Teachers, pedagogy and professional development - Teaching with Technologies: The Essential Guide - page 95

quantitative survey research (Hadley and Sheingold 1990; Sheingold and Hadley
1993; Becker 1994; Pelgrum 2001) that explored commonalties among 'accom-
plished' technology-using teachers also identified significant factors such as: sup-
port and collegiality in schools; access to sufficient technology; commitment and
resources for teachers' professional development and learning; provision for tech-
nology training. Further research is needed for us to have a better understanding
of the learning paths for teachers using technology in context and to understand
how to build up the professional knowledge base for teachers to facilitate more sys-
temic technology use across all ages and subjects. (See Chapter 10 for more details
of how this can be achieved.)
Pedagogy and technology
. . . developments in technology are making the role of the teacher much
more complex. In addition, teachers' beliefs about the value of technology
for learning are important in their pedagogical reasoning, but there is evi-
dence that teachers beliefs and practices do not change automatically as a
result of classroom experience . . . enabling teachers to adapt their pedagogi-
cal reasoning and practices in response to learning opportunities provided
by technology is likely to be a very difficult and complex process.
(Webb and Cox 2004: 278)
What are the challenges for teachers? When integrating technology into pedagogic
practices, what processes do teachers undergo? Is teachers' pedagogy transformed?
Or is it that the technologies slot into existing strategies without significantly chang-
ing the teaching style and learning processes? Does learning remain predicated on a
information-transmission model (Ruben 1999) or social constructivist model of dia-
logic knowledge creation (Vygotsky 1978) or even a communal constructivist model
(Leask and Younie 2001)?
The challenge for teachers is to understand what technologies there are and how
they can relate (and possibly change) teachers' beliefs, knowledge and pedagogic
strategies. Starting with teachers' knowledge; teachers have a range of specialized
knowledge domains that relate to each other. There is subject knowledge (the content
of the curriculum area, discipline specific concepts and skills), pedagogic knowledge
(what makes for effective teaching and deep learning, alongside classroom manage-
ment) and then there is technology knowledge, knowing a range of types of technol-
ogy, hardware and software.
However, it is not enough to know about a range of technologies, in and for
themselves. What teachers need to understand is how these technologies interact
with and provide opportunities for learning, which lies in the relationship of the
technology to the wider learning environment, constituted by other resources, learn-
ers and teachers. It is the totality of the environment and ways of organizing inter-
action with technology in that environment that gives rise to new affordances for
learning.