Publications

Duration and relevance of a professional development program: Using Intel Teach to the Future to illuminate successful programmatic features

March 1, 2005

Using survey data, the authors examined the relationship between duration/intensity of a technology-focused professional development program and specific participant characteristics in predicting successful outcomes. The five participant characteristics chosen were: teachers' feelings of preparedness to support student technology use; teachers' perceptions of the usefulness of creating technology-based projects with students; teachers' perceptions of the relevance of the pedagogical approaches emphasized; and teachers' prior use of featured software Two outcomes were defined: 1) Use of new software applications/technology skills and 2) Implementation of new technology-rich lessons. Analyses indicated different combinations of personal characteristics predicted each outcome. In addition, intensity of the program only predicted the latter outcome. Implications of this research are discussed within the framework of the professional development literature.

STAFF

Daniel Light
Tomoe Kanaya