Pre-Service Teachers’ Perception of and Technology Competency at Creating and Using E-Picture Books

This study investigated pre-service teachers’ perception of and technology competency in creating and using e-picture books in their future classrooms. Participants were 114 pre-service teachers in a required Early Childhood Education undergraduate course at a mid-western university in the United States. As part of the course assignments, participants created an e-picture book using PowerPoint and participated in an online survey through Qualtrics. The questionnaire consisted of three parts with questions about the teachers’ perspectives on technology use, the teachers’ recognition of technology competency, and their beliefs about e-picture book use for their teaching career. The collected quantitative data were analyzed through the analysis software provided by Qualtrics and qualitative data were analyzed according to coding methods suggested by Huberman and Miles (1994). Findings implied that instruction in creating e-picture books using PowerPoint may help pre-service teachers understand the necessity of technology-supported material and technology-supported intervention in emergent literacy. These results can be used to further improve teacher education and to activate technology-supported emergent literacy education. Suggestions for future research are discussed.