Home PublicationsJRTEPast IssuesVolume 32 Number 1

Edited by Diane McGrath, Kansas State University

formerly Journal of Research on Computing in Education

Regina Halpin
Mississippi State University

Abstract

Effective use of technology in the classroom has received much attention in education, and teacher training programs are expected to produce computer literate teachers. The purpose of this study was to compare two technology integration models. Pre- and postcourse questionnaires were administered to 73 preservice teachers completing an elementary methods course. The precourse questionnaire assessed preservice teachers’ computer skills prior to entering the methods course. A follow-up questionnaire administered at the end of their first year of teaching assessed how frequently they were using technology as an instructional tool and for what purposes. The results of this study indicated that integration of technology with integrated methods courses increased the probability that teachers transferred the computer skills into their classroom as compared to preservice teachers who learned computer skills in an isolated manner.

Contributor

Regina Halpin is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Mississippi State University. She received her bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics and her master’s and doctoral degrees in secondary mathematics from Auburn University in 1988, 1989, and 1994, respectively. Her teaching interests include integrated mathematics and technology methods for preservice and inservice teachers, secondary school curriculum, and research design. Her research interests are secondary mathematics education, the effective use of technology in the precollege classroom, and curriculum reform. (Address: Regina Halpin, Mississippi State University, College of Education, Curriculum & Instruction, PO Box 9705, Mississippi State, MS 39762; rhalpin@ra.msstate.edu.)

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