Technology-Assisted-Reflection: A Study of Pre-service Teacher Education in Middle School Language Arts and Social Studies and Secondary English Education and Social Studies

Abstract

The purpose of this quasi-experimental research was to examine a new approach to information delivery and communication within Teacher Education courses. Advanced technologies in the Internet, Listserv, E-mail, NetForum and electronic forms were integrated, and the learning was guided by the clinical analysis/reflection and structured self-evaluation in a differentiated environment to promote individual development in both cognition and ethics.A cluster sample of sixty-eight pre-service teachers enrolled in the Introduction to Teaching Humanities and Social Sciences course in the Spring of 1999 at the North Carolina State University. Both pretest and posttest were conducted using Defining Issues Test by James Rest for the evaluation of moral growth of the students and Computing Concerns Questionnaire by Jean Martin for the concerns of the students in computing. The qualitative conclusion reached by the researcher suggested students have improved in both quantity and quality of their work more than previous semesters. The quantitative data showed a trend of decrease in students' concerns with regard to computing through Technology-Assisted-Reflection. Despite the statistically insignificant result, study indicated moral development of our pre-service teachers at the Stage 4 of moral development, which is within the norm of the national standard for undergraduate students.