eLearning and Initial Teacher Education Programs: Insights from the Teaching Teachers for the Future Project

Abstract

This paper argues that initial teacher education programs (ITE) which build the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) confidence and capabilities of future teachers is critical in enabling effective design and implementation of eLearning for school students. Insights are provided through drawing upon selected research and evaluation findings from the Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF) Project involving all HEIs which provide ITE programs in Australia. The TTF Project, a 15 month long, $8 million project was funded by the Australian Government's ICT Innovation Fund and aimed to develop the ICT capabilities of future teachers. Findings from the TTF Project indicate that the TPACK conceptualisation used to guide the project, and the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership's ICT Elaborations for Graduate Teacher Standards (AITSL, 2011a) can inform the design of ITE programs in preparing future teachers for using ICT to support teaching and to support student learning.