Professional Development for Classroom Teachers

Author(s):  
Jeffrey Maiden

The professional development of teachers in instructional technology is of paramount importance. This chapter provides an overview of the topic, beginning with adult learning as a foundation. Teachers are adults, and any type of professional development, whether related to technology or not, should meet the needs of adult learners. The chapter subsequently provides a review of professional learning communities (PLCs), which may provide a venue for impactful, sustainable technology professional development. Next, teacher-led technology professional development and peer coaching are addressed, followed by a discussion of the use of the community, corporate, and university partnerships that may enhance professional development through symbiotic relationships. The chapter concludes with a discussion of virtual professional development, which may serve a dual purpose of enhancing professional development sustainability as well as modeling technology use for instructional purposes.

Author(s):  
Jeffrey Maiden

The professional development of teachers in instructional technology is of paramount importance. This chapter provides an overview of the topic, beginning with adult learning as a foundation. Teachers are adults, and any type of professional development, whether related to technology or not, should meet the needs of adult learners. The chapter subsequently provides a review of professional learning communities (PLCs), which may provide a venue for impactful, sustainable technology professional development. Next, teacher-led technology professional development and peer coaching are addressed, followed by a discussion of the use of the community, corporate, and university partnerships that may enhance professional development through symbiotic relationships. The chapter concludes with a discussion of virtual professional development, which may serve a dual purpose of enhancing professional development sustainability as well as modeling technology use for instructional purposes.


2014 ◽  
pp. 1073-1087
Author(s):  
P.G. Schrader ◽  
Neal Strudler ◽  
Loretta Asay ◽  
Terra Graves ◽  
Shawn L. Pennell ◽  
...  

An online, statewide technology professional development project was implemented for middle school teachers in Nevada. This document reports the preliminary findings associated with the planning, development, and implementation of Module 1 of the Pathway to Nevada's Future project. Baseline data, participant characteristics, findings, and results from participation in Module 1 are reported. Data sources include online surveys, online discussions, and informal interviews of project personnel. During the planning phase, the milestones outlined in the grant proposal were accomplished. In terms of project implementation, Module 1 was designed, developed, and implemented. A schedule for Module 2 was developed for the summer and implemented during June and July 2010. At the beginning of Module 1, base-line data were collected and examined to describe the general profile of Pathway participants. Overall, these data suggested that the population of participants was an appropriate cross section of Nevada teachers. Participants indicated that they held a high opinion of the role of technology in the classroom and reported being moderately skilled in technology use. There were many areas, however, in which they were not skilled and had room to benefit from the planned modules. Overall, the group was well suited to interact with the professional development materials, provide formative feedback for refining the modules, and apply their learning in classrooms across Nevada. Module 1 primarily involved an overview of resources, tools, and strategies intended for a variety of settings. Activities ranged from conceptual readings, webinars, videos, and discussions, to hands-on assignments that exposed participants to a range of tools. Results indicated that participants significantly increased in their knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy associated with technology and technology integration. However, analysis of progress, assignments, and online discussions indicated that the amount of material was overwhelming for the majority of participants. As a result, adjustments to the delivery of Module 1 were implemented during the professional development. These modifications were also implemented in subsequent Modules, allowing participants to explore applications of interest at a deeper level.


2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Candace Figg ◽  
Kamini Jaipal Jamani

Technology professional development workshops primarily focus on technical skill training, and these skills are often taught out of context and seem remote from classroom practice. How can educators learn how to teach with technology in a variety of disciplinary areas so that their professional learning experiences are considered valuable and are readily integrated into their teaching practice? This paper presents a professional development workshop model, called the TPACK-based Professional Learning Design Model (PLDM), that is a practical and efficient method for engaging teachers and teacher candidates in the development of tech-enhanced teaching practice. The workshop model uses four specific types of professional development experiences to promote teaching with technology, rather than teaching the technology, with the goal that teachers leave the workshop being able to understand how to integrate one tech-enhanced activity into their own daily instructional practices.


2021 ◽  
pp. 016264342110335
Author(s):  
Emily Hoeh ◽  
Tara L. Kaczorowski

The Innovations and Special Education Technology Professional Development Committee would like to extend its appreciation to the following leaders in the field of Special Education. Each of the following individuals volunteered to speak during the 2020–2021 ISET Expert Panel Discussion series and shared expertise on a variety of pressing topics during remote instruction due to the COVID pandemic. The information sharing is a testament to their unwavering support for the members of ISET and all of the stakeholders involved in supporting individuals with disabilities.


Author(s):  
Eda Üstünel ◽  
Kenan Dikilitaş

This chapter explores educational training-based partnerships between universities in relation to in-service teacher education practices to enhance the quality of the professional development activities currently in practice. With this in mind, the nature and content of the collaboration between different universities located in Turkey are depicted through the analysis of triangulated data sets from written reports, focus group discussions, and the Likert scale questionnaire in order to elaborate on the impact of exchange of information and visitations on the trainers' professional development. The chapter accomplishes the self-reported impact of university-university collaboration on the participating trainers as well as one-day T-PLUS (Trainers' Professional Learning and Unlimited Sharing) meeting during which the trainers exchange ideas about teacher training and professional development tools and procedures in focus group discussions. The results indicate positive stance towards such a collaboration model that emerged as a result of the written reports and the Likert scale questionnaire.


Author(s):  
Shannon O. Driskell ◽  
Sarah B. Bush ◽  
Robert N. Ronau ◽  
Margaret L. Niess ◽  
Christopher R. Rakes ◽  
...  

The effective use of digital technologies in school settings calls for appropriate professional development opportunities that will transform inservice teachers' knowledge for integrating technologies as effective mathematics learning tools. To inform such opportunities, this study examined the contents of published mathematics education technology professional development papers over several decades using Sztajn's (2011) standards for high quality reporting in mathematics professional development research studies, the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge framework, and the Comprehensive Framework for Teacher Knowledge. Both the Professional Development Implementation and Evaluation Model and Education Professional Development Research Framework are recommended for further guidance on reporting key features of mathematics education technology professional development.


Author(s):  
Patricia K. Gibson ◽  
Dennis A. Smith ◽  
Sarah G. Smith

Technology use in K-12 classrooms in this era of rapid high-tech change ranges from deep and meaningful technological immersion to an outright classroom ban on electronic devices. Attempting to mitigate this technological divide between students and teachers, school districts increasingly require professional development in applicable student technologies and teacher support resources. Unfortunately, the standards for continuing education requirements are broad, money is tight, and development efforts are often far less organized. As unfortunate, current issues and general information sharing dominate the professional learning communities (PLCs) or teacher learning communities (TLCs) originally designed to fulfill professional development requirements. These challenges render the occasional professional development initiative included in a PLC or TLC event, ineffective where the fragmented, uninteresting, and often poorly planned technology instruction very rarely seems to stick. Drawing on experience with military training and continuing education training, the authors propose a simple, inexpensive, and internally resourced means used by soldiers to train individual and collective military tasks, to assist elementary and secondary teachers to learn how emerging technology works, and more importantly, how to maximize its effective use in the classroom.


Author(s):  
Diana Stanfill

Because of the melding of the NSDC standards and the eMINTS program, this research may provide valuable insight to stakeholders involved at all levels: adoption, design, and implementation of educational technology professional development. Further research into eMINTS’ strengths (use of train-the-trainer model), as well as weaknesses (inability to customize training), could provide the organization with the information needed to strengthen the program and thus increase the number of teachers trained to integrate technology in the classroom.


Author(s):  
Yi Li ◽  
Qiu Wang ◽  
Jing Lei

This study examined if professional development needs of digital natives and immigrant teachers differed for technology integration in a Chinese education setting. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected from 500 teachers at six schools in China. The digital native teachers and immigrant teachers were compared in terms of their different technology use behaviors and integration skills. The findings indicated that even though the digital native teachers had greater comfort with basic technology than the digital immigrant teachers, they still required training for effective integration of technology in their teaching. The digital immigrant teachers needed more basic technology operations training connections between technologies and teaching. Future technology professional developments in developing countries should: 1) consider the different needs of digital native teachers and digital immigrant teachers; 2) prepare them to make meaningful connections between technologies and their teachings; and 3) adopt individual coaching with on-site designated specialists.


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