Collegial mentoring for effective whole school professional development in the use of IWB technologies

Abstract

The focus of this chapter is the provision of teacher professional development as needed - just in time. The specific context is the application of peer mentoring in teaching and learning with interactive whiteboards. Data was gathered from two research projects that investigated aspects of teachers mentoring colleagues in Australia. In both projects lessons were video recorded and the teachers interviewed about their perceptions of ICT use in the lessons. In one project two teachers were appointed as half-time mentors to assist colleagues in classroom use of IWBs. This appeared to result in improved levels of success for all the stakeholders. The aim in the other project was to explore how to prepare primary classroom teachers to become mentors within their school. One recommendation arising from the research is that education systems should fund ICT mentor positions to help overcome immediate teacher needs as quickly as possible.