Abstract:

The rapid technological advancement and constant flow of new applications of hardware and software for educational purposes pose a serious challenge to long-term efforts for developing teachers’ skills and competencies for using technology in the classroom. To meet this challenge, technology professional development programs need to be flexible and to include possibilities for adding new content and methods, and even for introducing changes in their format and form of delivery. At the same time it is necessary such programs to be sensitive to teachers’ needs, which are not always developing in parallel to technological innovations in education. This paper presents an overview of the developments in offering teacher training for information and communication technology (ICT) skills and for integrating technology in a learner-centred classroom within the Intel® Teach Program in Germany. The program in Germany started with an offering of face-to-face training for ICT skills and for basic use of technologies in class in 2000. In 2004 an advanced course was designed and implemented to offer professional development in a blended-learning format through an online platform and to emphasize methodological competencies for integrating new pedagogies and technologies. In 2010 a shift toward open source solutions resulted in launching an offering, which implements the main features of the advanced course though a new, Moodle-based online platform, integrating more functions for teacher interaction with the platform and among themselves. Results from an external evaluation of the courses, an investigation of the factors for effectiveness and sustainability of the program and a follow-up study five years after the end of the initial course, reveal some tendencies in teachers’ needs for professional development in ICT skills and integration, as well as insights into the conditions for achieving positive effects on teaching practices in terms of technology use, implementation of learner-centred methodologies and teaching quality. The paper examines the research findings in the context of the conditions for and the experiences from the implementation of the program over the years. Further, the paper discusses the latest developments for improving the offering to meet the current needs of educational authorities and teachers, and making use of the recent developments in educational technologies and their application for professional development, teaching and learning. The reported experiences and findings have also relevance for the more recent introduction of the program in other European countries, including Spain.

Keywords:

Teacher professional development, student-centered learning, open source software, online platform.