Propelling Professional Development Schools Forward

Author(s):  
Cynthia Benton ◽  
Stephanie Falls

This program study used faculty, administrator and teacher candidate participant interviews to examine expanded field experiences and action research effects on a Professional Development School (PDS) partnership. Specifically, the roles and relationships between public school and higher education members were examined in light of the effectiveness of the program and teacher candidate performance. Implications for higher education practices in PDS development, program design, faculty development and student learning are described. The PDS model has been embraced as a means to collaboratively develop teacher education programs that benefit student learning as well as to effectively meet licensure and academic requirements.

Author(s):  
Yael Poyas

Wiki implementation in education has been thoroughly researched over the past few years, particularly due to the use of this technology in higher education institutions. One unique branch of this research is the influence of the Wiki environment on teachers who participate in teacher education programs. A multicultural group of teachers - younger and older, experienced and novices, Jews and Arabs – was examined while learning literature and its instruction with Wiki. Satisfaction with the learning process and its outcomes, as well as with relations among learners and between them and the lecturer, was high. Three main factors influenced the learning process and participants’ attitude toward the use of Wiki: (a) level of professional development and teaching experience, (b) culture and mother-tongue of the participants, and (c) discord between academic norms and the Wiki environment’s democratic norms.


2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Epstein

The client analysis conducted in this study explores the professional development needs of11 language teachers, five in South Africa and six in Canada. The study employs a questionnaire and interviews to discover how each teacher's background and context affects his or her perceived professional development needs. Interviews show that teacher educators cannot necessarily predict teachers' professional development needs based on their backgrounds and contexts alone. A variety of inputs from recipients over an extended time is desirable and would yield more accurate predictability of an individual's professional development needs. This would result in teacher education programs that more accurately meet a teacher's real needs.


Author(s):  
Sharon Smaldino ◽  
Lara Luetkehans

With all higher education educational endeavors there is a transformative element that enhances the progression forward in terms of academic program development. Teacher education is no exception to this aspect of the evolutionary process. The authors' story of that transformation and the impact of creative endeavors in teacher education offer a sense of moving beyond the traditional to the transformative in teacher education. Carter (1993) offers that the story can offer a perspective on our work and inform teacher education on the directions we might take to bring about improvement in our efforts to prepare educators for the future. The authors' story begins with a strong foundation and commitment to understanding the critical elements of successful partnerships. This foundation has served them for 15 years, and two distinct eras of partnership work that delineate the transformation. The authors explore each era: “The Professional Development School (PDS) Story” followed by “10 Years Later.”


The authors perceive that institutionalized racial hierarchies are the greatest barrier to educational equity in the United States. While P-12 teachers may express the desire to make their classrooms spaces of joy, creativity, and intellectual brilliance, it is primarily through intentional skills development that teachers succeed. The authors assert the need for greater investments by school districts and teacher education programs in professional development for in-service P-12 teachers that further empower them and, in turn, their students, to contribute to the dismantling of racism in the U.S. Teacher educators, administrators and policy makers need to position themselves as cultivators and supporters of P-12 teachers in ways that encourage and sustain their antiracist advocacy and equity work in their teaching.


Author(s):  
Hae Seong Park ◽  
Joanne Gilbreath ◽  
Daniel Lawson ◽  
Helen Easterling Williams

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors to determine the competence of technology integration for teacher candidates. This study utilized data from a 2006 quick-response survey entitled ‘Educational Technology in Teacher Education Programs for Initial Licensure.’ Only 1,350 institutions that have teacher education programs for initial licensure were selected. The result of a hierarchical regression revealed that the extent of institutional training programs for technology explain most variation (33%) of the competence of technology integration of teacher candidates. In addition, the more variation of technology programs an institution employs in its program, the more confidence the teacher candidates possess. The result supports findings from previous research as well as supporting some emphasis on professional development design considerations that may be of value to those planning the similar technology trainings.


Author(s):  
Eva Brown ◽  
Michele Jacobsen

Meaningful and authentic use of technology for quality teaching and meaningful learning is an essential component of a 21st century education. Teacher education programs have been slow to transform and adopt programs that are essential for new teachers to be equipped with skills for 21st century teaching. Professional development of veteran teachers faces challenges in format and delivery and teachers are slow to become enculturated in design inquiry learning infusing technology in meaningful ways that embrace digital citizenship to meet the needs of 21st century education. The project described in this chapter offers an innovative approach to professional learning in a partnership approach with teacher education students and veteran teachers to address the challenges faced by both teacher education programs and professional development models.


2020 ◽  
pp. 002248712094984
Author(s):  
Rick Voithofer ◽  
Michael J. Nelson

Given the strong influence of teachers educators’ pedagogical modeling on new teachers’ capacity to use technology to support student learning, this study sought to answer two interrelated questions: (a) How are teacher educators and teacher education programs currently working to prepare teachers to integrate technology? and (b) How are teacher educators implementing the TPACK (complex integration of technological [T], pedagogical [P], and content [C] knowledge [K]) model? The evidence to answer these questions was derived from an analysis of quantitative and qualitative survey responses from 843 teacher educators from approximately half ( n = 541) of the accredited teacher education programs in the country. The results showed that teacher educators are increasingly integrating technology across the curriculum, that there is a fairly low level of TPACK adoption, and that conceptions of TPACK vary greatly. The study helps to better understand these teacher educator practices in relationship to the literature on preparing teachers to use technology to support student learning.


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