Our Experiences and Voices

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted educational institutions globally. The disruption impacted delivery and teacher wellness—a drastic shift from traditional teaching to hybrid and online models without adequate teacher preparation and training. Schools implemented different platforms to support the paradigm shift. These shifts caused by COVID-19 have lasting positive and negative impacts on educators, educator preparation programs, P-12 students, and the overall wellness of teachers and students. This chapter addresses the pedagogical shifts and impact of educator wellness (physically, mentally, and emotionally) caused by the pandemic. The study's findings indicate that the adjustments made by teachers and students will improve communication, collaboration, and teaching with technology skills. The shift to remote learning further strengthened the relationships between teachers and families. Finally, the chapter addresses the importance of teacher wellness and self-care.

Evaluating Teachers' Learning, Perceptions, and Cultural Differences Following Professional Development for Early Literacy Software

The present study examined the impact of professional development training on Canadian and Kenyan teachers’ confidence, comfort, and perceptions of their abilities to teach early literacy skills in the primary or elementary grades. Data were collected prior to and following training on how to integrate early literacy software as part of ongoing in-class instruction. Domain and technology constructs consistent with Mishra and Koehler’s (2006) technology integration model were assessed, as were perceptions related to delivery pacing. Overall, outcomes reflected more similarities than differences across the two groups of teachers. Limitations in foundational knowledge regarding concepts specific to early literacy were evident in both groups, despite higher levels of perceived confidence in Kenyan teachers compared to Canadian teachers in some content areas. Perceived comfort using technology and teaching with technology were highly correlated, with no differences observed across teacher groups. Pacing was perceived to be faster for Kenyan teachers compared to Canadian teachers. Implications for professional development in this domain are discussed.

PERSPEKTIF GURU TENTANG PENGEMBANGAN SMA DI TANGERANG PADA MASA PANDEMI COVID-19.

ABSTRACTThis article focuses on the challenges of teachers at high schools related to the digitalization process in school development during the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to being an intrapersonal prerequisite for teaching with technology and changing attitudes towards learning and teaching, it is a prerequisite for schools as part of a learning organization. This research is a qualitative research with a qualitative interview study of 10 participants or teachers. This was done to identify challenges for teachers, the role of ship principals, and collaboration among stakeholders. The strategy of teaching methods using technology proved to be a clear agenda by school principals regarding reliable technology infrastructure and also the willingness of teachers to use teaching methods.

Pre-Service Teachers’ Perception and Vision about TPACK and Its Implementation

The need for educators to integrate the use of technology in the classroom is growing for the past few years. However, previous studies indicated that the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is still at a low level of what the education program requires. Furthermore, it seems that in the field of language education, there is limited research focusing on pre service teachers (PTs). Therefore, to address this gap, this paper aims at investigating how the pre service teacher's understanding of the TPACK principle and how they will apply TPACK in their classroom. This mix-method study is using TPACK questionnaire and interview through a random sampling of 68 pre-service teachers of English Education Department of UNS. Furthermore, the results revealed that most of the participants understood the concept of TPACK well, and they also had various ways to apply it in their classroom. It is expected that knowing pre service teachers' (PTs) perceptions about TPACK in teaching and learning process that can be beneficial for both English Education Department programs and PTs, such as understanding the PTs' teaching abilities, development of the use of technology in teaching by pre service teachers in order to improve teacher department programs itself to develop the teaching practice with the support of technology. In addition, this study has implications for experts interested in the development and assessment of pre service teachers' understanding of teaching with technology.

Teaching With Technology, Learning by Design

I decided to write this article after attending a three-week workshop on “Teaching Technology, learning by Design” organized by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia. Basically, taking a look at the above topic throws up quite a number of conflicting and complex thoughts in the mind of the average teacher but considering what evolution has come into the teaching profession in recent, modern times, it is only expedient to look deeply into the subject. Technology as it were, does not literarily suggest the mere use of a Computer or a certain computer program just for the benefit of using a modern, pedagogical teaching method but a goal-driven, well-measured ideology to achieve specific results that go far beyond the four walls of the classroom. The concept of Teaching with Technology Learning by Design is a well-defined idea meant to dissect and treat real-life problems in the classroom and offer possible solutions to such problems with the use of modern technology which creates a near-real life learning and development experience not only for the students involved but also the tutors.