Pre-service Teachers’ Perceptions of Web-based Interactive Media: Three Different Tools One Learning Goal

Web-based interactive media offers, new possibilities to teach and learn. These new possibilities place a greater emphasis on technology integration for in-service and pre-service teachers. In addition, researchers identify the need to investigate teachers’ perception about incorporating rich media into their classrooms, because they are ultimately the catalyst for technology integration. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate how web-based interactive media is perceived and experienced by pre-service teachers. Identifying what they notice and value as important can provide strong indicators of how visible the pedagogical intent of the designer is. If these intentions are not apparent then teachers will either not select them or use them with the full desired intent. Nor will they see the alternative potential of the interactive media. A phenomenographical study research design was developed to describe teachers’ perceptions about technology. The participants included 224 pre-service teachers from an introductory educational computing course. Participants were assigned to one of three online tools designed to convey concepts of size and scale. The paper describes what participants define from each tool as instructional activities, instructional methods, and instructional media and what they considered the advantages and obstacles for incorporating those into their classrooms.