Key Elements to Successful
Staff Development
There are many elements that make a successful professional training program in technology.There are five elements, besides money, that seem to be constantly reappearing when examining any program. The following elements are the five constants which seem to make a effective staff development program:
Conclusion
Align training with educational goals/instructional units
Staff development needs to include more than just the basics on how to use hardware or specific software titles. Teachers need to learn how to integrate technology into the curriculum. Technology should enhance a unit of instruction, not become the focus. Teachers should draw from their areas of discipline. When setting up a workshop on ClarisWorks or HyperStudio, for example, ask the teacher to think about a familiar unit of study their class will be working on this year. Each teacher needs to come to the workshop armed and ready to go with existing resources concerning their particular unit. Remember: The unit of study should not be new to the teacher. It should be a unit they have taught before. They will have enough on their minds learning the new technology.
Teachers teaching teachers
Many schools and districts are training a cadre of teachers who train and assist fellow teachers. These experts have great credibility with their colleagues and follow-up assistance is more accessible. Teachers are encouraged to work together and use each other as resources. "Teachers need opportunities to talk about their experiences with other teachers struggling with the same issues, or with a facilitator who understands both curriculum and technology." (Tally and Grimaldi)
Seeing it work in a successful Classroom
"By working in real classrooms with real students, teachers are better able to see that what they are learning can be useful in their own classrooms." (Apple Classrooms Of Tomorrow) Classroom observations provide models of teaching strategies, new ideas and validation for what teachers are already doing, they also simulate discussions of educational issues. Observations are most effective when the coordinators focus and guide the observers. The ability to work with students provides participants the opportunity to learn to facilitate as well as to find out what students are capable of doing.
Short, on-going, small group training sessions
The type of technology training provided to teachers is very important and must be ongoing. Anybody that does anything well does it time and time again. Training sessions should be short, successive periods. Each training session should build on the previous. Teachers need hands-on learning and adequate time to experiment. Inservices should be part of the regular school day, not an extension. The equipment used in the sessions should be similar to what is used at school.
Access and On-site Support
The majority of schools have no on-site support person specifically assigned to coordinate or facilitate the use of technologies. On-site support is needed to help implement change and creativity and to provide follow-up assistance. The follow-up visits are to be used as a time to provide the assistance to teachers, not to evaluate them. The assistance can include helping teachers set up hardware and troubleshoot problems with software, discuss future projects and provide answers to technical questions and provide encouragement.
"'Continual access to technology is a prerequisite to any real technology integration.'" (Tally as quoted in Siegel) "'In order the achieve ownership of technology as a tool for real work, teachers must have equipment available to them at night, on the weekends, and in their classrooms. No teacher has enough time to appropriate these new media during the school day only.'"
Conclusion
The five key elements, Align training with educational goals/instructional units,Teachers teaching teachers, Seeing it work in a successful classroom, Short, on-going, small group training sessions and Access and On site support go hand in hand. If teachers have the training but not the access to technologies or vice-versa than the program will be unsuccessful. If the desired outcome for effective technology staff development programs is that everyone has access and the ability to achieve first rate benefits from the constant use of technology than these elements must be part of the program.