How can technology make this work? Preservice teachers, off-campus learning and digital portfolios

Utilising appropriate Information Communication Technologies (ICT) as instructional tools in teacher education can be a challenging yet worthwhile endeavour. This paper reports the difficulties and benefits of a recent inter-university project requiring preservice primary teachers to construct professional digital portfolios using the support of ICT. Challenges with regard to communication and learning were numerous as 34 preservice teachers (PSTs) from three universities in NSW (situated in country towns, and in Sydney) worked together as a collaborative learning community. Meeting regularly face-to-face during the 12-month process was not always possible and so ICT resources were employed to facilitate instruction and communication. An action research methodology generated a data set of surveys, observational field notes, and student assessment artefacts. We share the findings in this paper so that others may learn from our experiences in using free access software and commonplace hardware when constructing digital portfolios with students who are some distance from campus

Demonstrating professional teaching standards through ePortfolios

In the current climate of assessment, accountability and accreditation teachers are increasingly required, from the early years of beginning teaching throughout their career, to document and thereby demonstrate professional competency. Supporting pre-service teachers in practising this process is a vital role teacher educators play to ensure their graduates are well prepared for the rigours of demonstrating teaching proficiency particularly in their beginning years of teaching. Against a backdrop where The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA, 2008) is informing the construction of national teacher accreditation, it is made clear that there is a firm expectation that graduate teachers from Australian universities will be conversant in digital technologies. These beginning teachers are expected to use Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in the preparation of teaching lessons, as a pedagogical tool in the classroom, and as a means of extending their own ongoing professional knowledge and interaction. Through inter-university collaboration and online learning communities, students in their final years of teacher education across three universities are currently involved in an 18 month ALTC project designed to assist students in developing ePortfolios which exemplify NSW Professional Teaching Standards achieved during professional experiences. The purpose of such a project is to enhance the skills and knowledge of pre- service teachers with regard to professional teaching standards through an ICT platform in a supported community. This paper will explain the rationale behind the selected processes and ICT tools and will demonstrate how they have been utilised to assist beginning teachers in meeting current professional demands. Observations, survey feedback and ePortfolio artefacts form the basis of data collected and will be shared in the presentation. Preliminary results drawn from the qualitatively analysed data suggest that the use of ePortfolios enhance critical ICT skills and pedagogical knowledge that beginning teachers need in order to demonstrate teacher competency