The Illusions on Digital Citizenship: What We Know and What We Do?

Introduction: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the digital citizenship levels of information and communication technology teacher candidates and their user behaviours and habits in the digital world. The experimental work presented here provides one of the first investigations into a deeper understanding of misconceptions, problems, and deficiencies in digital citizenship and its sub-dimensions. Also, the study offers some important insights to bring solutions to the problems encountered in teaching the concept to individuals. Methods: To reach the goal, a mixed-method approach was utilized. Participants of the study were 74 information and communication technology teacher candidates enrolling at a public university in Turkey. Data for this research were collected using Digital Citizenship Scale (Kocadağ, 2012) and the e-Citizen mobile application. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches was used in the data analysis. Results: According to the research findings, it was established that the participants did not have sufficient awareness of the concept of digital citizenship in the sub-dimensions of digital security, digital health, digital rights and responsibilities, digital law, digital etiquette, and digital commerce. The digital citizenship levels of the participants in these dimensions obtained from the scale were not consistent with their digital technology user behaviours and habits. Considering digital access, digital communication, and digital literacy sub-dimensions, it was concluded that pre-service teachers had sufficient knowledge. Another research finding shows that the responses of the participants to the scales should be questioned and emphasizes the importance of using different data collection methods. Discussion: It was specified that the average digital citizenship score of 74 information and communication technology teacher candidates participated in the study was found to be 262 and it was described as “Very Good.” These results corroborate with the findings of a great deal of the previous works that show that digital citizenship levels of individuals have increased in recent years. However, data obtained from user habits and behaviours did not support this situation. This inconsistency may be due to the participants not acting objectively during scale scoring. The reason for this is not clear, but we thought possible causes maybe that teacher candidates may not express their real thoughts, may not want to get low scores on Digital Citizenship Scale (DCs) or they may see themselves as adequate despite their deficiencies. This situation is one of the biggest limitations of self-report measures and it is named “Social Desirability Bias” in the literature. There are, however, other possible explanations. In the study, participants have filled the DCs first and then used the e-Citizen application. Information and communication technology teacher candidates have taken lower scores from User Habits and Behaviours Surveys (UHBs) in each of the sub-dimensions compared to DCs. According to these data, we can infer that the participants may be able to increase their knowledge about digital citizenship and see their deficiencies thanks to the e-Citizen mobile application. Limitations: It should not be forgotten that this study was limited by the validity and reliability of the digital citizenship scale, the efficiency of the mobile application, and the level of knowledge of the participant group and their objectivity in their answers. Conclusion: Overall, this study strengthens the idea that there are problems in the concept of digital citizenship and its sub-dimension. As a result of the research, although the digital citizenship levels of the participants were measured to be very good, it was determined that there are inconsistencies with their behaviours and habits during the use of digital technologies in six of the nine sub-dimensions (security, health, rights and responsibilities, law, etiquette, and commerce). In three sub-dimensions: digital communication, access, and literacy, the data were relatively consistent. At the end of the study, the possible causes of the digital citizenship misconception experienced by teacher candidates were discussed separately and suggestions were made for future studies.

Technology, Teacher Professional Development and Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Technical report on systematic mapping review

An output of the EdTech Hub, https://edtechhub.org

TRAINING PRE-SERVICE TECHNOLOGY TEACHERS TO DEVELOP SCHOOLCHILDREN’S TECHNICAL LITERACY

Technical literacy is a component of professional competence of the pre-service technology teacher. However, the course content of technical disciplines in the pedagogical universities of Ukraine is not consistent with the content knowledge subsequently used in teaching practice of a technology teacher. Also, there is a need in general technical literacy of the students, yet it is developed only in its engineering design aspect. In the paper, it was proved that for the general technical literacy of pre-service technology teachers the basic concepts are the following technical phenomena: motion transmission, changes in kinematic parameters of motion, changes in force parameters of motion. Natural and scientific foundations of the machine drives were used as the basic topic-specific knowledge. It was hypothesized that effectiveness of teaching technical literacy to children would raise if the narrative about the technical phenomena is included in the content of the “Utility machinery” course for the pre-service technology teachers. The pedagogical experiment was performed in the Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University (Ukraine). It included ascertaining, formative, and control stages. At the ascertaining stage of the pedagogical experiment, the students’ readiness level to study technical phenomena was determined. At the formative stage, the students’ readiness to develop children’s technical literacy was measured. At the control stage, students’ readiness level to develop technical literacy was estimated in experimental and control groups. Theoretical value of the results is in substantiating technical topic-specific content knowledge as necessary for the pre-service technology teachers. Practical significance of the results is in implementation of the narratives about technical phenomena in the learning practice of the students of pedagogical university. Keywords: multidisciplinary approach, narrative approach, technical phenomena, technology teachers

Bridging the gap: blending spatial skills instruction into a technology teacher preparation programme

In recent years, there has been a surge in research in spatial thinking across the international community. We now know that spatial skills are malleable and that they are linked to success across multiple disciplines, most notably Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). While spatial skills have been examined by cognitive scientists in laboratory environments for decades, current research is examining how these skills can be developed in field-based environments. In this paper, we present findings from a study within a Technology Teacher preparation programme where we examined first-year students’ spatial skills on entry to university. We explain why it was necessary to embed a spatial skills intervention into Year 1 of the programme and we describe the impact that this had on students’ spatial scores and on academic performance. The findings from our study highlight a consistent gender gap in spatial scores at the start of the first-year with female students entering the Technology Teacher preparation programme at a lower base level than male students. We describe how we integrated spatial development activities into an existing course and how an improvement in spatial scores and overall course performance was observed. The paper concludes by discussing the long-term sustainability of integrating spatial interventions within teacher preparation programmes while also highlighting the importance of future research to examine spatial skills as a fundamental component of technological capability.

SPECIFICITY OF TRAINING A FUTURE TEACHER OF TECHNOLOGY IN A PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY: THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ASPECT

Высокая динамика социальных и экономических изменений в стране и в мире порождает необходимость ответа на них в системе профессионального образования, в том числе вузовского. Определение содержания подготовки будущего учителя технологии и создание оптимальных условий для ее эффективного процесса требуют учитывать как общие тенденции развития системы профессионального образования, так и непрерывно происходящие изменения в содержании предметной области «Технология», ее специфику. Для будущего учителя технологии это содержание выступает ориентиром синтеза научных знаний всех учебных предметов в качестве примера их использования в различных направлениях человеческой деятельности. Это означает, что учитель технологии должен быть готов осуществлять экономическое, экологическое, технологическое образование и информационное обеспечение данного процесса, учить решению изобретательских задач, формировать дизайнерские навыки и другие умения. Особенностью образовательной области «Технология» является и то, что программы по этому предмету предусматривают относительную свободу в выборе учебного материала в зависимости от местных и региональных условий, производственного окружения, желаний родителей и детей, квалификации и профессионализма учителя и др. Именно учитель технологии развивает у обучающихся представления о производстве, реализации и потреблении материальных благ; о культуре труда и быта; о необходимости и особенностях профессионального самоопределения каждым гражданином государства, но главное – формирует невербальную сферу человека. The high dynamics of social and economic changes in the country and in the world gives rise to the need to respond to them in the system of vocational education, including university education. Determining the content of training a future teacher of technology and creating optimal conditions for its effective process requires taking into account both the general trends in the development of the vocational education system and the continuously occurring changes in the content of the subject area “Technology”, its specifics. The general tendencies of development in the vocational education system include: the peculiarities of the organization of social and pedagogical support of a student to initiate his activity in the process of mastering professional experience; a change in the focus of vocational education from public to personality-oriented; human development in the profession and the student’s dialogue with the diversity of cultures; redefining the relationship between education and training; stages of appropriation by the future teacher of the experience of professional activity as a process of self-design and self-realization of the image of future pedagogical activity; appropriation of the values of the profession as an integral part of the image of “I am a teacher”. The next group of features follows from the content of the educational area “Technology”. For the future technology teacher, this content serves as a guideline for the synthesis of scientific knowledge of all academic subjects as an example of their use in various areas of human activity. This means that a technology teacher must be ready to carry out economic, environmental, technological education and information support of this process; teach inventive problem solving, form design and other skills. Also, a feature of the educational field “Technology” is the fact that the programs in this subject provide for relative freedom in the choice of educational material, depending on local and regional conditions, the working environment, the desires of parents and children, the qualifications and professionalism of the teacher, etc. It is the teacher of technology that will have to form students have ideas about the production, sale and consumption of material goods; about the culture of work and life; about the necessity and peculiarities of professional selfdetermination by every citizen of the state, but the main thing is to form the non-verbal sphere of a person.