept of learners as individuals who have specific
personal needs while at the same time requiring social contact with peers and others.
In much of his work Papert (1980, 1993) argued for the dual concepts of exploratory learning
together with appropriate computer software and of learners being epistemologists, that is being aware of
their personal learning preferences and idiosyncrasies. Reports arising from the early Logo research
encouraged teachers to explore a wide range of interactions between themselves, their students, and
computers. Piagetian theories of developmental stages in children, and constructivism have been major
influences on teachers using Logo and other exploratory or conjectural software. Often the alternative
educational pathways sought by these teachers and researchers have led to learning environments that are
more informal than traditional classrooms. Developing ICT applications for classroom use has given
teachers a motive for focusing on issues such as whether children are novice learners, developing adults
who just perform less ably than adults, or effective learners who have informally learned a natural
language, a collection of motor and social skills, and a range of concepts about the world around them.
Wolf writes that the core of Piagetian theories of cognitive development is a view of knowledge
constructed through interaction (Wolf, 1988 p.203). There are two aspects of Piagetian interaction. The
first relates to domain knowledge, and concerns the acquisition of knowledge through a simultaneous
combination of actions and experiments with concrete materials and thinking about those materials. The
other aspect of Piagetian interaction is characterised by its social nature. It arises from a trading of
thoughts, feelings and strategies between groups of learners, between teachers and learners, and through a
process of self reflection. Learning in a computer-based medium requires both “provocative encounters”
with the basic structure of particular knowledge (domain knowledge), and equally stimulating encounters
with the thoughts of others (social interchanges).
For many years teachers have used parts of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives as a
guide to asking questions that are cognitively challenging. Recently the taxonomy has been revised in the
light of current educational thinking. Pohl (2000) is one of many educators who have applied the revised
taxonomy to educational uses of ICT. Beginning teachers have always had trouble asking questions and
setting tasks at appropriate levels for students. In Australia, when prospective teachers enter a pre-service
course they have usually just completed an undergraduate degree. Many of the questions they ask on their
first teaching round are far too difficult for students. It appears that as recent graduates the beginning
teachers are still influenced by the academic expectations and practices of their university studies, and they
have difficulty thinking at the level of a child or adolescent who might have limited knowledge of the topic.
A common and related issue among both beginning and experienced teachers, is that of mostly
asking questions that require only a previously learned response - in Bloom's terms a recall or remembering

Anthony Jones BERA 2002

question. Similarly, when teachers demonstrate a process on the board and then set tasks that are almost
identical, students only need to remember or copy what was demonstrated. An equivalent level of thinking
is required when students are asked to use computers to make copies of text, data, or diagrams provided by
teacher or textbook.
Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences is used in many schools to cater for intellectual areas of
strength and to bolster any less developed areas. By allowing students to use content-free software (for
example word processors, spreadsheets, draw and paint programs, e-mail, HyperStudio, MicroWorlds,
Inspiration, PowerPoint) teachers can develop activities to enrich many of the multiple intelligences.
However some of the intelligences, such as musical and bodily-kinesthetic, might require some additional
hardware software for learners who have skills in these areas.
Problem solving strategies and systematic methods for thinking are also used in primary and
secondary schools. Many schools make effective use of models such as De Bono's "thinking hats" and
"lateral thinking", and have integrated them into classroom ICT use. In a technology context, all of the
software types mentioned offer opportunities for problem solving. Some are better than others in specific
subject areas, for example spreadsheets and MicroWorlds have many applications in mathematics classes.
As noted previously, Watson (2001) has urged "pedagogy before technology" and the CEO Forum
(1999) and other recent reports on teacher education have identified the context of ICT to be a major issue.
In the past there has been an over-emphasis on training teacher education students to develop proficiency in
a range of technical skills. It is then assumed that because they are technically competent with ICT, they
will be able to use ICT in their teaching as well as use it to enable their students to learn more effectively.
This has not turned out to be the case.
How can pre-service teacher education providers improve the situation that has been described?
First, all staff involved in teacher education need to be cognisant of the need for change to current practices,
and of recommendations from many of the reports referred to in this paper. "How and why would this
topic/software/activity be used in school classrooms?" should the theme for ICT classes and practical
workshops.
At La Trobe University, primary teacher education students commence the year by experiencing
language activities that also introduce or reinforce concepts of word processing. The language activities
presented to the students are linked to stated learning outcomes from both the language and technology
curriculum documents. From their education as teachers, students are shown that the thrust for using ICT
comes from the school curriculum in an area other than technology. The oft repeated mantra used with
these students is "Use technology only when and where it is appropriate." Working with the assistance of
tutors from subject areas such as language, science, mathematics, and SOSE (Studies of Society and the
Environment), the students are given practice in developing lessons, and later units of work, that might or
might not include some aspect of technology. Some of these are submitted for assessment, and they are
critiqued on the inclusion or exclusion of aspects of ICT.
ICT related topics are introduced to students through the school curriculum. For example the
classes on multimedia applications begin by looking at traditional school project work in social studies.
This is then compared to samples of multimedia projects developed by children in schools using
MicroWorlds and HyperStudio. The student teachers are asked to role-play a classroom teacher while they
assess both types of project, and determine what the projects show about how much children have learned.
Student teachers then practise developing a multimedia project, usually in pairs because this is classroom
practice in local schools, and at the same time acquiring skills and knowledge in the software package they
have chosen to use.
In a similar manner, spreadsheets are introduced through learning outcomes from the science
curriculum that involve collecting and analysing data relating to patterns in weather, time, plant growth, etc.
The spreadsheet concepts are then linked to mathematics outcomes that require students to pose a question,
collect response data, analyse and interpret the data, and make a visual and written representation of what
they done.
WebQuests are used as a vehicle for demonstrating an effective and safe way of making use of
resources available on the World Wide Web. Issues arising from the rationale behind WebQuests for
schools (Dodge, 1997) are discussed in the light of what students have experienced in previous classes, and
what they observed while on teaching practice. Using WebQuests in the classroom is the major focus of
this discussion, not only in relation to class organisation and management in an environment with 30
children and 4 computers, but also the role of children as both users and authors. Later the teacher

Anthony Jones BERA 2002

education students work in small collaborative groups to develop a WebQuest that integrates material from
at least three of the school curriculum areas.

Concluding remarks
There are many reasons why classroom teachers in subjects other than IT are not making effective use of
the learning technologies currently available in schools. Many of these causes are not yet clearly
understood. This is true in both primary and secondary schools, and raises many issues, including concerns
about the cost-effectiveness of the large investment in hardware and software, and what professional
development is necessary for teachers. In this paper one aspect of the latter issue has been examined in the
context of beginning teachers.
By now we might expect that new entrants into pre-service teacher education will have had
considerable experience with ICT during their schooling and their university studies. However the quality
and scope of those experiences differ greatly, but it does mean that there will be some teachers entering the
profession who have been aware of, and have used, ICT for up to a decade and a half.
Although the focus in this paper has been on pre-service teacher education, similar concepts and
approaches can be applied to professional development for current teachers. Of course school and system
administrators have to be aware that no matter how high the level of competence and confidence of
teachers, ICT will never be integrated into normal classroom practice until the technology is available and
accessible where teachers teach. We are misusing resources and have a long way to go while-ever teachers
have to make bookings weeks ahead, then find and connect together video-projectors, computers, and
software prior to teaching a lesson.

References
CEO Forum (1999) Year 2 Report. Professional development: A link to better learning. Online:
http://ceoforum.org
Dodge, B. (1997) Some thoughts about WebQuests. Online:
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/about_webquests.html
Hall, G. E., Loucks, S. F., Rutherford, W. L ., & Newlove, B. W. (1975). Levels of use of the
innovation: A framework for analyzing innovation adoption. Journal of Teacher Education, 26(1), 52–56.
Hodas, S. (1993) Technology refusal and the organizational culture of schools. Education Policy
Analysis Archives, 1 (10). Online: http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v1n10.html.
Jones, A. (2002) Refusing or ignoring? An investigation of student teachers’ perceptions and use of
computers. Paper presented at the Australian Society for Educational Technology Conference. Melbourne,
July.
McKinsey and Company (1997) The future of information technology in UK schools. McKinsey and
Company, London.
OFSTED (2002) ICT in schools: Effect of government initiatives. Progress report April 2002. Office
for Standards in Education, London. Online: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/public/index.htm
Papert, S. (1980) Mindstorms: Children, computers and powerful ideas. Basic Books, New York.
Papert, S. (1993) The children’s machine: Rethinking school in the computer age. Basic Books, New
York.
Pohl, M. (2000) Bloom's (1956) revised taxonomy. Online: http://rite.ed.qut.edu.au/oz-
teachernet/training/bloom.html
Ramsay, G. (2000) Quality matters. A review of teacher education in NSW. Online:
http://www.det.nsw.edu.au/teachrev/reports/index.htm
SCTP (1999) Guidelines for the Evaluation of Teacher Education Courses Department of Education
Victoria, Melbourne.
Watson, D. (2001) Pedagogy before technology: Rethinking the relationship between ICT and
teaching. Education and Information Technologies, 6 (4), 251-266.

Anthony Jones BERA 2002

 Wolf, D. (1988) The quality of interaction: Domain knowledge, social interchange, and computer 
learning.  In G. Forman and P. Pufull (Ed.s) Constructivism in the computer age. Lawrence Erlbaum 
Associates, Hillsdale.

Anthony Jones BERA 2002