Tech-savvy learners : subject to professional development

Authors

Annabel Astbury, History Teachers' Association of Victoria

Abstract

Teachers need to know how new, and old, technologies can be used successfully in their subject areas, with specific application to their own classroom situations, if they are to create the 21st century learning that the new national curriculum aspires to produce. To create these learners, teachers must have the support, knowledge and skills to deliver the worthy outcomes stated in the curriculum. It is no longer feasible to look at developing teachers' ICT skills exclusive of their current field of subject expertise. Without specific application to their own classroom situations, in their subjects, training teachers in the 'use of ICT' is fruitless, especially when there is such a gap between what teachers and their students understand by the term 'interactive'. Any endeavours to 'teach the teachers' about the way technology can be used in the classroom are going to be more successful if they occur in the context with which teachers are familiar. And if it is mandatory that teachers embed the use of digital technologies into their subject areas, it should be mandatory that teachers have the opportunity to learn how to do this. [Author abstract, ed]

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