Teachers and technology in the making: developing didactic competence

The use of information-and communication technology (ICT) is pervading almost all areas in our complex society. Because of this, the school system is expected to educate pupils in the use of different types of ICT. This means that teachers are given a crucial role in preparing the pupils for the information society. However, studies show that teachers and students are insecure about how to use ICT to enhance learning. As a consequence, teacher education should be an important arena for learning how to use new technology in teaching. This paper explores how teacher students' didactic competence in use of technology can be developed. More specifically, we show how one very technologically skilled and committed professor in teacher education can influence the students' motivations for using technology in their own teaching. Also, we look into the implications of this teaching for the development of didactic competence, as well as outline some further challenges and suggestions. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved