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Pre-Service Teachers and Computers

The chapter presents the results of a longitudinal study (years 2013-2018) in which pre-service teachers' actual and perceived competence in computers were examined, together with factors that were hypothesized to affect both. Participants were 1070 senior students, studying at the Department of Primary School Education, University of the Aegean, Greece, and an online questionnaire was used for recording their views. Results analysis, using multiple linear regression, indicated that pre-service teachers do not actually know a lot about computers, while at the same time, they view themselves as average users. Moreover, ICT courses' impact on actual knowledge and skills in computers was minimal; more significant was the impact of additional ICT training and ownership of both a PC and a laptop. On the other hand, participants based their perceived competence in computers almost exclusively on how competent they thought they were in basic computer use. On the basis of the results, recommendations are made in order pre-service teachers to be more adequately prepared to meet the challenges of using ICT as in-service teachers.