Session Information
16 SES 06 A, Developing Student Teachers’ Digital Competence
Symposium
Contribution
Information and communication technology (ICT) has become an important component of in initial teacher education in Europe (Eurydice 2011) as well as in continuous professional development of practicing teachers (Prestridge and Tondeur 2015). Developing professional digital competence (PDC) is an important part of teacher education programmes. One of the key aspects in PDC are issues related to cyber ethics. Besides being able to integrate ICT in teaching and learning, student teachers need to be both familiar and comfortable dealing with ethical issues that his/her pupils may face within as well as outside the classrooms (Pusey and Sadera 2011). A common observation nowadays is that children and youth need to strengthen their understanding of ethical and safe use of the new technologies. This paper draws on a survey results conducted in four countries participating in the “Developing ICT in teacher education” project. 1494 first-year student teachers from Ireland, Norway and Spain answered a questionnaire on professional digital competence and cyber ethics in the autumn of 2017. The preliminary findings show that the student teachers agree to a large extent that they are familiar with aspects concerning ethical use of ICT and which rules apply when it comes to Internet safety. Furthermore, they report that they understand the need for enhanced ethical awareness in their professional practice. However, we see that there is a difference between student teachers’ expectations when it comes to where they should learn about cyber ethics. Whereas the student teachers in Spain claim that this should primarily be a part of the teacher education program, the student teachers in Ireland answer that this is mostly the responsibility of the students themselves. The student teachers in Norway answer that they would like to learn by themselves but also have this competence integrated as part of their teacher education programme. These findings indicate that there are cultural differences between the countries and the views of the student teachers when it comes to PDC and issues related to cyber ethics. This discrepancy needs to be explored further, as the implication of our findings are that it is challenging to create integration models that fit all countries.
References
Eurydice (2011). Key Data on Learning and Innovation through ICT at School in Europe. Brussels: EACEA. Prestridge, S., and J. Tondeur. 2015. Exploring Elements That Support Teachers Engagement in Online Professional Development. Education Sciences 5 (3): 199–219. Pusey, P., and Sadera, W. A. (2011). Cyberethics, Cybersafety, and Cybersecurity. Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, 28(2), 82-85. doi:10.1080/21532974.2011.10784684
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