Abstract

This paper examines a retrospective view of a final year secondary teacher education unit which has explored the use of an integrative method. Over a period of three years the unit has utilised an interdisciplinary approach in teaching the content of the unit using information and communication technologies (ICT). Each year a team of four staff undertook the teaching of this unit and brought together skills and knowledge from different curriculum areas. Two of the teaching staff have consistently delivered this unit over the three year period and here review the success and difficulties encountered over this time. An honest and open evaluation based upon student and staff responses of the unit will be presented in this paper giving a practical viewpoint to ICT integration. Issues encountered such as expertise of staff, resource availability, willingness of students to learn in a different framework, willingness of staff to teach in a different framework, achievement of student outcomes, organisational structure, and valid assessment strategies are explored and discussed. Recommendations for future initiatives in using interdisciplinary approaches involving ICT are provided to give university teachers a framework on which to base their own future practice.