Tablet Technology and Cloud Storage as Evidence of Pedagogic Development in Pre-service Teacher Education

Abstract

INCREASINGLY, EDUCATORS AND PRE-SERVICE teachers studying to become educators are called to present evidence of their teaching practice and the development of their pedagogic skills. Traditionally this evidence was likely to be printed, with pen and paper notes or typed examples. However, technology such as mobile and tablet devices and cloud storage is enabling new forms of evidence. This study was designed to examine how pre-service teachers develop a digital teaching portfolio incorporating multi-modal evidence linked to accreditation standards. This paper examines survey data, focus group responses and work samples to explore how 213 pre-service teachers use technology to document their work and pedagogic engagement. In examining the nature of ‘evidence’ we have adapted Bronfenbrenner's ecological framework (1979, 1993) to investigate pre-service teachers' perceptions of evidence of learning and explore their concerns with using technology to document learning and facilitate teacher accreditation.