We want to be teachers, not programmers: in pursuit of relevance and authenticity for initial teacher education students studying an information technology subject at an Australian university

Information Superhighway is a technical subject on Internet technologies and web authoring whose content is geared primarily towards undergraduate students majoring in information technology, but is a undertaken by Bachelor of Education and Bachelor of Teaching students at Charles Sturt University, a regional university based in New South Wales, Australia. The lecturer is tasked with the challenge of targeting the specific needs and interests of these students, while not adversely affecting the other students in the cohort. This article describes how a project-based learning approach, together with the involvement of a local high school, was used to promote relevance and authenticity for the teachers-in-training. Findings from an end-of-semester survey suggest that the approach was effective in motivating the students as well as encouraging them to learn about ICT and integrate it into their future professional practice.