A Program Planning and Evaluation Model for Training Teacher Educators on the Use of Technology in the Classroom

Introduction

The use of technology has become an integral part of our everyday life and calls for educators to adopt its use in the classroom. The use of technology in the classroom provides a number of benefits to both teachers and students. When technology is incorporated in students' learning, it has the potential to deepen the student’s engagement in meaningful and intellectual authentic learning (Howland et al., 2012). The current generation of students is growing in an era where technology is being used daily for purposes of web surfing, texting, social networking, interactive games, and many more ways (Raman & Yamat, 2014). n addition, the recent COVID-19 pandemic required learning institutions across the globe to suspend face-to-face instruction and transition to online learning. As a result of constant interaction with technology, students have become dependent on it, and it would be fitting for teachers to be adequately prepared to incooporate the use of technology in their teaching (Department of Education, 2019; Groff, 2013).

During the last two decades, policymakers across the globe have shown a renewed commitment to promoting the use of technology in student learning (Collins & Halverson, 2018; Ra et al., 2016). Several countries have developed educational policies to promote the integration of technology in education. Technology use in the classroom is believed to provide hands-on learning opportunities, the ability to collaborate with their peers, improved achievements, and the ability for students to retain more information (Costley, 2014; Domalewska, 2014; Francis et al., 2017; Spears, 2012). These factors combined can lead to a positive impact on students' learning and motivation.

Given the positive impact technology integration can have on students, educators are encouraged to integrate technology into their teaching. Across the globe, educational ministries are funding a number of programs and inititiatives that promote the use and integration of technology in students learning. Trends in education have shown a significant shift in teacher centered learning to learner-centered and constructivist learning. For example in Turkey, a draft program was implemented in 2017 and emphasized the use of educational technologies to promote learner-centered instruction (Uslu, 2017). Instructional technologies are believed to be helpful to support students’ abilities to access, process, and present information, solve problems, and communicate with peers. Although gorvenments across the globe are empahasizing the integration of technology in students’ learning, research indicates that a number of teachers still feel unprepared to integrate technology in their teaching in meaningful ways (Instefjord & Munthe, 2016), and engage in complex processes (Tondeur et al., 2012) so as to promote more learner-centered instruction.

In this chapter, the authors propose a training model that can be used to increase teacher competency and use of technology in the classroom. The model was developed by the first author and is called the Instructional Technology Classroom Professional Development Program (ITCPD) Program Planning and Evaluation (PPE). The model was developed to have a multiplier effect on professional development that is offered to teachers with the hope of increasing technology integration in teaching and learning. After the development of the model, a collaborative effort was taken to develop ways of evaluating the effectiveness of this model when it is being implemented. Throughout this chapter, the model will be referred to as ITCPD.

Figure 1.

The ITCPD PPE model-Phase 1