21st Century Educator

For my ETEC 533 class, I am planning on writing a short essay analyzing some current research on the effect of technology training for teachers on student achievement.  I'm interested in this because it combines two things I'm currently working on improving in my own professional practice, effective use of technology and leading professional development.

Here are some research links I'm planning on looking into in more detail:

• http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te800.htm
• http://www.wested.org/techpolicy/research.html
• Recent Research on the Effects of Technology on Teaching and Learning
• What factors facilitate teacher skill, teacher morale, and perceived student learning in technology-using classrooms?
• http://fnopress.com/howlearn.html
• New directions in the evaluation of the effectiveness of Educational Technology
• http://www.springerlink.com/content/p320t7r40n21qn71/
• Does computer learning improve student achievement?

Most of these links approach the idea from the perspective that if using technology shows no improvement on student scores, then teaching teachers how to use it will not have an effect either.  Assuming we can clarify that hurdle the next step is to show if there is a relationship between the amount of teacher training in a technology and its effectiveness in increasing student achievement.

• David Wees's blog

About David

David is a mathematics teacher and a learning specialist for technology at Stratford Hall in Vancouver, BC. He has been teaching since 2002, and has worked in Brooklyn, London, and Bangkok before moving back to Canada. He has his Masters degree in Educational Technology from UBC, and is the co-author of a mathematics textbook. He has been published in ISTE's Leading and Learning, Educational Technology Solutions, The Software Developers Journal, The Bangkok Post and Edutopia. He blogs with the Cooperative Catalyst, and is the Assessment group facilitator for Edutopia. He has also helped organize the first Edcamp in Canada, and TEDxKIDS@BC.