AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE AWARENESS OF TEACHER TRAINEES ON DIGITAL PEDAGOGY

“Investing in education and providing 21st-century skills for students are fundamental components to the nation's continued growth and prosperity” -Craig Barrett The globalization and technological innovations have opened wide range of opportunities for the personal growth and development of the people all across the world. However, in terms of expectations and responsibilities, such growth lays a huge responsibility on the academic community. Barrett's aforementioned comment emphasizes the obligation of the educational system to produce more informed and productive citizens for the better present and future. On the other hand, the children of today can be prepared for tomorrow only if the teachers are well educated to do so. The learner of today is a 21st century learner who needs to be updated with knowledge, life skills, technology skills, career skills, traits that are critically important to gain success in today's world. And, to cater such needs, a 21st century teacher is required. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate and debate on the ‘means' to improve and reorganize the Teacher Education Programme to create a "21st-century teacher" and a "techno-pedagogue". This paper emphasizes the importance of incorporating Digital Pedagogy into teaching and learning spaces. Since, Teacher Education is greatly influenced by potential opportunities, particularly those connected to the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the knowledge of the application of Digital Pedagogy to each and every teacher trainees becomes imperative. In this paper, the researchers explored the Digital Pedagogy awareness level of Teacher Trainees of Delhi B.Ed. colleges. A closed-ended questionnaire was administered to the sample of 100 Teacher Trainees. A comparison of the Digital Pedagogy Awareness level of the Teacher Trainees on the basis of gender was also done. A sample of 50 Teacher Trainees was chosen for comparing the awareness level on Digital Pedagogy and t-test was applied to the data for the analysis. It was found that 80% of the Teacher Trainees have average awareness of Digital Pedagogy and only 20% of the participants were observed to possess high awareness on Digital Pedagogy. On further analysis, it was observed that though the awareness level with respect to the ‘knowledge about the Digital Pedagogy' was discovered as ‘good' but when it came to the application or using the same knowledge in the classrooms, the participants were perceived to be a ‘little less aware'. Hence, it is concluded in the study that a special focus must be given to the application or usability of Digital Pedagogy in the classrooms and a special attention must be given to the female B.Ed. trainees so that there should not exist any difference with respect to gender on awareness of Digital Pedagogy. It is anticipated that all novice teachers must be on the same platform when they face real classroom situations.