Follow-up Questionnaire

1. Do you believe the influence of technology on the field of education has been positive or negative?

The first question provided a broad view of the preservice teachers’ beliefs. All of the preservice teachers gave a positive answer. The following comments are reflective of most of the preservice teachers' responses:

• “Positive, because some students do not have the opportunity to use computers, but computers in the classroom makes this possible. Also, it is helpful for teachers to get ideas and opinions from other teachers.”
• “Positive because students need to know how to use technology in this day and age. Also, much information can be found on the Internet, and typing skills will be enhanced.”
• “I think that it has been positive because technology should be used in everything, not just business.”
• “I believe that the influence of technology has been very positive in the field of education. Technology is the future. We must educate our children and ourselves in the use of technology in order for them and us to be successful. Children also need to be exposed to a variety of media. With the use of technology, many tasks, such as record keeping and research, are much easier. This ease will encourage both students and teachers to undertake more difficult tasks.”
• “I believe it has been positive. Not many are using it effectively, though. Teachers allow only limited time on computers. The teachers aren’t taking advantage of computer research to find information or lesson ideas.”

2. How have the e-pal projects in which you have participated over the past year affected your attitude/beliefs about the use of technology in the classroom?

As with the first question, all responses here were positive.

• “I think technology in the classroom is a great idea. I think children need to be introduced to computers early.”
• “I believe technology can be beneficial because it gives students the opportunity to work with computers.”
• “These projects have shown me the use of computers and e-mail in the classroom.”
• “I strongly believe that children should be given the opportunity to use technology in their class. The world is becoming much more technological. Shouldn’t we give our students the opportunity to excel in the way we would with any other subject?”
• “I thought it was a good idea to work with the kids.”
• “It has just reinforced my attitudes/beliefs that technology is important in the classroom.”
• “It is an essential part of a classroom. Children, as well as their teachers need to be computer literate in a society moving forward rapidly in technology.”
• “I see more positive aspects of technology in the classroom now. I see how students can learn technology, and technology is going to be around forever, so I believe the more students know about and are exposed to computers, the better!”

3. How has your participation in the e-pal project affected your knowledge of how to use computer technology for professional development and student-related projects in the literacy curriculum?

Sixty-eight percent of responses to this question were positive. Comments included those following:

• “This project allowed me to be in contact with an actual child at both of our conviences [sic]. It was the first time I’ve ever e-mailed with a purpose, and I now feel very comfortable doing so. As a teacher and for professional development, I could see myself e-mailing other teachers for encouragement or with questions.”
• “Before this project, I was fairly comfortable with using computer technologies, but I could not apply some of them very well. I have realized that a teacher can use various technologies to access a variety of resources such as mentors, list-servs, Internet lesson plans, and class projects such as GLOBE.”
• “I feel what we have done in our class is an excellent way to communicate with computer technology and has also given us the opportunity to learn how to use them. I feel using the computer is very beneficial to all involved. Some benefits that have helped me are 1) I feel more comfortable sending/receiving e-mail. 2) I enjoy being able to talk to people when ever [sic] I can.”
• “These projects have made me more familiar with computers and e-mail. I learned how easy it is to communicate with people from different places. My mentor gave me many helpful suggestions. I enjoyed having the e-pal and getting a chance to meet him. These projects were very time consuming, but I now believe it was worth it.”

Among the 32 percent of negative responses, the following comments were made:

• “I felt that e-mail communication and computer technology can greatly help me as a future teacher. I didn’t really get anything out of the e-pal project.”
• “I thought the e-pal project was a waste of time. However, I had a bad experience. My e-pal wrote me 2 times.”
• “Since I received only 3 short messages from my e-pal, I did not feel it was a good use of my time.”
• “I do not feel that I have learned anything more about computer technology from these activities. I feel that I have learned more by playing on my computer at home.”
• “I think that both projects were good ideas. I already knew a lot about e-mail, so I didn’t really learn anything new about it. I really enjoyed writing to my mentor, but the pen pal project was just frustrating because I only heard from him once.”
• “These projects made me a lot more familiar with e-mail. I believe I would have had a better experience if I had more responses from my e-pal.”

4. By participating in the e-pal projects, do you feel better prepared to enter the teaching field?

Half of the students responded positively with comments such as,

• “Yes, I feel that this project has given me a better view and understanding of children’s use and knowledge of computers. Many of these children may know more about computers than I do. But, I feel better prepared and will encourage the use of technology in the classroom.”
• “These projects have better prepared me to enter the teaching field because I am now better prepared to use the resources available to teachers.”
• “Yes, so many schools and children have computer equipment available for use. Kids are always wanting to learn in an exciting way. Computer programs offer this and we as teachers can use them to teach and for management of grades, etc.”
• “Yes, we are always better when we have new ideas to put into use in our future classrooms.”

The remaining half of the students indicated that they did not believe they were better prepared:

• “No, I’m sorry. I do not feel that these projects have prepared me for teaching.”
• “Honestly, I don’t really think so. I enjoyed writing to my mentor and pen pal, but I didn’t really learn anything from it that would better prepare me to teach.”
• “No. Last year I only received two e-mails from my teacher, and this year I received one from my e-pal. I felt a lot of frustration and felt like it was a waste of precious time.”
• “No, I learned very little from my pal.”
• “I really do not believe that the e-pal experience better prepared me for teaching. Had I gotten more responses, it might have.”
• “Not really. Yes, I have a better understanding of the e-mailing system but this could have been accomplished elsewhere also.”
• “No! I think it helped me more on a personal level.”
• “I think it has helped me find other ideas of resources, but not necessarily prepared me for the teaching field. Maybe it would if my mentor and I had discussed more actual events in the classroom instead of just basically teaching ideas.”

5. Do you think the e-pal projects should be a part of the reading methods courses in the future?

Seventy percent of the students responded positively to the final question.

• “Yes, I have enjoyed this project very much. I feel that as future teachers we should look at this project as an ‘opportunity’ rather than as a ‘requirement’ and want to interact with young children by way of e-mail.”
• “Yes, I feel there should be more required projects like this one in our classes.”

Thirty percent of the preservice teachers did not think the projects should be required in future courses.

• “No! We have so much stress and this is just an extra burden.”
• “No, but it could be offered on a volunteer basis.”
• “No, I do not think these projects should be required because the e-pals do not always write.”