Are Irish Student-Teachers Prepared to be Agents of Change in using IT in Education?
Abstract: This paper explores student-teachers’ use of social networks, video-sharing websites and MUVEs (specifically Second Life). In seeking to find if student-teachers’ activities in this respect prepare them to be agents of change in the education system, it examines the extent and type of use made by Education students at the authors’ university, and compares these with the use made by students in other programmes in the university. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire. The student-teachers’ responses suggest that their uses reflect social and interpersonal skills rather than those of creativity and problem-solving, and that they may be on the wrong side of a digital divide in this respect.
Presider: Berhane Teclehaimanot, University of Toledo