This article discusses the changing context of education brought about by technology and the COVID pandemic and its implications for teachers and teacher education. Specifically, the article argues that technological changes have made instruction much less important for teachers because online learning resources and knowledge experts have…

COVID-19 changed not only the way we live but also the way we teach and prepare pre-service teachers. The purpose of this paper is to describe the shift from a conventional STEM fair to an online teaching environment prepared by elementary pre-service teachers after the closure of the educational system in Cyprus as of March 2020. We describe a…

Beginning in February and March of 2020, school closures impacted at least 90% of the world's population of students, according to UNESCO estimates. As educators swiftly shifted to teaching online, they sought information to guide their initial planning and teaching in new environments with new tools. Analysis of educators' search terms and their…

This paper describes a collaborative project between a district curriculum specialist and university-based researchers to provide on-going support to social studies teachers as they transitioned to digital learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. We developed an asynchronous, on-line and self-guided professional learning project to support teachers…

The Teacher Educator Technology Competencies (TETCs) were created to help all teacher educators support teacher candidates as they prepare to become technology-using teachers. The TETCs largely focus on teaching "with" technology. However, one of the 12 competencies, TETC 9, offers an opportunity to delve into teaching "about"…

This article documents how our college sought to address a technology integration preparation gap, with the implementation of the Teacher Educator Technology Integration initiative. We draw upon findings from an external program review that was commissioned to evaluate the initiative, including the type of support provided to teacher educators and…

Blended learning environments that merge learning strategies, resources, and modes have been implemented in higher education settings for nearly two decades, and research has identified many positive effects. More recently, K-12 traditional and charter schools have begun to experiment with blended learning, but to date, research on the effects of…

The purpose of this program evaluation was to determine the impact of a school-based, job-embedded professional development program on elementary and middle school teacher efficacy for technology integration. Participant bi-weekly journal postings were analyzed using Grappling's "Technology and Learning Spectrum" (Porter, 2001) to…

With teacher shortages in both general and critical needs areas and constricting operating budgets, it is important for Colleges of Education to develop methods of providing alternative certification programs to reach larger segments of the population. One method of increasing the scope of potential preservice teachers is through the development…

Two new instruments created to assess perceptions of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines and careers are analyzed and found to have respectable to excellent internal consistency reliability, as well as good content, construct, and criterion-related validity for the areas assessed. Cronbach's Alpha for the individual…

Research shows that unless university-based teacher educators effectively integrate technology into teacher education courses, students (pre-service and in-service teachers) are unlikely to use technology effectively in their own teaching. This creates negative repercussions in teacher education and in the schools. However, many teacher educators…

The process of teacher identification, selection, initial training, and on-going professional development that has developed at the Illinois Virtual High School (IVHS) over the past seven years is described and discussed in this article. Validation was based upon existing practices and research. To provide background the creation and initial…

In this study we examined the effects of online follow-up and online peer interaction following a face-to face professional development workshop on attitudes towards that professional development and completion of a professional development task. School librarians were invited to work online on a three page plan outlining interventions a library…

Recognizing the power of high quality practice in teacher preparation, a web-based simulation called Cook School District was designed to allow teacher candidates to practice the skills necessary to connect their teaching to the learning of all children employing the framework of teacher work samples (TWS). Pilot study data comparing simulation…

The effects of using a student response system (SRS) in a graduate lecture class in special education were investigated. Comparisons of content mastery and self-reported engagement between lectures with the SRS and without were made. Students demonstrated more mastery of content on weekly quizzes and reported increased class engagement on those…