Exploring Technology as a Tool for Eliciting and Encouraging Beginning Teacher Reflection

As beginning teachers experience and process new information during their initial acts of teaching, reflection is an inherent part of the process. The following study was designed to explore technology as a tool for reflection by introducing first-year teachers to three technology tools designed to elicit and encourage their reflections on teaching: (a) electronic portfolios, (b) online discussion, and (c) videotaping teaching. Results indicate that the first-year teachers in this study found value in each of the tools, with videotaping teaching encouraging the most meaningful reflection on their teaching practice. Overall, the technology tools provided an avenue for reflection on teaching and a structure for novices to think and talk about their work.

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