Page 141 - Innovative Professional Development Methods and Strategies for STEM Education

Teachers’ Professional Development in the Digitized World

in classroom because 8 responses were directly related to classroom implications. This also shows the
changing nature of classroom instruction and teachers’ growing awareness towards the need to integrate
ICT in their instruction. Another most mentioned theme was self-development. The participants were
well aware of the need to self-develop in the area of the use of ICT in the classroom. The initial positive
stance towards technology integration and self-reported needs for integration positively influence the
commitment they have put into learning from the training. In addition to these, some mentioned that they
would like to lead their colleagues in terms of using technology and guide them towards the correct us-
age. This brings another perspective to teachers’ practices in the teachers’ room. Learning from a peer is
something natural for these participants, which makes the sharing of best practices useful for all teachers.

The Impact of the Training on Teachers’ Professional Development

The scope of the impact of the training on teachers turned out to have layers such as personal, and
institutional. On the personal layer, they want to be more skillful, to be able to cater the needs of the
21st century learners. As they are aware of the different profile of students who are born in a techno-
logical world, they think they need to improve themselves professionally. The teachers participating in
the digitized course volunteered to learn more about the integration of technology. They state that they
would like to keep up with the needs of their learners. One of the participants was unemployed and she
participated the course to be more skillful in the use of technology and look for a job then. She thought
she would find a job more easily with the skills she acquired at the digitized course.
When it comes to the institutional layer, it is noted that some participants were working at schools
where there were 1:1 computing projects, however where techno centric view dominates. They were just
given the devices and could not use these devices effectively in the classroom. Therefore, the teachers
participated in the course especially to contribute to their school’s success through their own personal
development. They were aware of the critical role played by teachers in contributing to a school’s de-
velopment through direct impact on their and other teachers’ classroom practices. Table 3 shows the
various areas of the prospective impact on teachers.
The major impact of the training on teachers seems to be the one on their classroom practices. The
ultimate aim of any training is to impact the teaching and learning in the classroom. As can be seen in
Table 3, the impact reported by the participants can be categorized into two general themes: professional
and institutional.
The participants were asked to comment on the initial immediate impact of the course after the
training, which could also indicate the commitment to the long-term impact. The immediate responses
can be categorized under three themes such as pedagogical technological knowledge, change, and tech-
nological network.
Immediate Impact After the Training

The teachers were based to fill out an online written survey where they reflected on the immediate impact
of the participation in the training. The responses were categorized as presented in Table 4.
OECD report entitled ‘Education and New technologies: Teacher Training and Research’ states that
the potential of the new information technologies for improving learning and teaching will not be real-
ized unless teachers are well trained and retrained in the pedagogical use of technology in the classroom
(OECD, 1992, as cited in Orhun, 2002).

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