Towards the Information Society - the Case of Finnnish Teacher Education

The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education is one important competence that student teacher should develop in their academic studies. To be capable of using ICT in education, students should study both pedagogical and technical issues. In order to affect student teachers’ willingness to use ICT in education, more attention should be paid to their learning experiences. In this research, student teachers’ attitudes toward the use of ICT in education were studied before and after the web-based course. Based on students’ learning experiences, attitudes and evaluations of the web-based learning environment, dimensions of a successful webbased learning environment were examined. According to the results, “motivation and accuracy”, “learner-interface interaction” and “learner control and self-directed learning”are the dimensions of a learning environment that encourages student teachers’ to use ICT in education. A well designed learning environment also gave a realistic overview and knowledge of the possibilities and limitations of the use of ICT in education.