Author Archive

Denise Schmidt-Crawford

Iowa State University

Educator Preparation and Technology: Taking Stock and Looking Forward

AACTE is partnering with the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) to provide AACTE members with a reduced rate for the Teacher Educator Technology Competencies (TETC) professional development modules. Learn more about the series of self-paced online courses from the TETC research team.

Looking back, it seems as if we have been on an almost impossible journey. In response to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, we faced the closure of campuses and an abrupt and extraordinarily difficult transition to remote teaching and learning. Given the relational and experiential nature of teaching, remote learning has been particularly difficult for teacher preparation programs. We found it extraordinarily difficult to replace the modeling and mentoring that our pre-service teachers needed using remote experiences. Working from home and balancing various responsibilities including caring for loved ones and supporting our own children’s learning only added to the challenge. Undoubtedly, this has been one of the most challenging times many of us have ever experienced.

And yet, despite all this, there have been some bright spots. Faculty have explored new ways of guiding learning, developed a range of new skills with educational technologies, and were reminded of the value and importance of deep human connection in teaching and learning (Ferdig et al., 2020). Some faculty have even reported that they are planning to carry over aspects of remote teaching when they transition back to the “normalcy” in our schools and classrooms; whatever that will be (also, see these hopeful posts on the AACTE blog, Clausen, et al, 2021; Hyler, 2020; Slykhuis, 2020).

Engage With Technology Competencies for Teacher Educators

The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.

The Teacher Educator Technology Competencies (TETCs) have been finalized, thanks to feedback from many of you, and we are excited to invite you to put them to use–and to tell us about them!

The Need for Technology Competencies for Teacher Educators

Last year, we reported to you on our progress developing the TETCs, which aim to address the “digital use gap” among teacher educators and their ability to prepare PK-12 teachers to teach with technology.

Coming Soon: Teacher Educator Technology Competencies

The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.

To help educator preparation programs address calls for better preparing new teachers to integrate technology in their practice, we recently led a collaborative research effort to develop a set of teacher educator technology competencies. An article outlining the competencies and our underlying methodologies is currently in review for publication, and we look forward to disseminating the details soon – but for now, we’d like to share some background on what spurred the project and how we decided to approach it.