Enhancing Professional Development for Teachers: Potential Uses of Information Technology, Report of a Workshop

摘要

This report is a comprehensive overview of a unique workshop, held to explore a vision of the potential of online teacher professional development, its challenges, and the research needed to understand and advance this rapidly emerging area. In the workshop presentations and discussions, master classroom teachers joined with researchers, curriculum and information technology developers, professional development experts, state-level policy makers, principals, and foundation representatives. It is to all of the audiences represented by these participants that this report is addressed. The journey to this workshop began in November 2002 when Bruce Alberts, then president of the National Academies, convened the first Teacher Advisory Council. This council was formed to enable classroom teachers to bring the wisdom of their practice into the Academies work in education. That opportunity brought outstanding teachers together, empowering them as a community to make a difference. The current members of the Teacher Advisory Council include teachers of science, mathematics, technology, reading, and English as a second language across the elementary, middle, and secondary grades. They teach in innercity, rural, and suburban schools.