Characterizing the Digital Culture of Prospective Primary School Teachers

Abstract

This article aims at characterizing the digital culture of prospective Moroccan primary school teachers during their training. The study was conducted as a survey on a sample of prospective primary school teachers from Morocco. A descriptive frequency analysis was performed using SPSS. The results show that this digital culture is rooted more considerably in their personal use of different technological tools or resources. The article analyzes the resources of digital culture through the objectives of digital practices of prospective teachers and the motivations underlying their choice of a specific digital tool and practice. The digital practices of prospective teachers are marked by frequent use of social networks and a low tendency to make use of institutional platforms and their trainers’ blogs. The analysis highlights the nature of the environments, services, and digital resources manipulated by prospective teachers during their training. It also sheds light on the role of this digital culture in the content preparation activities of these potential teachers, as well as the resources produced by them and by their trainers. The preparation of pedagogical content often makes use of social network tools, while educational tools are in average use. Finally, the results show that these exchanges are dominated by WhatsApp, Google Drive, and e-mail; however, the use of the WhatsApp application is more prevalent when interacting with trainers.