Examination of Pre-service Teachers' Opinions on Designing Technology-Based Courses Activities

Abstract

In the 21st century, changing and renewing technologies take place in education as well as in every aspect of our lives. As a requirement of this, teachers must be a qualified person that can respond to today's needs. Teachers need to know not only the content knowledge but also the pedagogical and technological knowledge related to their profession. Integrating technologies into learning and teaching environments is a challenging task for many teachers so it is very important for pre-service teachers to be equipped with the necessary qualifications before starting their professional life. The purpose of this research is to reveal the pre-service teachers’ opinions about the importance and necessity of technology with pedagogical and content knowledge while designing their pre-professional courses. In accordance with the purpose of the research thirty-nine pre-service biology teachers who are affiliated to pedagogical formation certificate program were participated. The research is conducted with case study design. The data were collected via semi-structured form and were submitted to do content analysis through ATLAS.ti program. All participants designed their presentations with a proper teaching methods and instructional technology. As a result of the research; visual materials, smart board, computer, animations, internet, video, projection, Lab-Quest, educational software and microscope were used as an instructional technology in pre-service teacher’s courses. They also stated mostly that providing a better understanding of the subject matter, ensuring permanent learning by students, concretizing abstract concepts via visualization by using these technologies. After their presentations some of the participants defined some difficulties while they were presenting the lesson. These difficulties were categorized related to the use of the technologies, personal problems, timerelated problems and physical environment problems. At the end of the research, the opinions about considering points of the redesigned their course. As a result of the research, it is understood that given opportunity to the pre-service teachers could make them to raise their awareness in terms of their professional development.