An assessment of educational computing and technology competencies and experiences provided by the curricula of teacher education programs at NCATE accredited colleges and universities

This study assessed the educational computing and technology competencies and experiences provided by the curricula of teacher education programs at NCATE accredited colleges and universities. The major goal was to determine if preservice teachers are being prepared to meet the computing and technological demands of an information age society. Subjects (n = 138) for the study consisted of teacher education administrators and faculty representing selected institutions with one or more teacher education programs/units accredited by NCATE. The institutions were stratified into nine groups according to the level of degrees offered in education and according to the yearly number of graduates produced by these institutions leading to initial certification.;Subjects completed a mailed survey developed by the researcher. Data gathered included perceptions of the respondents regarding the NCATE Foundations Standards for educational computing and technology for all teachers, information relating to the educational computing and technology component in preservice education programs, and demographic data.;Responses to the survey were used to answer 10 research questions. Frequency counts and percentages were used to summarize data collected from the survey. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was the statistical procedure used to determine if mean differences existed among the nine sample groups according to (1) the level of degrees offered in education by the institutions and (2) the yearly number of graduates from basic programs in education, and the extent to which educational computing and technology experiences are provided for preservice teachers. The analysis of data yielded no significant differences between either the level of degrees in education offered by the institutions or the yearly number of graduates from basic teacher education programs and the extent to which teacher education programs provide preservice teachers with computer-related experiences.;Results showed that most teacher education programs are providing preservice teachers with some experiences in educational computing and technology. Respondents rated the NCATE Foundations Standards as "highly" important, but "moderately" realistic for preservice teachers. There was general agreement among respondents that "some" of the preservice teachers in their programs met all of the Standards. A majority of the respondents reported that the teacher education programs at their institutions did not meet the Standards at the time of the study. However, slightly more than half of these believed that their programs would meet the Standards by their next NCATE on-site visit. Based on the data provided, most of these programs should be in compliance with the Standards by the fall 1998.