PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS AND TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED SCHOOL PROJECTS

This paper presents innovative approaches to active learning that were introduced to the teaching of pre-service teachers at the Faculty of Education of University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, the Czech Republic. Over the last three years, the Technology Enhanced Learning course has seen substantial innovations in both content and the use of teaching strategies designed to prepare the pre-service teachers for their professional life. The whole update of the course was implemented using the results of action research - all individual changes were rigorously tracked and analysed. A significant part of the teaching consists of co-operative projects between pre-service teachers and pupils of primary schools. In 2015/2016, pre-service teachers in pairs prepared several stations on which pupils fundamentally worked with Google Cardboard. Implementation of the project within the school was preceded by acquainting the pre-service teachers with Google Cardboard, research, and suitable applications. One pair of pre-service teachers prepared an initial brief presentation on virtual reality, and another pair divided up which applications pupils would work with at their stations, thought up tasked activities for the stations, and created worksheets for the pupils. The actual teaching then took place at an elementary school the science club. The children divided into groups passed from station to station, and performed the tasks with the assistance of the pre-service teachers. In 2016/2017, the theme of digital storytelling was chosen as the project. School teams were created, and each team was assigned a pre-service teacher. Each team drew one point from the Decalogue of Internet Safety (e.g. Do not give anyone an address or phone number, as you don't know who is hiding behind the monitor.), and the team's task was to portray this point as a digital story, using Lego and Stop Motion applications on the tablet. Description of activities and explanation of the reasons for their inclusion in teaching in the text is supplemented by relevant feedback from pre-service teachers that we have gained through pre-service teachers filling out questionnaires at the end of the course or at the conclusion of each activity.