PREPARING NEW TEACHERS TO USE COMPUTER-TECHNOLOGY - PERCEPTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHER EDUCATORS

With the increased use of technology within our culture, it is important to ask whether or not current preservice teachers are being prepared to use technology in their teaching. Are today's teacher education programs preparing their students to integrate technology into classrooms and instruction? This paper will describe a study that identified factors impacting on new teachers' sense of ''feeling prepared'' to use computers for instruction, through a survey of teachers who had completed their first year in the classroom. Specific courses on the uses of computers in education, the uses of technology in methods courses and the importance of technology experiences in the student teaching experience will be discussed. Suggestions for teacher educators as they implement the integration of computers into their own instruction will be provided.