Investigating Preservice Teachers' Educational Technology Skills: A Problem-Solving Process

Considering preservice teachers' reflections on their best academic learning experiences, the purpose of this research was to use a problem-solving lens to analyze how preservice teachers were first identifying an educational problem and then suggesting solutions where educational technology could be meaningfully implemented. This research used an exploratory, descriptive qualitative method. The participants included 100 preservice teachers enrolled in an introductory educational technology course at a large midwestern university in the U.S. Data were analyzed using an ill-structured problem-solving model synthesized from previous literature, with results presented by key phases: identifying problems, generating solutions, making justifications, and monitoring. The results of this study indicate that preservice teachers (i.e., novice problem solvers) had a simplistic understanding of technology integration, likely resulting from underdeveloped problem-solving skills. These results provide insight into the preservice teachers' problem-solving thinking and how they conceptualized the teaching-learning process, including technology integration.