The 'Third'-Order Barrier for Technology-Integration Instruction: Implications for Teacher Education

Technology integration is a major trend in contemporary education practice. When undertaking technology integration in classrooms, a first-order barrier and a second-order barrier, as proposed by Ertmer (1999), can hinder its implementation. The first-order barrier is external, such as lack of adequate access, time, training and institutional support. The second-order barrier includes teachers' personal and fundamental beliefs such as teachers' pedagogical beliefs, technology beliefs, willingness to change. This paper argues that the lack of design thinking by teachers may be the "third"-order barrier for technology integration.