FPeLearning™

Technological Constructivism and Professional Development

          Bandura (1994) provided that teacher’s self-efficacy imbue personal attitudes about his or her capabilities to create affects in students and self-efficacy establishes how teachers feel, believe, inspire themselves, and perform.  Bandura (1994) cited mastery of experiences as the greatest enhancing agent to teacher self-efficacy and the more masterful the feeling with technology, the more likely teachers will use technology in classroom practices.  According to Chen (2008) teachers’ presentation methods scaffold based on viewpoints about instruction, educational goals, student learning, and as a result teachers opt for specific tactics and materials from his or her repertories to undertake specific situations. 

        Chen (2008) articulated discrepancies in teachers’ beliefs, practice, and technology use in which he identified an inconsistency between belief and what equates to practice, pedagogically. Chen (2008) cited a teacher-based and lecture-oriented curricular exchange remained the norm rather than the exception in education and teachers seem to gravitate to how he or she learned rather than an approach embracing a technological interfacing with students.  Understanding teachers’ views and experiences with technology inclusive strategies remains concerning if technology may develop into a medium that directly affects student outcomes (Chen, 2008).

Teachers’ Viewpoint

        Teacher self-efficacy portrays a significant responsibility in the adoption of technologically inclusive strategies within the confines of the classroom (Sahin & Thompson, 2007).  Teacher’s perceived personal relevance of technologies predetermines inclusive strategies pedagogically (Sahin & Thompson, 2007).  If incorporation of technology in classrooms forwards the teacher’s own work, the likelihood for inclusion, increases (Sahin & Thompson, 2007).  Sahin and Thompson (2007) summated that individual learning by educators about technology remains critical to provide resources for faculty to incorporate technology in an independent environment.  Teachers encounter difficulties with design and development of technologically inclusive presentations and seek professional development that aids in understanding and becoming proficient with strategies for media-rich curricular exchange (Chia-jung Maigo, & Mei-yan, 2010).  Professional development directly affecting teacher self-efficacy with technology and potential strategies for inclusion remains essential (Sahin & Thompson, 2007).

          Assessing teacher skill-set mastery and proficiency with technology use remains essential to the creation of any professional development plan.  Effective use of core software must be determined before professional development may commence.  The necessary basic skill-set mastery includes manipulation of Microsoft Office® Word® and PowerPoint® before commencement of professional development on skill-sets to use flash conversion software and audio.  A basic assessment of converting a Word® document to PowerPoint® may be used to ascertain the skill level of each teacher to create a baseline for professional development emphasis. 

Training Sessions

          Training divides into three categories that create the foundation for the creation of flash presentations for use in education.  The three sections are the creation of PowerPoint® from a Word® document, flash conversion software overview and use including audio, and file transfer protocol (FTP) server training to place presentations for access.  The training sessions represent the aforementioned sections necessary to build and use flash presentations with students in the classroom.  Any professional development that does not address the sections as described will fall short of necessary training to develop this technology strategy into practice pedagogically.  Providing monthly training on each section necessary for flash design provides the necessary architecture to professionally develop teachers to the point of including presentations in classrooms.

Mentoring

          Plair (2008) stated that technology-related professional development must include the process of evolution so teachers may become capable with technology during a sequence of sessions while maintaining partial support with resources.  One way to achieve continuing professional development included the use of mentor programs.  Implementing a mentor program as part of the educational curriculum connects theoretical and practical knowledge (Trad, 2009).  Any effort to bring teachers to the point of inclusion with available technology while promoting progress and comfort with media-rich presentations becomes an essential component to pedagogical practice (Trad, 2009).  According to Trad (2009), efforts to provide mentorship in school districts, as an enhancement for continuing professional development, seems a viable tactic for teachers to become comfortable with a technologically enhanced pedagogical medium. 

Master Technology Teacher

        In today’s educational arena a specialty professional evolved to speak to teacher training for technology practices.  Wright (2010) forwarded the introduction of the master technology teacher (MTT) and provided that tactics used by the MTT aided in demonstrating how barriers to classroom technology incorporation, such as the rectification of deficiencies, identifying the space amid the potential of technology and the reality of classroom incorporation, narrowed the gap between theory and use.  Continuing professional development, mentoring, and technology familiarity programming seem necessary if a teacher expects to include these tools in classroom practices (Wright, 2010).  The incorporation of designated MTT appears to be a best practice to aid in technology incorporation into use and provides on-site professional developmental capabilities.  Focus on the development of a MTT groups is anticipated.

Technical Support

          The file transfer protocol site should be maintained by information technology support in the unlikely event that the site becomes corrupted or non-usable.  Recommendations are that redundant backup of all presentations be maintained at a location off FTP site for download in the event of FTP failure.  Courseware development may be used outside of the FTP site however interactions between students and presentations must be addressed using differing strategies to do so.  Other than basic maintenance to hard and software applications, technical support remains a minimal consideration as most potential issues may be resolved by the presentation creators once professionally developed.

FPeLearning provides as much or as little professional development to match our clients' needs. We also provide a year of mentorship beyond initial start-up and this service is at no additional charge to our clients. By focusing on our clients' needs we customize each contract to the specifications necessary to aid in a successful technological transition into classroom practice.

FPeLearning empowers teachers and trainers with the necessary skill-sets to develop, maintain, and store digital learning objects for continuous use. We also provide necessary trainings to encourage clients to develop strategies that include technology into practice.