I found this article to be extremely
riveting. As someone who is responsible for staff development it has raised some interesting notions
especially that of diffusion of innovation (my new favourite term) I realise that the training ideas and focus was directed to
higher educational institutions however many of the same concepts and issues run through to the secondary system.
The factors that influence the rate of adoption are very much like individual learning styles for anyone facing new technologies.
- Advantage
- Compatibility
- Complexity
- Trialabiltiy
- Observability
These factors are very pertinent in our own educational climate and something that policy makers need to look at before enforcing any curriculum changes. In light of the fact current statistics show
students in our classroom, on average, will have 10-14
different careers in their
lifetime we must be prepared and proactive to ask or apply these factors to
everything we do.
Is it practical to institutionally
embed formal qualification for all teachers. The
latest release from the
VIT has mooted all teachers to complete
professional development of 100 hours over 5 years both internally or externally. Can this move be used as a
justification for staff to be embedded??
This of course can be done online (
OHHH the irony!!) but i know from personal
experience that my skills in IT have grown
exponentially since enrolling in an online subject earlier this year.
5 comments:
Hi Sam Great paragraphy (only joking it's me speaking) i forgot to add the comments form Jay Cross in the article E is for elephant. That traditional training has proven incapable of keeping up with today's pace of change and that senior management must be responsible for thier own learning. How does this transfer into the classroom??
Sam
Sam, love the idea of comments on your own blog - think I should do it also - to make me feel extra important.
I was at a meeting at work today where it was discussed that to get the teachers "up to date" with elearning we should adopt the "immersion" method ie just force them to conduct classes online! The scary thing is I don't think they are joking! I am very interested in reading the "Teaching the teachers to teach online" article - can you forward the link to me please?
Regards
Joanne
The link for the article "Teaching the Teachers to Teach online" is provided below, my next entry will raise some other things to consider in relation to Teachers/IT and confidence in using this system:
http://app.lms.unimelb.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_44096_1
Alternatively the article was in session 1 of the course outline from the LMS site for the subject.
Good Luck
Thanks Sam.
For some unexplained reason - I can't access the link to Session 1 from my home computer BUT it works on my work computer - very spooky and frustrating for a non IT person.
Which is a classic example of the technology interferring with online learning.
There is that dichotomy between forcing teachers to use technology (in whatever shape or form!) and allowing teachers to learn new skills and experiment. I know that in my own school issues of PD have been related to, among others:
- use of Blackboard (increasing and enhancing teacher use of),
- tieing IT PD with performance appraisals (a can of worms in its own right!)
- school and individual accountability
- student learning outcomes and curriculum development etc
My own experiences suggest that even if a school does provide PD opportunities and encourage staff to apply these newfound skills and knowledge to the classroom is that some staff will also react positively and some will always react negatively. I think that this suggests more about the human condition than it does about the use of technology .
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