Towards a Theoretical Framework for the Design of Interactive Online Distance Learning Systems
Developing a Rationale for the TMFP Model
This paper provides a description of a model for technology professional development for teacher educators and program outcomes that were made possible by a Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to use Technology (PT3) grant. The paper concludes with a discussion of the processes employed to sustain worthwhile elements of TMFP. Two surveys were conducted in order to develop a grant application based on current information. One survey determined the status of technology integration in Texas public schools with respect to technology infrastructure and use of that technology infrastructure. A second survey was concurrently carried out with all public and private teacher education programs at institutions of higher education in Texas . This latter activity was designed to determine how and to what degree instructional technology was being incorporated into teacher preparation programs; and whether technology support was being provided to faculty and students. Survey results were analyzed to determine whether our College of Education programs were keeping pace with the advances in technology occurring in K-12 schools; and whether our teacher preparation faculty members were providing the necessary pre-service experiences in technology to teachers entering the profession compared to the other teacher preparation programs across the state. Findings from the public school survey indicated that both teachers and their students were in the initial stages of employing technology at the instructional level in 1998, but with equipment in place and professional development opportunities expanding, much expansion of Internet-aided classroom instruction was expected. We found from the teacher education programs survey that a majority of teacher preparation faculty in Colleges of Education, including our teacher education faculty, was not integrating technology into their field-based teacher preparation programs; nor were they encouraging their teaching candidates to become proficient with technology applications for the classroom, although the candidates often had considerable skills for applying technology.
Applying the findings, we established the following objectives for our professional development program. Participating Teacher Education faculty members will:
1. apply digital media in their instruction that supports the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) standards and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE); and
2. integrate digital technology into their pre-service teacher preparation and graduate professional development curricula.