Mentoring Toward Technology Use

Abstract This paper investigates the mentoring practices of 16 cooperating teachers as they prepared student teachers to integrate technology into teaching and learning activities. Data were gathered from multiple sources during a semester of student teaching. A complex variety of contextual and conceptual factors influencing the integration of technology into student teaching experiences are presented, including access to technology, on-site support, and beliefs about mentoring. Findings describe the practices of cooperating teachers in mentoring student teachers toward technology use. In order for student teachers to learn how to support student-centered lessons with technology, they need knowledgeable mentor teachers and adequate access to technology to practice and develop those lessons. Recommendations for other school district/university partnerships attempting to integrate technology in field experiences include the implementation of frequent professional development sessions for mentors that help them build knowledge about how to teach in reform-minded ways with technology and how to mentor student teachers to teach in ways consistent with reform standards. Mentors should be introduced to new practices integrating technology with curriculum-based, student-centered activities that expose them to new models for teaching and learning and learn to encourage novices to teach in similar ways through modeling, practicing, and analyzing teaching together.