Teaching Information Technology Skills

The major focus of this Handbook is the design and potential of IT-based student learning environments. Offering the latest research in IT and the learning process, distance learning, and emerging technologies for education, these chapters address the critical issue of the potential for IT to improve K-12 education. A second important theme deals with the implementation of IT in educational practice. In these chapters, barriers and opportunities for IT implementation are studied from several perspectives. This Handbook provides an integrated and detailed overview of this complex field, making it an essential reference.

Constantly evolving, Information Technology (IT) is entwined with everyday life, affecting industry, education, security, the environment, the global economy and culture. IT teachers need to balance students' understanding of IT's role within society alongside developing the skills required to design and deliver successful IT projects. Through case studies and reflective activities drawn from a range of environments, the authors share successful teaching and learning strategies from IT teachers and industry practitioners. This book also presents strategies for delivery and assessment, as well as reviewing functional and key skills, such as communications, team working and problem solving. It also helps teachers differentiate between the many IT qualifications. This text supports trainee and experienced teachers in developing exciting and engaging IT programmes for pupils 14+ whether they are learning in schools, adult and community education or colleges.

Teacher preparation programs in the United States and around the world have finally begun to address this deficiency in their programs. The realization that technology is a powerful driving force in education coupled with a renewed emphasis on teacher preparation by governments have resulted in some dramatic changes in teacher preparation programs. I believe that we have just begun to see changes in teacher preparation and that the pace of change will continue to accelerate. This volume covers some of the more exciting developments in the field, including the emergence of wireless computing in the classroom and the preparation of teachers in an online environment. In short, I am optimistic. For those of you who are also in the field, I think you will agree. For those who are just entering the field, this book is a great place to start as you change education. Finally, while this book is the last book of the three part series that we at CAIT conceptualized with Charalambos Vrasidas and Gene Glass, it is also the beginning of a new relationship. We are excited to join with a new partner, CARDET, to present this book. Over many years in the education and R&D field, I have come to realize the value of partnerships and relationships. I want to thank both Charalambos and Gene for making this series a reality and such a success. We are looking forward to working with them and CARDET in the near future.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Conference on Informatics in Secondary Schools - Evolution and Perspectives, ISSEP 2005, held in Klagenfurt, Austria in March/April 2005. The 21 revised full papers presented together with an introduction were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. A broad variety of topics related to teaching informatics in secondary schools is addressed ranging from national experience reports to paedagogical and methodological issues.

This insightful volume explores examples of the use of technology to teach social work knowledge, values, and skills across the curriculum. The chapters cover a wide range of perspectives, including international views of the role of information technology in Great Britain and Malaysia, training approaches for faculty development, and computer-based software that has the potential to transform the manner in which curriculum objectives are met. Prepare for technology-based instruction in social work education for the 21st century! Information Technologies: Teaching to Use--Using to Teach Information Technologies: Teaching to Use--Using to Teach, addresses your need to fully prepare today?s social work graduates to work and live in this rapidly changing, technology-enhanced environment. Based on the 1997 Information Technologies Conference: Using to Teach--Teaching to Use, held in Charleston, South Carolina, this book covers the multitude of topics that were presented on technology-based instruction as we head into the 21st century. Articles in Information Technologies range from the use of the Internet and computer applications to research projects that address the effectiveness of technology-based teaching and learning activities. It also dicusses international views on the role of information technology in Britian and Malaysia. Information Technologies gives particular attention to distance education, and it is the most thorough treatment to date of the use and teaching of technology in social work education. Specific areas you?ll gain valuable information from include: establishing a faculty development lab starting intensive faculty training sessions computer-based software that has the potential to transform the manner in which curriculum objectives are met international perspectives on information technology the use of Geographic Information Systems technology in social work practice as a tool for improved visualization of social and economic inequalities models for teaching social work curriculum with technologyWith Information Technologies, you will gain a competetive edge in preparing your faculty and students with the latest world-wide information on studies pretaining to technology use in a social work setting. A conglomeration of diverse and well-researched articles on the use of technology to enhance social work education await you in this special volume.

As teaching evolves, teacher education must keep up. This book examines systemic reforms that incorporate new technology to improve any teacher education program. While there are books that address the integration of technology into teaching curricula, very few address the process for teacher education faculty and the systemic reform of a teacher education program. Integrating Information Technology into the Teacher Education Curriculum: Process and Products of Change provides practical examples and suggestions for teacher education departments striving to integrate new technologies into their curriculum. It will help in the effort to motivate faculty to make utilizing new technology a natural strategy for the teachers they are educating. It describes the creation of Design Teams at Brigham Young University’s McKay School of Education (funded by a PT3 grant) and how these teams worked to successfully reconfigure the school’s teacher preparation curricula. Integrating Information Technology into the Teacher Education Curriculum examines: how to compose and create a curriculum design team—including both teacher education and content-specific methods instructors training and collaboration opportunities that focus on the infusion of technology how to facilitate alignment among a university, cooperating school districts, the State Office of Education, and other available teacher preparation programs specific case examples of the redevelopment of teacher education courses by the instructors who teach them the process of changing a technology course required by the teacher education program the process of extending grant activities to the university’s partner school districts and the State Office of Education From the editors: Preparing tomorrow’s teachers to use technology in schools is a complex endeavor requiring the infusion of technology into curriculum and instructional practices at all levels of the pre-service program. In many early teacher education programs, prospective teachers took a computer literacy class separate from content methods classes and rarely engaged in real collaboration on how schoolteachers could integrate technology into authentic learning experiences. By focusing merely on how to use computers, technology training failed by not addressing how to teach students more effectively using a variety of technological tools. What teachers need to know most is how to teach content more effectively. Technology integration should cause teachers to develop different perspectives through rethinking teaching and learning. Teaching with technology causes teachers to confront their established beliefs about instruction and their traditional roles as classroom teachers.