For this issue, we highlight one of the current articles, Teachers’ Transformative Learning on Digital Afterlife. Because the article provides a novel and useful example of the possibilities to expand issues of media literacy into new and important life areas, we would like to focus on both the unusual topic and the research approach. Although it is rare for us to single out one article for the editors’ column, we agree that this article is different enough from our usual research articles to merit individual attention. In addition to the unusual topic, the article provides a useful model for designing and implementing research in relatively new areas. In this column, we focus on highlighting the topic and the research design and encourage our readers to read the details in the article. The topic digital afterlife refers to the digital history each of us will leave behind on our various devices when we die. Although this digital history may be lengthy, personal, and detailed in many cases, we currently do not have agreed-upon procedures and rules for ownership of the contents of accounts, messages, photographs, projects at the time of a person’s death. Authors have suggested the importance of thinking through the ownership of the content sooner rather than later. Because our culture tends to ignore the reality of death for each of us, it is not surprising that the teachers in the professional development experience centered on digital afterlife were initially surprised, if not shocked, by the topic. The authors point out that this initial reaction of the professional development participants provided a good fit for the transformative knowledge learning theory base. Transformative learning theory is generally focused upon adult learning and usually begins with a disorienting dilemma. A disorienting dilemma is a situation where a learner finds that new information upsets or challenges their thoughts and/or practices. This disorienting dilemma provides motivation for a new learning experience and a possible change in behavior. In the case of this article, the disorienting dilemma is the introduction of the concept of digital afterlife. A large majority of the teachers in the study indicated they had never thought about their digital afterlife prior to this professional development experience. The article in this issue provides a clear introduction to the idea of digital afterlife and a theoretical base that helps organize and create knowledge in this new media literacy. Authors used the five stages in transformative learning as a structure for both data collection and analysis. The data clearly illustrate both the initial shock at the topic and the fact that many of the participants ended up sharing the knowledge gained with family and friends. The second outcome is probably rare coming out of professional development activities. This article was reviewed positively by each of the reviewers selected for this article, and all the reviewers viewed the topic as important for our readers. One of the reviewers stated:

Note that the JDLTE is now a Q1 journal, indicating that it is in the top 25% of education technology journals in citations. JDLTE has made consistent gains in this area, and is now classified as Q1, important information for our authors and readers. In other news, our technology in teacher education community is beginning to use and research possible applications of AI tools such as ChatGPT. To better understand the writing capabilities of ChatGPT, we decided to ask this tool to write our column for us. After trying several prompts, we entered the prompt “Write a column for a technology in teacher education journal about potential use of ChatGPT in teacher education” and this is what appeared:

Recently, the Iowa Economic Development Authority approved $1.4 million for the Iowa State University College of Design to purchase a 3D printer capable of producing concrete houses. The project goal is to build a neighborhood of up to 34 3D-printed homes in Hamburg, an Iowa town recovering from a destructive flood two years ago. The Iowa project joins several other efforts to use 3D printers in large construction projects and provides a model for using 3D printer capabilities to address major societal issues. In this case, the massive 3D printer makes creating low-cost housing more affordable and much faster. Given the critical need for affordable housing, this approach offers exciting possibilities. Details about the project can be found at https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2021/12/20/3dhomes. This new approach to home building highlights the value of providing K-12 students and teachers, both inservice and preservice, with experiences using innovative technologies such as 3D printers for teaching and learning. The introduction of 3D printers into K-12 environments followed similar phases to other new technology applications in schools. At first, teachers and teacher educators tended to view 3D printing as a motivating extra activity for students. With the increasing use of makerspaces in schools, 3D printing evolved from an extra, interesting activity to an essential part of creative student projects integrated across the curriculum. Thus, 3D printing became a natural and powerful, creative tool for both students and teachers. This development of 3D printing in schools provides a useful model for thinking about the use of new and powerful technology in classrooms. Initial use of new technology is oftentimes focused on learning about the technology itself and applications of the technology may not be immediately obvious. Although early use of 3D printers in schools tended to focus upon learning to use the printers and some projects not directly related to the curriculum, more recent applications we see are directly related to science, mathematics, social studies, literacy, art, and additional curriculum areas. Students experiencing these uses of 3D printing, in makerspaces and classrooms, are empowered to both understand and create 3D printer applications that solve real world problems. For example, K-12 students are now using 3D printers to design model cities, an application that relates directly to the current use of large 3D printers to address housing problems. There are obvious parallels to the development of 3D printer use in schools to the much earlier development of computer use in schools. The first uses of the computer in classrooms were indeed focused on teachers and students learning to use the computers and not on how computers might help solve real world problems. Once the teachers and students mastered the use of computers, an incredible variety of applications appeared and flourished. Obviously both computers and 3D printers have evolved into valuable teaching and learning tools that provide powerful new learning experiences for students and potential solutions to problems. We applaud those teachers and teacher educators who envisioned the possibilities of new technologies and spent thousands of hours learning to use and apply these new tools in classrooms. They are truly pioneering in educational spaces. Many of our readers and authors fall into this category. Those pioneers are undoubtedly not surprised by the current uses of 3D printing for building houses, and it is certainly possible that some of their students are now involved with important uses of 3D printers to address problems. Adopting and using new technologies in schools to https://doi.org/10.1080/21532974.2022.2034398

We thought it would be interesting to examine the last five volumes (33; 2017 − 37; 2021) of the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education (JDLTE) to identify topics and trends that have emerged around publishing in this dynamic area. In the last five volumes we published 82 articles, compiled two special issues (Makerspaces in Teacher Education, 2018 and Computational Thinking in Teacher Education, 2020), and recorded 59,884 article views to date. Submissions have steadily increased these past five years, as interest around publishing about digital learning in teacher education continues to grow. Figure 1 represents a breakdown of the topics covered by research articles published in these last five volumes. We used very broad categories to classify and illustrate the distribution of topics in these issues. For example, one-third of the articles published involved pre-service (22%) and in-service teachers (11%) as participants. Several articles (17%) published during this time, a pivotal time in distance education, focused on online learning or online professional development. Technology specific topics like computational thinking/coding (12%), TPACK (8%), and makerspaces (5%) were also present. Articles with a technology/content area focus (11%), such as literacy, mathematics, or STEM, remain an important focus for JDLTE. The remaining articles (14%) covered various topics across technology and teacher education – like validating questionnaires, promoting school-university partnerships, and using technology for reflection. These five volumes also included JDLTE Outstanding Research Paper Awards that are presented annually at the ISTE conference. One article is selected from each volume that has a high probability to advance the field of technology and teacher education. It is worth listing the last five paper award winners here, noting the important and timely topics covered in these articles:

As most of you know, ISTE 2022 was held June 26–29 in New Orleans. ISTE 2022 was a hybrid conference, making presentations available to members who attended in person and to those who were unable to attend. More than 13,000 ISTE members were able to attend in person. Those who attended reported that ISTE 2022 truly felt like the active, engaged, innovative conference we have all come to know. And those who attended online also expressed appreciation for the high quality and carefully designed hybrid opportunity. The Tuesday keynote by Drs. Cornel West and Robert George provides an excellent example of how the hybrid approach can work for both in person and online attendees and presenters. The session was moderated by Mary Jo Modda. Ms. Modda, a doctoral student at UCLA, was present in person for a large, enthusiastic ISTE audience and Drs. West and George participated online. The combination of a moderator speaking to a large group of in person attendees and the two online panel members created a most successful and inspiring session. The enthusiasm of the in person audience for the topic and the speakers added an important ingredient for the online audience. The session truly illustrates the effectiveness of a carefully planned and executed hybrid experience. The topic for this keynote session was centered around the issue of our need for civil discourse on issues in education. Drs. George and West vividly described a deep academic friendship between the two of them that has spanned decades and included some very different views on educational issues. The speakers in this session modeled the importance and value of civil discourse and our need to understand and practice the characteristics of civil discourse. As the speakers described their personal and professional relationship, they highlighted several important features of successful civil discourse. They suggested that we are currently in a time of despair in many of our interactions and the need to learn to positively disagree with our friends and colleagues. They also described the need for serious and informed dialogue that contributes to growth and learning. Characteristics emphasized by Drs. West and George as they described their own interactions included:

provide both students and teachers with new tools to support solving real world problems is central to our mission as technology in teacher education professionals. The three articles in this issue of JDLTE support the mission of using technologies to solve problems we commonly encounter as educators. The first article titled, Preservice Special Education Teachers’ Perceptions of a Mixed-Reality Simulation Experiences , provides insight into how teacher educators can incorporate a mixed-reality simulation into classroom practice. Findings report how preservice teacher candidates perceived their performance, tool value, and treatment experiences while participating in a mixed-reality simulation around topics of special education. The article titled, Digital Spaces and Clinical Practice in Teacher Preparation: Current Uses and Future Possibilities , examines how we can use and leverage digital practice spaces (DPSs) in teacher preparation. The authors identify several affordances that suggest DPSs may be a promising tool for incorporating clinical practice experiences into coursework with potential findings that will help bridge the experience gap often found between methods courses and clinical field experiences. Finally, the article titled, Teachers’ Perceptions of Assistive Technology Use for Students with Disabilities , reminds us of the powerful application of using assistive technologies to meet the learning needs of students with disabilities. As this study reveals, we still need additional mech-anisms in place that will adequately prepare preservice and inservice teachers to properly use assistive devices to positively impact classroom practice and application with students. Collectively, these authors have provided more context for teacher educators who are interested in leveraging new and powerful technology to address problems with the end goal being to offer solutions to real world problems.

COVID-19 has produced pressures and demands on almost all professionals in our society. Teachers at all levels have been among the hardest hit by new expectations, and although much of the attentio...