As multimedia and technological savvy continue to expand existing notions of contemporary literacy, the need to prepare teachers to use a variety of classroom technologies has never been greater (Author1 & Author2, 2008a; Author1 & Author2, 2009). In order for teachers to be prepared to use such technologies, the structure of teacher professional…

The development of inquiry and project-based materials is challenging in many ways, not the least of which is the design of supports for teachers implementing such materials. We report on the design of educative and just-in-time teacher supports for an online project-based unit in ocean science. The teacher supports were visible as tabs on the…

Online discussion groups have become a resource for teachers seeking ongoing professional development. Despite their popularity, there has been little systematic investigation into the nature and quality of the dialogue that occurs within an unstructured virtual community to which participants voluntarily subscribe. In this study, we explored how…

Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK or TPACK)--the highly practical professional educational knowledge that enables and supports technology integration--is comprised of teachers' concurrent and interdependent knowledge of curriculum content, general pedagogy, and technological understanding. Teachers' planning--which expresses…

This study examined factors that influence teachers' technology integration during Collaborative Apprenticeships designed to provide onsite, ongoing, and just-in-time peer mentoring to create technology-enhanced materials. Results indicate that teachers who were successful in designing technology-enhanced lessons tended to interact differently…

In this study we examined the effects of online follow-up and online peer interaction following a face-to face professional development workshop on attitudes towards that professional development and completion of a professional development task. School librarians were invited to work online on a three page plan outlining interventions a library…

Within a constructivist philosophy of learning, teachers, as students, are introduced to different perspectives of teaching with robotic technology while immersed in what Papert called a "constructionist" environment. Robotics allows students to creatively explore computer programming, mechanical design and construction, problem solving,…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a powerful instructional design for professional education, which may be used to guide the design of interactive multimedia (IMM). An IMM package incorporating PBL principles has been developed to assist teachers in learning to integrate information and communications technologies (ICT) into their teaching. The…

A collaborative approach was developed to support the professional development of teacher candidates, collaborating teachers (CTs) and teacher educators in learning to use technology for professional and pedagogical uses. Collaboration with K-5 teachers was undertaken to build the teachers' capacities to use technology in meaningful ways in their…

As part of the EFFECTS award (Effective Framework for Embedding Communications and Information Technology using Targeted Support), the necessity of evaluating the use of Information and Communications Technology (I&CT) in teaching and learning was reinforced and, as a result, the following study has been produced. This formative evaluation…

Recent books and articles are full of definitions of the ideal electronic classroom, prescriptions of how to use web resources, and descriptions of the effects of such resources on teaching practices and learning. Yet Becker (1999) found that only 30% of those teachers who were internet-connected acknowledged using web resources with their…

It is well known that society is currently experiencing great technological momentum and that technology has found its way into our classrooms. Yet, many teachers have not demonstrated an adoption of such advances and their instructional practices do not reflect the integration of instructional technologies. This article examines Trek 21, an…

The Online Academy (HO29K73002) was funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) to develop research-based online instructional modules in the content areas of reading, positive behavior support and technology across the curriculum. Targeted to preservice teacher education programs in Institutions of Higher Education (IHE), but also…

USPE-L (recently renamed NASPE-L) is an e-mail listserv that provides a forum for physical educators to discuss their teaching and programs--and offer collegial support that may not be immediately available in a local community. This study used two sources of data collection including an e-mail survey (N=113) and follow-up phone interviews (N=10)…

This article describes and reports evaluation results for five key elements of the Challenge 2000 Multimedia Project's inservice professional development program. The five elements are: (a) Technology Learning Coordinators (a mentoring system), (b) Minigrants (small local grants tied to a planning process for teachers), (c) Partnerships…