https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9807-4838
As we approach 2024, we are also approaching the 40th Anniversary of the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education. The first edition of our journal was published in 1984 and the journal was sponsored by ISTE (then called ICCE—International Council on Computers in Education) and titled The SIG Bulletin. The SIG Bulletin housed articles on technology in teacher education for four years until it became the Journal of Computing in Teacher Education. As many of our readers will remember, the journal remained the Journal of Computing in Teacher Education (JCTE) until 2010 when the Editorial Board voted to change the title to the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education.
ISTE (then titled ICCE) was founded in 1979 by University of Oregon professor David Moursund with a small group of visionary educators who understood the strong potential of computer applications in education. The group expanded through small international conferences that steadily grew in attendance each year. In 1984 ICCE founded the SIG Bulletin, a publication that started as a combined newsletter and journal for an audience of educators focused upon emerging computer uses in education. Although the SIG Bulletin was started as a publication and news outlet for all the Special Interest Groups (SIGs) in ICCE, it quickly became clear that the Special Interest Group in Teacher Education (SIGTE) was the focus area for the new journal, and soon the SIGTE assumed leadership of the SIG Bulletin, creating an editorial board, and naming an editor.
In addition to the SIG Bulletin, ICCE also founded The Computing Teacher in 1984. The Computing Teacher was first edited by David Moursund and focused upon K-12 classroom teachers and the emerging group of K-12 computer coordinators. The Computing Teacher published articles on innovative and successful classroom applications while the SIG Bulletin focused on research and practice in technology applications in teacher education. Both of these innovative journals became significant contributors to the growth and development of educational computing.
Early articles published in the SIG Bulletin tended to emphasize practitioner articles with an audience of teacher educators and computer coordinators. As mentioned, the SIG Bulletin also served as a newsletter for ICCE and gradually moved its focus to research/practice articles on technology in teacher education. By 1986 the SIG Bulletin was regularly publishing at least 4 articles in each issue and all focused on technology in teacher education. Articles emphasized early research and practice on computer uses in teacher education and K-12 schools.
In 1988, after four years of publication and rapidly increasing readership, the SIG Bulletin changed its name to better reflect the focus, purpose, and audience for the journal. Clearly, the journal title SIG Bulletin no longer fit the expanded mission and audience from ICCE, and the SIG Bulletin became the clearly focused Journal of Computers in Teacher Education (JCTE).
The JCTE enjoyed more than 20 successful years of growth and expansion as the Journal of Computers in Teacher Education (JCTE) before it was once again time to update the journal title to better reflect the expanding nature of research and practice in technology in teacher education. Since the focus of our work had developed to include varied technologies and focus upon pedagogy and learning with technology, the term computers in teacher education no longer included much of the current research and practice in technology in teacher education. To better reflect the focus and content of our work, the Editorial Board chose Digital Learning In Teacher Education as the new journal title.
Taken together, the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, the Journal of Computing in Teacher Education, and the SIG Bulletin have published articles on technology in teacher education for now 40 years. The journal that began because of the vision of a small group of committed educators in Oregon has grown into a high-quality research journal with a similar, if much larger, audience of committed scholars and innovators. It seems appropriate to honor the vision and determination of the original small group of visionary JDLTE leaders as we work today to continue their commitment to the potential powerful uses of technology in education.
As JDLTE begins our 40th year we continue to publish articles that support the initial vision and mission described earlier—to promote the research and practice related to technology in teacher education. The four articles appearing in this issue are no exception. The first article, Supporting Preservice Economics Teachers in Creating High-Quality Instructional Videos, was a self-study conducted using short instructional videos to understand the dynamics of social and teaching presence and satisfaction while learning in an asynchronous course. The study was grounded in the Community of Inquiry (CoI) Framework and reported that instructor-generated videos were beneficial for some, but not all students. The article titled, Literacy Teacher Preparation for Technology Integration: A Design Experiment, was a formative design experiment that investigated preservice teachers’ preparation for selecting and integrating digital text/tools in literacy instruction. After three iterative rounds of data collection, analysis and redesign we learn how a literacy professor shifts their pedagogical practices to impact preservice teachers’ ability to select and integrate instructional practices. The article titled, An Analysis of the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Education in Spain: The Inservice Teacher’s Perspective, is an investigation into how primary, secondary, and higher education Spanish teachers use AI tools in classrooms. Findings suggest that teachers are generally positive toward AI in education, but they use AI tools primarily for AI content creation purposes without emphasizing actual student engagement with AI tools. Results did differ according to educational level being taught. Finally, Using Student Personas when Developing Digital Mathematics Learning Resources to Improve Teacher Training, is an interesting look into how using student personas might support preservice teachers’ ability to develop digital mathematic resources and contribute to their professional development. Personas are used to provide insight into the characteristics and needs of actual mathematics students. Promising results indicate that using personas in teacher preparation can be beneficial in creating authentic and differentiated teaching resources. Enjoy this issue and thanks to everyone for their role along the way in supporting JDLTE for 40 years!
Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
Denise L. Lindstrom
West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA
[email protected]
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).