The pre-service teachers ICT toolkit: expertise and expectations

In Australia as in the United States, being able to use ICT is now a common feature of a teacher's toolkit, with government policy mandating that all teachers use ICT in their practice (ACARA 2012; MCEETYA 2008). This has major implications for teacher education and the way in which pre-service teachers are prepared for practicum and their future classrooms. This paper provides a work-in-progress discussion of an alternative approach to the teaching practicum in one university in Victoria, Australia. Specifically it explores the research design used to explore the key questions: what technological knowledge and skills do pre-service teachers' possess? Where/how did they acquire these skills? What are their expectations of teacher education and practicum for in their preparation for using ICT in classrooms? The aim of the paper is twofold, firstly to examine the role of the practicum in improving pre-services teachers' ICT knowledge and educational practices, and secondly, to contribute to the research around profiling pre-service teachers' ICT expertise and expectations.