Models of Teacher Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Professional Development that Empower Multiliterate Classroom Practices

Sarah Prestridge, University, My, Neil Dempster
2018
This thesis is concerned with examining principles underlying ICT professional development that can enable teachers to change their pedagogical beliefs and practices. In this study an ICT professional development model considered effective for its transforming potential is produced from the literature reviewed. This tentative theoretical model provides structure for the research design and analysis of data. An amended ICT professional development model that identifies a dynamic interplay of
more » ... e professional learning activities within a core reflective process is presented as an approach to ICT professional development that enables teachers to see the transforming possibilities of ICT and guide changes in teachers' beliefs and practices. The research responds to an unmet need in the literature on ICT in learning and the concept of multiliteracies. Scholars in these fields acknowledge the impact of new technologies on contemporary education through discussion of new communication patterns that young people are engaging in, globalisation and cultural change, and the characteristics of today's students who are growing up immersed in digital worlds. This has led to the realisation that teachers' pedagogy needs to be transformed rather than making adaptations to teaching practices to accommodate ICT in learning. The study explores the idea of a transformed pedagogy that effectively infuses ICT in learning as an outcome of the implementation of an ICT professional development model. A transformed pedagogy requires ICT professional development to engage teachers with transforming intention. Models of ICT professional development have been found to focus on 're-tooling' intentions, that is they intend to augment the existing curriculum by developing teachers' competencies in ICT skills focusing on specific types of ICT applications. What is called for by the concept of multiliteracies and the needs of our digital clients is the move to a model that will enable teachers to see the transforming possibilities of ICT. Worki [...]
doi:10.25904/1912/2693 fatcat:rbnsaw3elncpdmywbya5fpkdum