Teacher training and pedagogical use of the Web 2.0: The view of students of teacher education programs

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss the importance of training teachers to use Web 2.0 in the classroom. Its intention was to find out whether students are familiar with the main Web 2.0 resources and know how to exploit their potential in the development of teaching activities. In addition to the literature review, we developed a field exploratory-descriptive research. The research was held in a private university located in the city of Bauru (São Paulo State, Brazil). We selected 213 students enrolled in “Supervised Training III” course, which is part of the teacher training curriculum available for students in the second year of undergraduate course. Results concluded that the students surveyed have access to computers and the Internet, are relatively skilled in handling the available tools and recognize the importance of including them in the teaching and learning process. The students demonstrate difficulty using the web in a didactic manner, particularly the Web 2.0, which involves a focus on users and collaboration. Therefore, the article points to the need to rethink teacher training courses in order to include practical activities aimed at the use of technology as a teaching resource. 

Key words: teacher training, Web 2.0 resources, information and communication technology (ICT).