Teacher Perceptions of Staff Development in a Technology-Enriched Environment.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Technology has become ubiquitous in society today. Outside of schools, the rate that technology is being used among children continues to increase every day. This has created a disconnect between schools and the technologically advanced environment many students experience when they get home. One result is that teachers are now being encouraged to integrate technology even more than in recent years. This requires training and preparing teachers to use technology as individuals as well as instructors. The purpose of this study was to inquire of teachers who have been trained in a technology-enriched learning environment if they believe it to be an effective learning environment for them.
In order to explore this question, several secondary research questions were developed. These sub-questions served as the basis for an online survey. The survey was the main component of this quantitative, non-experimental study. Teachers in one school system in Central Virginia were asked to complete the survey.
The results of this study are comparable with other studies exploring hands-on use of technology by teachers while they are being trained. Teachers prefer this environment to more traditional forms of staff development. They prefer to work with colleagues who understand the unique challenges in their subject area while working with new technology directly. Many of these teachers believe their students have greater achievement and lower disciplinary incidents. These teachers believe they are able to use technology in a way that allows their students to more adequately develop 21st Century skills. In addition to the benefits to students, most participants in this study agreed that this style of learning is more effective for them and they learn better in this environment.
The results from the data collected in this study support increased integration of technology in the classroom as well as continued efforts to properly prepare teachers for its implementation. As technology continues to permeate our homes and businesses, it would only seem logical that it would do the same in our schools. Therefore, the implication is that educational leaders need to more appropriately prepare teachers as they seek to find additional technology resources for student use.