Arek-Bawa, O., & Reddy, S. (2024). Preparing pre-service teachers for teaching in the digital age. Athens Journal of Education, 11, 1-23. https://www.athensjournals.gr/education/2023-5497-AJE-MDT-Bawa-03.pdf

Abstract:

“At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many traditional contact higher
education institutions, such as the institution where the study was based,
transitioned abruptly to remote online learning. Students in the School of
Education at the institution who are predominantly from the lower end of the
socioeconomic digital divide in South Africa had no choice but to navigate
digital technologies to further their education. The extent to which their digital
learning experience fostered the requisite TPACK (Technological, Pedagogical,
and Content Knowledge) and other cross-functional skills needed for the 4IR
classrooms remained uncertain. Framed by the TPACK Model, this paper
employed a mixed-method approach to understand students’ online learning
experiences and how their digital learning experiences prepared them for their
future teaching practices. Data generated from questionnaires randomly
distributed to undergraduate students, followed by a focus group interview with
twelve purposively sampled students across the five undergraduate clusters of
the school, was used to address the research objective. The findings revealed
that it is unlikely that their virtual learning experience could have prepared them
for teaching in the digital age. Insights from this paper will benefit academics in
their online pedagogical engagements and curriculum design while informing
policy directions at the institutional level.”