Chapter 3: A Digital Community of Connections for Part-Time Teacher Educators: One Educator’s Growth

Educational philosopher John Dewey’s description of a teacher’s role in learning has remained much the same over a century after his visionary explanation of the learning process. Nevertheless, important differences exist in the ‘means’ and the ‘appliances to be used.’ Now, teachers must have become masters of technological pedagogy to ensure students achieve the ‘remote limit,’ which has altered how educators use instructional technology. Thus, teacher preparation programs have modified their curricular requirements and instructional approaches to provide students with appropriate experiences addressing the continuously advancing ‘means’ encountered in classrooms.

These modern ‘middle conditions’ have been replete with technological tools and myriad related instructional methods, which have led to national standards guiding teachers as they develop appropriately aligned pedagogy to support students’ learning opportunities. Likewise, programs preparing educators for the field have employed methods consistent with the expectations and standards of national and local regulating entities. Not all programs, however, include sufficient training for their teacher educators (TEs) to effectively prepare their students to achieve the required standards. This was true of the teacher preparation program in the institution in which I served as a technology strategist.