Pre-service teachers' perceptions on educational networking : an exploratory study

Abstract

The motivation to carry out the learning experience presented in this paper derived from three premises found in the review of literature that sustains the empirical sudy: i) social networking is a daily routine for most western world citizens; ii) (portuguese) non superior schools are equipped with computers and Internet access; iii) the integration of the technologies in the curriculum is related to the ICT training teachers have in their initial education programs. Taking these assumptions as a guide, social networking activities were integrated in an ICT program at a Portuguese university enrolling 26 preservice teachers from humanities (History, Geography and Philosophy). For one semester student teachers used PROEDI (www.proedi.ning.com) a social networking created to be an informal space for professional growth Portuguese speaking teachers. For data collection we used observation of the interactions (sociometric analysis) as well as two online questionnaires (initial and final) to evaluate students´ perceptions on educational networking. Results are presented and discussed.