Course design features influencing preservice teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in their ability to support students’ use of ICT

Research (Karatas et al., ; Lemon & Garvis, ; Tondeur et al., ; Valtonen et al., ) indicates that beginning teachers feel they are not confident to teach effectively using technology in their classroom. The Australian Government (DEEWR, 2010) recognized this need to improve the capacities (confidence, content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and skills) of pre-service and in-service teachers to work with, and integrate, current technologies into their teaching. In response, the government education accreditation body, the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), developed a framework in the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, specifying how teachers should demonstrate the use of technology to support teaching and learning (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), ). Elaborations to the standards were developed by the Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF) Project, funded by the Australian Government’s ICT Innovation Fund (DEEWR, 2010). The TTF project involved all higher education institutions providing initial teacher education programs in Australia. At the final TTF project meeting in Melbourne, Australia, Punya Mishra, as keynote speaker stated that “this project dwarfed any TPACK initiatives happening internationally” (Finger et al., , pp. 506). Guided by the TPACK framework and informed by the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, the TTF project aimed to develop the ICT capacity and TPACK confidence of PSTs through its focus on teacher educators and the newly released Australian Technologies curriculum.