Learning to Teach in the Digital Era Starts With Professional Development

“We need to think less about the training of the technical aspects and more about how you can teach in new and different ways that will bring about more critical thinking, more collaboration and more creativity,” says Keith R. Krueger, CEO of CoSN. “Too often it’s been more about how to use a specific application rather than considering what kind of learning we want today that will prepare kids for the future. We need to focus on the pedagogical use of the technology rather than how to use a particular application.”

“When we can help teachers change their instructional strategy first, they develop an appetite for the technology because they realize what they can do without technology, and how technology affords them so many opportunities to expand learning.”—Eric Patnoudes, K-12 specialist for CDW-G.

The use of technology in the classroom should help to increase student achievement and help prepare students for future success. In order to create an enhanced learning environment through the use of technology, teachers may need to stray away from their traditional teaching strategies.

“For the most part, teachers are just getting training and their teaching strategies aren’t changing as a result. What ends up happening is school districts don’t get the improvement outcomes they’re looking for and then they take a look at the technology and think maybe it wasn’t the right choice. Then they invest in a different type of technology and the same thing happens because they don’t invest in pedagogical change,” says Eric Patnoudes, K-12 specialist for CDW-G.

Professional development should encompass strategic planning along with technology training to assist teachers in developing teaching strategies that will create an optimal learning environment for their students.

Furthermore, strategic planning for technology should begin long before technology is actually implemented in the classroom. This allows enough time and focus to be spent on adjusting teachers’ instructional approaches so they are confident in using the technology to improve learning.

“When we can help teachers change their instructional strategy first, they develop an appetite for the technology because they realize what they can do without technology, and how technology affords them so many opportunities to expand learning outside of the walls of the school and even outside the boundaries of their communities,” says Patnoudes.

Develop a Sense of Community

Professional development is an ongoing process, and teachers need to feel confident that they have fellow colleagues and school personnel to turn to with their technological and instructional questions and concerns. When there is a community of school personnel working together to successfully implement technology in the classroom, schools are more likely to overcome challenges and solve problems in a quicker and more efficient way.