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Category: Project

Description: In today’s densely digitalized schools and higher education institutions in the Nordic countries including Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, teachers and academic teaching staff are expected to integrate information and communications technology (ICT) in their teaching to prepare pupils and students for the complex demands of the knowledge society and world of work. In addition, there is a growing interest in the use of digital technologies for teaching and learning in teacher education (TE) among the Nordic countries because of curricular reforms, technology-rich schools, and high levels of digital competence. Consequently, TE programs in these countries are expected to develop professional digital competence (PDC) among student teachers (STs). Hence, during their school practicum and after graduating, STs should be able to integrate digital tools in their subject disciplines so that they can fulfill curricular demands and meet pupils’ learning outcomes and expectations. However, the use of digital technology in TE in Nordic countries has been criticized for being teacher-centered, tool-focused, and slow to implement new and innovative pedagogies involving digital technologies. Although Nordic schools and higher education institutions are considered digitally well-equipped, there is little knowledge or evidence from research about how these technologies are really used in the preparation of future teachers. Moreover, little is known about how digital technologies are used in TE for developing PDC, and there is a lack reviews that systematically organize the empirical research. Therefore, the current study is a scoping review of the research literature on digital technologies in Nordic TE from 2010 until 2020 (before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic). The aim of the study is to give an overview on how STs are prepared to teach with ICT in their subject disciplines in the Nordic countries, thus developing their PDC.