4.4.2. The Sources of the Instructors’ Interest in Technology and ICT Knowledge (Study4RQ2)

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All participants expressed that following technological developments specific to their fields of interest was something that they enjoyed doing. Teachers who more recently (four years prior to the interviews) graduated from master’s programmes expressed that ICT courses were part of their university training. Magdolna’s training (11 years earlier) already involved an ICT course, but it was mainly concerned with databases, and she expressed that she had not understood why they had to deal with them in the first place. Albert and Erika had transversal ICT courses as part of their EFL teacher education programmes where they learnt about some technological possibilities, but the course, combined with their general interests in technology, rather contributed to shaping their attitudes towards the importance and possibilities of inclusion in their future teaching practices. Additionally, Erika’s interest grew from her hobby, designing webpages, and Magdolna learnt a great deal from her years as a language school-teacher because the language school she worked for invested in and offered e-learning courses for students through a complex LMS system, the problem of which was that the instructors could not design, only use already made exercises.

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Most participants expressed that their interest in educational technology originated in themselves and maintaining their level of knowledge was the result of purposeful self-development because technological training was not part of their formal education. Evelyn said that one of her colleagues sometimes offers a course for fellow instructors on recent educational technology that she found helpful, and she said that if she heard the name of a website or application multiple times, she usually decided to try it. Albert, Erika, Éva, Zsombor, Dóra, Erzsébet and László also said that they liked trying out new digital possibilities and turned to them whenever their use saved time or contributed to teaching something more effectively. Albert, Éva and László highlighted that it was of essential importance that the devices be used when pedagogically needed. Erika summarized her professional point of view by saying that it was her “duty to stay updated as a teaching methodology instructor”.

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For this reason, Erika enrolled in a free Microsoft Innovative Educator (https://education.microsoft.com/) programme, and Richárd, Zsombor and Gábor also mentioned that they participated in formal, and Erzsébet in informal online training programmes. However, Zsombor said that the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs – https://www.mooc.org/) he enrolled in did not always live up to their potential and he abandoned some 90% of them. A very similar ratio, 80% abandoned courses, was expressed by Richárd, who had enrolled in some Coursera (https://www.coursera.org/) courses when they had still been free of charge. Zsombor added that he is head of the editorial board of a language technology journal, and thus he always learns about new technologies when reading the articles submitted for publication. Gábor’s interest came from being part of a language technology committee. Erzsébet was subscribed to an email list maintained by Nick Peachy (https://peacheypublications.com/), a digital teaching specialist who authored many methodology books on the subject and claimed to have learnt much from receiving the newsletters always introducing new technological possibilities.
 

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4.4.2.1 Discussion. The participants expressed that their most effective way of self-development was looking for and trying out new digital possibilities from various sources. It is perhaps not surprising that those developmental opportunities that have little or no connection with the context of the instructors are usually abandoned by them (Lim, 2002; McDougall & Jones, 2006; Vygotsky, 1978), as mentioned by Zsombor and Richárd when elaborating on their Coursera and MOOC learning experiences. However, those training opportunities that were in connection with the individual’s context (such was the case with Evelyn), or those that offer a selection of digital tools with descriptions teachers can use as idea sources (e.g., Erzsébet’s case) prove to be more useful because they manage to bridge availability and meaningful use. This suggests that both teacher education, teacher training and informal professional development within departments should target teachers’ subject-specific technological knowledge development more specifically (Dringó-Horváth & Gonda, 2018, Fekete & Divéki, 2022; Jung, 2005; Öveges & Csizér, 2018).

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The importance of developing digital competences and teachers’ inner need to constantly reflect on their technological pedagogical knowledge filters through the participants’ responses. Many of the informants referenced their memories of teacher education, and teaching-related techno-pedagogical development and added that the knowledge by now has become obsolete (see also Simon, 2016). Lifelong learning emerges as a key theme, a take on instructors’ roles that ensures TPACK development. As new technologies surface, teachers and learners alike are bombarded with ever more technological possibilities; thus, both filtering this much information based on pedagogical reasoning and the need to experiment with them are key factors in keeping instructors’ techno-pedagogical knowledge up to date (Kárpáti et al., 2015) and ensuring that technology is used and taught by experts (Kárpáti & Hunya, 2009; Kárpáti et al., 2015).
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