Leveraging new technologies for professional learning in education: Digital literacies as culture shift in professional development

Abstract

Providing just-in-time job-embedded professional learning using a technologically mediated model achieves professional growth goals and encourages teachers to build digital literacy competencies and incorporate new technologies in instructional approaches in the classroom. This article highlights the lessons learned from an award-winning professional learning program developed by the Advanced Broadband Enabled Learning program (ABEL), a Research and Innovation initiative at York University in Toronto, Canada. Ongoing research into this program reveals that teachers who are learning via technologies refine their understanding of digital literacy, and develop curriculum designs and instructional strategies that facilitate differentiated instruction through digitally mediated designs, increase student engagement in learning, and improve student achievement.