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Technology has become a driving force of innovation in every industry and professionals need to strengthen their proficiency in emerging technologies to remain competitive. Today’s working world is very demanding of young professionals, as recent graduates are expected to come into their chosen field...

In today's society, the professional development of teachers is urgent due to the constant change in working conditions and the impact that information and communication technologies have in teaching practices. Online Learning Communities and Teacher Professional Development: Methods for Improved...

To be a professional teacher or teacher educator means to participate in an ongoing learning process. The main concern of teachers is to guide and help students to learn. This means that teaching is by its nature closely connected to personal attitudes and values. Accordingly teaching and teachers’...

The 21st century is a time of rapid change and increasing accountability within education contexts and teacher professional development (TPD) is frequently perceived to be crucial in instituting reforms. This chapter explores the divide between theories of effective TPD and the realities of practice...

Two intense case studies were done of teachers using the Inquiry Learning Forum (ILF), an online space for professional development in inquiry pedagogies. Major findings included: The ILF initially conceived as an online professional development tool in the form of a Community of Practice (COP) was...

Belonging to an online community offers teachers the opportunity to exchange ideas, make connections with a wider peer group and form collaborative networks. The increasing popularity of teacher professional communities means that we need to understand how they work and determine the role they may play...

This chapter discusses the need for new models of teachers’ professional development in the context of established and emerging technologies and socio-constructivist theories of teacher learning within online and other communities. The authors present the current contexts affecting professional...

A national schools intranet is currently being developed in Scotland with universal access anticipated in late 2009. This new technology will provide teachers with access to a variety of tools with which to develop their teaching and learning. Drawing on the experience of the Applied Educational...

With so many educators needing either initial preparation or ongoing professional development to build and sustain expertise in their discipline, online professional development arises as a viable, effective, and timely vehicle for teacher training. Online learning technologies have the potential to...

Professional development has mainly centered around training processes that involve updating knowledge, yet it has made little headway as a construct that includes both the professional and personal characteristics and working conditions. It has also focused more on developing training programmes than...

One of the most powerful ways of changing our thinking about how we teach and learn is to experience for ourselves the power of collaborative project-based experiential learning. Few teachers have had the opportunity to learn in this way, and this creates barriers for those who want to change their...

This chapter explores the innovative uses of technology for teachers’ professional development as well as its impact in the classroom on learning and teaching. Two international case studies are included. The first outlines technological innovations in graduate programme delivery within the university...

Modern medical education necessitates a complex interleaving of issues relating to practice, professional and personal development, teaching and learning. This complexity has led, in part, to medical education being persistently located in the vanguard of eLearning development. Here, the authors...

This study demonstrates the possibilities of new media and affordable technological tools that support teacher professional development in a workplace setting. A team of 5 mathematics teachers in a secondary school is followed over a period of six months as they work jointly to improve their teaching...

This chapter focuses on supporting university teachers in the UK in the more innovative use of digital technologies. Although the use of these technologies is now widespread and increasing, it is not always optimised for effective learning. It is important that teachers’ use of technology should be...

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the shifting priorities of online teacher professional development design, particularly through the lens of online pedagogies. Whether one’s purpose is to design an online teacher learning community or formal professional development program, decisions about...

This chapter discusses challenges related to teachers’ pedagogical activities in facilitating productive discussions among students in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) contexts. In the light of two different cases from secondary-level and higher education contexts, the authors examine...