Teacher Learning Beyond Knowledge for Pedagogical Innovations with ICT

Abstract

The integration of IT in education can take on very different forms for very different purposes ranging from technologizing education to transforming education. It is the transformative uses of ICT to support system-wide education reform initiatives that are most challenging. Such uses of ICT also constitute the core concern in policies and practices to support teacher learning for IT integration in pedagogical practices. Based on a worldwide study of ICT-supported pedagogical innovations, changes could be identified in curriculum goals, roles of teachers and learners, new ways is assessing learning outcomes and the connectedness of classrooms. This chapter highlights the disruptive role of technology in such innovations and argues for the need for teacher learning to go beyond knowledge about teaching and learning. To be able to innovate their educational practice, teachers need to develop meta-cognitive, social and socio-metacognitive capacities. Further, professional development must address issues of values and beliefs which provide the orientation and motivation for teacher learning. The chapter concludes by proposing a generative model of teacher learning through the involvement of teachers in networks of innovation.