Developing Technology Rich Teacher Education Programs

"This book offers professional teacher educators a rare opportunity to harvest the thinking of pioneering colleagues spanning dozens of universities, and to benefit from the creativity, scholarship, hard work, and reflection that led them to the models they describe"--Provided by publisher.

Traditional classrooms are fast becoming a minority in the education field. As technologies continue to develop as a pervasive aspect of modern society, educators must be trained to meet the demands and opportunities afforded by this technology-rich landscape. The Handbook of Research on Teacher Education in the Digital Age focuses on the needs of teachers as they redesign their curricula and lessons to incorporate new technological tools. Including theoretical frameworks, empirical research, and best practices, this book serves as a guide for researchers, educators, and faculty and professional developers of distance learning tools.

This timely book shows how award-winning secondary schools and districts are successfully using technology and making systemic changes to increase student engagement, improve achievement, and re-invigorate the teaching and learning process. Through in-depth case studies, we see how experienced school and district leaders use technology in curricular, administrative, and analytical ways to meet the needs of 21st-century learners, educators, and communities. These cases reveal important details addressed by the leadership of these schools and districts that go beyond what they did with technology to include changes in school culture, curriculum and teaching, uses of assessment data, financial considerations, infrastructure, and involvement with the community. Book Features: Successful models from schools/districts experienced with using technology as a lever for school improvement.Case studies from diverse schools/districts across the country that show “what works” and “how it works.”A cross-case analysis that makes it easy to compare individual schools and identify common practices. Barbara B. Levin is a Professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Higher Education and Director of the Teachers Academy at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Lynne Schrum is Dean, College of Education and Human Services, West Virginia University. “Barbara B. Levin and Lynne Schrum offer their readers the distinct advantage of compressing into a single volume what it took me decades to learn. They not only present the big ideas of effective school leadership, but bring them alive through case studies that illustrate how those ideas manifest themselves in leaders’ day-to-day behaviors. . . . I encourage you to use the ideas and practices you find here to leverage technology to create schools in which all students and adults thrive.” —From the Foreword by Dennis Sparks, Emeritus Executive Director, National Staff Development Council (Learning Forward) Prepublication Reviews: “In Leading Technology-Rich Schools, the authors present a fascinating and exciting set of case studies that provide great insight into the ways leaders can support high-level innovation in schools. Importantly, their focus is on technology that enhances learning and teaching, rather than technology as an expensive school ornament. A must-read for those who study and practice educational leadership.” —Jeffrey S. Brooks, Associate Professor and Educational Leadership Program Coordinator, School of Education, Iowa State University, author of Black School, White School: Racism and Educational (Mis)leadership “This book is a precious gift for the vast majority of administrators who desperately need concrete examples of how to create, facilitate, and sustain technology-infused learning environments.” —Scott McLeod, Associate Professor and Founding Director, CASTLE, University of Kentucky “These rich illustrations of technology leadership in secondary schools show how a number of complex variables must come together to produce the key outcome of positioning educational technology as a support to teaching and learning. Examples of leadership practices that coordinate team members for interdependent work and invite teachers' involvement should prove to be a valuable resource to practitioners and also provide insight to policymakers for how they can create supportive conditions for such work.” —Sara Dexter, Associate Professor, Department of Leadership, Foundations, and Policy, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia “Leading Technology-Rich Schools is a key advance in understanding how technology can best be integrated in today’s schools. These case studies of effective practice are sure to become required reading for those in leadership positions who are using technology for school improvement.” —Glen L. Bull, Samuel Braley Gray Professor of Education, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia “The rubber meets the road in this well-researched book with detailed stories of exemplary schools and school leaders that have leveraged technology as a key tool to make significant reforms stick. Through these vivid case studies, Levin and Schrum illuminate a dynamic and complex set of lessons learned to help all school leaders undertake transformations of their schools.” —L. Michael Golden, CEO, Educurious

Digital video use is becoming prevalent in teacher education as a tool to help improve teaching and learning and for assessing effective teaching. Timely and comprehensive, this volume brings together top scholars from multiple disciplines to provide sound theoretical frameworks, research-based support, and clear practical advice on a variety of unique approaches to using digital video in teacher education programs. Part I deals with the use of video for teacher learning. Part II focuses on the role played by those other than teachers in the effective use of digital video in teacher education programs. Part III addresses how to administer video for teacher education. Exploring the complexities of effectively and appropriately integrating digital video into teacher development at various stages, this book is a must-have resource for scholars and professionals in the field.

With the ever-changing climate of education around the globe, it is essential that educators stay abreast of the most updated teaching methods and applications. To do this, fostering teacher education programs that include innovative practices and initiatives within the field is imperative. The Handbook of Research on Teacher Education and Professional Development investigates current initiatives and approaches in educational programs. Focusing on research studies and theoretical concepts on innovative projects related to teacher education and professional development programs, this book is a pivotal reference source for academics, professionals, students, practitioners, and researchers.

Overall we come away from this project with a renewed sense of the complexity of evaluating the implementation and impact of technology in teacher education. In the post-PT3 period the federal government turned to large-scale experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations of educational technology but these have produced little in the way of understanding what types of technology work in various content areas under various conditions. PT3 and its approach to evaluation can be viewed as the pioneering period of educational technology evaluation in teacher education. It was a time when evaluators were just beginning to develop appropriate standards that could be used as evaluation criteria. It was a time when the accumulated wisdom of the evaluation field with regards to the primacy of mixed methods and multiple indicators of outcomes was just beginning to take hold. PT3 evaluators understood the importance of treading the line between summative and formative evaluation, and the relationship of evaluation to the improvement of educational practice. In a world where the policymakers now clamor for simple quantitative evaluations linking teacher preparation to pupil achievement scores, we are reminded that the causal chain from teacher preparation to in-service performance and student achievement is fraught with externalities, complexities and a less than equal playing field. Collectively we still have not figured out how technology may be adding value to education beyond any potential impact on superficial standardized test scores. We have as a nation, ignored the call of cognitive psychologists who in 2000 called for a new frame of reference for learner-centered, community-centered , assessment-centered and content-centered educational processes. They understood that the high stakes accountability systems hinder educational innovation and the release of technology's potential to unlock new ways of knowing and learning. Looking back now on the accomplishments of the PT3 program within our current political context, we see a need for more nuanced evaluation models that examine the relationship between pedagogy and technology integration, with a realization that teacher preparation programs will vary in their approaches to both. Some will focus on skills-based approaches, others on the relationship between pedagogical content knowledge and technology integration. The PT3 program served as an important incubator and test-bed of appropriate evaluation practice; we are already looking back at the program for lessons on how to move forward. We hope this volume may serve as a reminder of lessons for the future.

Digital video use is becoming prevalent in teacher education as a tool to help improve teaching and learning and for assessing effective teaching. Timely and comprehensive, this volume brings together top scholars from multiple disciplines to provide sound theoretical frameworks, research-based support, and clear practical advice on a variety of unique approaches to using digital video in teacher education programs. Part I deals with the use of video for teacher learning. Part II focuses on the role played by those other than teachers in the effective use of digital video in teacher education programs. Part III addresses how to administer video for teacher education. Exploring the complexities of effectively and appropriately integrating digital video into teacher development at various stages, this book is a must-have resource for scholars and professionals in the field.

This book explains how educational research can inform the design of technology-enhanced learning environments. After laying pedagogical, technological and content foundations, it analyses learning in Web 2.0, Social Networking, Mobile Learning and Virtual Worlds to derive nuanced principles for technology-enhanced learning design.