A. Early stages of teacher development in ICT Integration

To discover ICT tools and their general functions and uses. To learn HOW to use ICT tools and to be able to make use of them in different disciplines

General competencies:

• to be able to decide why, when, where and how ICT tools will be contribute to the teaching objectives and not provide a distraction. To choose from among a range ICT tools the ones which are the most appropriate to stimulate pupils learning.
  • to choose ICT tools and pedagogy from those recommended for the specific subject.
  • to explain the reasons why the ICT tools and pedagogy have been chosen.
  • to emphasise the contents of students productions.
  • to plan a whole learning process (lesson sequence) deciding in advance when and how ICT will be used.
    
• to be able to manage a class-based learning environment using team work to achieve teaching objectives.
  • to be able to describe technical breakdown or difficulties in using ICT to achieve planned lesson objectives.
  • to understand the difference between pupils according to their competencies using ICT, to have available strategies to manage differences in progress.
    
• to be able to decide when whole class or group multimedia presentations will be useful.
  • to vary the kind of presentation or documents according to the main goals and the chosen method.
  • to analyse a presentation for legibility, structure, coherence with the objectives, adequacy to the students.
    
• to be able to analyse subject specific multimedia educational software.
  • CD-ROMs, hypermedia, websites, video and audio, courseware.
  • to assess the activity proposed to the learner and contribution to the lesson objectives.
  • to analyse the specific contribution of the ICT tools to individual students’ learning.

• to be able to prepare students to find, compare and analyse information from the internet and from other sources specific to the subject area.
  • to teach students to construct simple searches.
  • to help students to manage, to criticise, to synthesise and to present information using ICT tools.

• to be able to choose and use appropriate tools to communicate, according to the teachers’ own objectives, with colleagues or with their own students.
  • to assess communication to use teaching situations to facilitate collaboration.

• to be able to use ICT more efficiently, choosing training sessions and participating to new developments in order to improve professional development.
  • to participate and to be active in groups working about the use of ICT.
  • to use ICT tools (forums, conferencing, bulleting boards, email) to collaborate in the improvement of teaching and learning and management of learning processes.

How to organise Teacher Development in this area?

To be able to use ICT in the teaching process itself and be able to perform all the abilities mentioned above in your own subject area, a more adapted training is required. The way this «training» could be carried out depends on the learning style of the teachers involved as well as on the subject area and specific application. We mention the following possibilities:

1. Training courses, seminars and workshops on specific applications used in the teachers’ subject area. It is sometimes recommended to include these ICT workshops in accepted conferences within the specific teacher subject community in order to diminish the threshold for participation.
2. Communities of teachers, set up with a particular goal. In this case some colleague teachers (from different schools, but within one subject, best number seems to be between 6 and 12 teachers) can decide to work together (perhaps with expert coaching) on the implementation of a certain ICT topic into their curriculum. They can communicate by means of a virtual community (they have «done» Unit A7!), but it appears to be very necessary to organize face to face meetings as well. The success of these teacher «networks» is proven, although there are pitfalls to be taken care off:
   • not to much difference in starting position,
   • an equal input of members,
   • an open mind for sharing experiences,
   • involvement of all the members,
   • task orientation,
   • shared responsibility but also somebody who teaks the organisational lead.
3. There are new ways of development emerging. In different countries information resources are set up for applications of ICT in the curriculum. Mostly these resources are to find on the Internet. Sometimes they only give brief or extensive information, sometimes they give access to training facilities, sometimes there are possibilities for on line learning by means of video-conferencing.
   

Do not forget

• At this stage, the emphasis is on the use of generic or specialist tools to improve teaching, in a particular subject area.
• Teachers working together in the same subject area can work together in their school to share their ideas and the learning resources they have prepared.
• The teacher needs to able to assess the contribution of ICT tools to subject skills and knowledge.
• At this stage teachers need to develop their pedagogy as well as further developing their technical confidence and competence.
• The teacher will still want to control the teaching and learning processes to ensure the lesson will be a success: they will only experiment as their pedagogy develops.
• The teacher is likely to use ICT in lessons that they know they are successful in teaching: this can sometimes lead to frustration, as the lesson was not as good. It is good to suggest ICT be used where they know the lesson could be improved, and then if it goes wrong it is not as worrying.

B. Later stages of teacher development in ICT Integration

To understand WHY and WHEN to use ICT tools in achieving a project, to be able to recognise situations where ICT will be helpful, to choose the appropriate tools and to combine them for solving real problems.

The general competencies include and build on those of the previous stage.

• to understand why, when, where and how ICT tools will contribute to the learning objectives. To choose from among a wide range ICT tools the ones which are the most appropriate to stimulate students learning.
  • choosing ICT tools and pedagogy that integrate ICT into the whole curriculum.
  • choosing and recommend ICT tools and pedagogy appropriate to the individual students’ learning objectives.
  • emphasising the quality of the students productions and the contribution to individual learning goals and levels of attainment.
  • planning a whole learning programme that allows a range of ICT tools and pedagogy to be used as and when required.
  • choosing tools and pedagogy that allow the teacher and student to manage their own learning.

• to manage whole school and classroom based environments, and team work to achieve learning objectives.
  managing learning environments that contribute to the use of different ICT tools and pedagogy.
  • understanding the differences between pupils according to their competencies using ICT, to have available strategies to manage differences in progress.
  • managing technical breakdown or difficulties in using ICT to minimise impact on planned lesson objectives.
  • creating learning situations such that students manage their own learning.
  • integrating ICT based and non-ICT based media, such as books and video, into learning programmes.
  • assessing the levels of attainment of individual students when working collaboratively.

• to integrate multimedia presentations into whole class, group or individual teaching and learning to increase access to learning programmes.
  • ensuring the most appropriate media are built into learning programmes to ensure the learning is accessible to all students irrespective of ability, special need or preferred learning style.
  • varying the kind of presentation, documents or other media according to the main goals and the chosen pedagogy.
  • analysing a presentation for legibility, structure, coherence with the objectives, adequacy to the students.

• to analyse multimedia learning environments.
  • utilising web based learning spaces and environment.
  • including CD-ROMs, hypermedia, websites, video and audio, courseware.
  • assessing activities contribution to the learner and the lesson objectives.
  • analysis of the specific contribution of ICT tools to individual students’ learning.

• to support students to find, analyse and synthesise information from disparate internet and school based learning environments.
  • supporting individual and groups of students to construct complex searches.
  • supporting students managing, criticising, synthesising and presenting learning processes and products using ICT tools.

• to integrate a range of communication to collaborate with colleagues, with students and other learning communities beyond the school.

• to use ICT more and more efficiently, continuously taking part in professional development and participating in pedagogical experiments and developments.
  • participating and to be active in groups working about the use of ICT
  • using ICT tools (forums, conferencing, bulleting boards, email) to collaborate in the improvement of teaching and learning and management of learning processes

How to organise Teacher Development in this area?

The kind of teacher activities described in this area of development are cannot be obtained by courses, seminars or workshops. These forms can be used as appetizers to inform teachers about integrated use of ICT but one cannot expect teachers to be doing this due to a one day course only. Most effective in this area is teamwork and educational leadership within the school. Where teacher communities in area B can be built on teachers from different schools, the communities in this area should involve only or at least some teachers from the same school within different subjects. Because the way of working in an integrated way is so different from what most teachers are used to, it is very important to share experiences, have a common goal and task, have involvement and equal input and have people to lean to if things are not going as you expected.

A good starting point for teacher development in this area is to form a group of enthusiastic people within the school. Later on that can be extended to larger communities of people from different school and even different countries.

In this area there are very good experiences in involving students themselves into the work of the community. They can have responsibilities for the activities as well and even have expertise (e.g. in ICT) which is needed in the project.

Do not forget

• One of the roles of a teacher is to help children to transform information, which is everywhere and in enormous amount on the Internet, into knowledge, which only exists in human brains, and into the wisdom to transform their own lives and the communities to which they belong.
• As ICT put the stress on teamwork and collaboration for the teachers, teacher training and professional development will be organised not for individuals but for teams, that are local and global, where learners are co-learners.
  

adapted from http://wwwedu.ge.ch/cptic/prospective/projets/unesco/en/