Collaborative uses of ICT in education: Practices and representations of preservice elementary school teachers

Schools and teachers have a key role to bridge the gap between the digital practices of everyday life and school, helping students to develop digital literacies. In this paper, we will explore the practices and representations of ICT in education of preservice elementary school teachers and kindergarten educators of a higher education institution in Lisbon and their expectations regarding the future use of collaborative technology for learning purposes. The research is based on an online survey and a group meeting on the expectations regarding the future use of collaborative technology for learning purposes. The research explores the importance and the influence of teachers' training in the future adoption of ICT in education. Preservice elementary teachers and kindergarten educators clearly identified the advantages of using ICT in education, in particular the potentialities to improve the educational process. Using ICT for collaborative work in the classroom was considered a good support for learning new topics and to motivate students.