Page 137 - Innovative Professional Development Methods and Strategies for STEM Education

Teachers’ Professional Development in the Digitized World

The course is a five-week program through which the participants meet face to face once a week with
the trainers in a computer lab and follow activities such as doing homework, participating in forums dur-
ing the week at any time they would like throughout the online learning platform. Moodle was chosen
as the learning platform as it gave the trainers the chance to share feedback, lesson materials, samples,
homework and to discuss via a forum. The trainers had worked on the curriculum for two years before they
came up with the final version. It took a while to decide on what to include in the training and to create
the written content for Moodle. They employed simulations, sample lesson plans, videos to enhance the
education program for teachers. They got feedback from the teachers in their schools as they wanted to
include the most needed technological tools and their integration into teaching. The name of the course
was derived from the initials of the phrase ‘Egitim Teknolojileri Uzmanlıgı Sertifika Programı’ which
meant ‘Educational Technology Expert Certificate Program’.
8 intern students from Computer Education and Instructional Technology Department at the school
where 3 of the trainers work at and 3 other teachers of different subjects working at different private
schools (Maths, Turkish and Computer) volunteered to work in the program by helping the creation of
the digital content and assisting the trainees during the face to face sessions.
They finalized the digital content as a large group (trainees, trainers, three teachers who volunteered
to work with the trainers). Finally, the trainers searched for ways to start this training. They wanted to
equip the course participants with a certificate through a continuous learning center of a university.
They communicated with the administrative people from a university and they were accepted to use the
computer laboratory and the certificate would be given by the university. ETUSP 2 was delivered at a
private university as a professional development activity for teachers (teaching at all levels and subjects)
who were working in İstanbul and two teachers from other cities. The participants who were able to
fulfill the requirements of the course (passing the online quizzes, participating in the forums and doing
the homework) would be given a certificate by the university. Any teacher who would like to learn more
about technology would apply to the program regardless of their background.
The course consists of six modules which are:

• Social Media in Education
• Digital Citizenship
• Tablets and Web 2.0 Apps
• Pedagogical Models for ICT integration
• Google Apps for Education
• Learning Management Systems

However, the training was limited to 21 teachers thinking that it would be the best number of people
to be dealt during face to face training. The educational technology training program was announced on
the following website http://www.egitimtek.com, which was prepared by teacher trainers. 60 teachers
applied for the program, and 21 of them were selected for the training. Teachers of different subjects
and levels were selected to create a heterogeneous group which could share experiences and be inspired
by one another. The group was intrinsically motivated to professionally develop as they volunteered to
take the training. Moreover, the number of teachers working at the same school was low thinking that
they would form technology support groups within their schools and share their knowledge with their
colleagues.

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