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Reflecting on Professional Development
Activity 2: Reflecting on Professional Development
The Internet provides a wide variety of resources to help teachers improve their practices and further their professional development. During this activity, locate professional development opportunities that you may want to pursue.
The Guidelines for Teacher Training and Professional Development in ICT state that teachers should use ICT resources to engage in ongoing professional development and
lifelong learning. Research on effective professional development indicates that it must
be ongoing and systematic for any significant benefit (Kinnaman, 1990).
In a study examining what hinders or promotes successful integration of
ICT into the middle-school curriculum, Persky (1990) noted that using ICT is not easy and that learning how to effectively use ICT in the context of the classroom does not happen overnight. The need to allot time for continual learning is echoed in studies outside of education, which suggest that providing workers with high ICT on the job ultimately fails if employees don't receive adequate training and continuing, on-the-job support. (Moursund, 1992)
Further, this need for continuing support means teacher training must be
ongoing and not limited to "one-shot" sessions (Hawkins & MacMillan, 1993; Kinnaman, 1990; Shelton & Jones, 1996). Harvey and Purnell (1995) stated that teachers want sustained staff development rather than short-term training and development programmes in ICT. (cited in Brand, 1997)
The Intel® Teach Essentials Course is one such opportunity for you to enhance your
ICT-integration skills.
Many teachers are unable to integrate ICT as effectively as they would like
because they work in environments with inadequate access to computers and other
ICT resources.
- Review Thinking About My Future Development.
- Take notes about any resources you want to explore in more detail in the future.
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