Ann-Britt Enochsson

Educating online student teachers to master professional digital competence

In this article we study how online teacher education programmes may enhance innovative ways of teaching and learning with Information and Communication Technology (ICT). We explore how online teachers are practising professional digital competence, in general and within subject areas, and to what extent they encourage student teachers to develop their own professional digital competence. Based on online teacher education programmes at two distinct higher education institutions (HEIs), we applied mixed method design including quantitative and qualitative approaches to illuminate the aims and the scope. Our study revealed that even if online teacher education programmes represent good avenues for stimulating teachers and student teachers to develop digital competence for pedagogical purposes, this aspect is poorly integrated within the actual programmes, although some interesting examples were demonstrated. By looking at the origins of the discourses on online education and on digital competence, we found that they derive from different stakeholders: while the discourse on online education originated from the management side at both HEIs, the discourse on digital competence derived from certain teaching staff at the two HEIs. Our study indicated that there is still some way to go to innovative solutions and to develop the potential of professional digital competence in online teacher education programmes. We explored online teacher education programmes at two HEIs.We studied how student teachers develop professional digital competence.We applied mixed method design including quantitative and qualitative approaches.The programmes integrated professional digital competence poorly.The discourses on online education and on digital competence derive from different stakeholders.

Reflective discussions in teacher training: A comparison between online and offline discussions of course literature in a class of pre-service teachers

This paper compares outcomes of student teachers’ use of oral classroom and written online forum discussions of course literature, with the aim of examining how each mode facilitates reflective practice. Data were collected from a class of 11 participating student teachers. Oral discussions were video-recorded and written online discussions were saved as Word files. Clinchy’s levels of knowing were used to determine the depth of the reflections and qualitative analyses inspired by Harasim were carried out as a complement. Findings indicate that on a group level the performance according to the levels of reflective thinking was the same. Both modes have advantages and drawbacks, but it is clear that there should be a variety of modes to provide individual student teachers with better possibilities of developing their reflections. Further explorations of the interaction between modal preference and modal performance, as well as the implications for online peer collaboration, are discussed.