Technology integration in teacher education: challenges and adaptations in the post‑pandemic era

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic experiences have globally accelerated technology use in higher education, including in developing countries like South Africa. The advancements and use of technology during the COVID-19 lockdown led to increased access to knowledge relevant to educational, professional, and personal development. Nonetheless, difficulties with incorporating technology into teaching and learning remain in teacher education, and there are no real-world examples explaining solutions adapted to reflect South African post-pandemic teacher education. This research, conducted at a public university issues, high levels of plagiarism, and load shedding as challenges faced by pre-service teachers and teacher educators in post-pandemic teacher education. The results highlight the need in South Africa, aimed to understand and exemplify technology adaptations and challenges in post-pandemic teacher education through Vygotsky’s social constructivist worldview. Data collected through observation and a focus-group interview session with participants in the Faculty of Education at a university in South Africa revealed technology incompatibility, ad-hoc solutions to socio-economic for continuous, interactive, and practically focused interactions between educators and policymakers, educators and educators, and educators and pre-service teachers to minimize or eradicate obstacles related to technology integration in post-pandemic teacher education programmes.