Portrait of a Profession: Teaching and Teachers in the 21st Century

Moss, David M.. Portrait of a Profession: Teaching and Teachers in the 21st Century. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2008.

Chapter Six: Technology and Professional Development

Allen D. Glenn

In Chapter Six, Allen Glenn outlines the need for ongoing, sustained professional development for teachers in the realm of emerging technologies. He explores the necessity for using emerging technologies for professional development and the challenges of facilitating learning using new social media and other online tools. Unprecedented access to the World Wide Web is challenging the teaching profession, but there are enormous opportunities as well.

Professional development opportunities, both formal and informal abound when it comes to technology. In a recent search, there were over 900,000 websites with reference to “teacher professional development.” Examples of informal resources include the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (http://www.ncrel.org) and the George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF) (http://ww.glef.org). Quality professional development, according to the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) states that there are several guidelines for quality professional development, including:

• connected to, and derived from teachers' work with their students

• sustained, ongoing, intensive, and supported by peers and school leaders

• organized around collective problem solving

• responsive to social and educational priorities at every jurisdictional level

Glenn notes that technology belongs to today's youth, and shapes their expectations about learning and how they interact. Students anticipate continual connectivity via social networks. Teachers today know that technology is not “a fad” that will go away. What is clear is that sustained, continual professional development is necessary to keep up with the technological demands, but how can this take place when there is so little time?

After a summation of the history of professional development, Glenn observes that technology is ever-changing, and that keeping up is almost impossible. While he is correct, his focus, in my opinion, narrows to learning how to use the tools, not the pedagogical methodology that facilitates students' connecting, creating, and sharing. My belief is that the students can teach the teacher how to use the tools, but the teacher must become a “cognitive coach” in response.

In his study, Glenn notes that there are four key stages to learning how to incorporate technology:

1. Emerging: exploring the potential of technology
2. applying: using content based materials and tools for accessing the internet and word processing
3. Infusing: teachers use technology as part of the instructional process, and students are more directly engaged
4. Transforming: the classroom is learning centered, where students explore a variety of real-world problems in an inquiry-oriented learning environment

Changing a teaching style is difficult, but not insurmountable, Glenn states. Teacher philosophies about education may be challenged with a learner-centered approach that is the potential hallmark of a technology-driven curriculum. Research also shows that teachers resist technology that doesn't match the context in which they work, and do not address the problems related to their classrooms. Grant (1996) suggests the following for effective technology professional development:

1. vision of technology as an empowering tool
2. stimulate reflective practice and be grounded in the context of teaching
3. exemplify our deepest beliefs about learning: inquiry, collaboration, and discourse
4. value and cultivate a culture of collegiality
5. provide continual opportunities for formal and informal learning
6. provide opportunities for meaningful teacher leadership roles to emerge
7. enable teachers to shape their own learning

When teachers personalize computer tools, a sense of ownership and a positive attitude is the result.

To use digital technologies a teacher needs a variety of learning and support activities:

1. technical learning experiences ought to be problem based and related to actual classroom situations
2. teachers need to set goals and reflect on their teaching continually
3. one-on-one collaborative support should be available
4. collaboration with others engaged in using tech should be available
5. opportunities to read professional materials should be available

Most importantly, Glenn observes that there are a plethora of opportunities to connect, at one's own pace, via the World Wide Web, in digital communities of practice. Today's students (and teachers) expect unprecedented access to technology, no matter their comfort level. There are certain expectations that technology should be readily available, and these pressures will continue to force schools and districts in terms of budgetary considerations. Therefore, teachers should be focusing on learning “how to use technology to learn,” rather than “learn to use technology.”

Finally, in his concluding remarks, Glenn states that future professional development will allow teachers to choose from a variety of learning communities characterized by:

• long term vs short term

• continuous vs targeted

• lifelong vs short term goals

• real community vs school

• virtual vs physical

• formal vs informal instructors

• sharing virtual resources vs physical

• unscheduled vs scheduled learning

In my opinion, Glenn accurately observes that technology is fast disrupting how learning is taking place. In addition, he is correct in stating that technology must be used to learn rather than being an end unto itself. However, I did not get a sense that there was a suggestion or solution to the issue of professional development, and how it could be led, for example, by teacher leaders. He did not mention action research, a prime method of problem solving, and using technology as a fulcrum, action research could be a powerful tools for teachers. Still, the issue of time, whether physical or virtual, is in short supply when it comes to professional development.