Background: Education reforms over the last several decades have relied heavily on external assistance to help schools increase capacity for improving outcomes, but investing in sustained outside coaching and support is increasingly difficult with diminishing federal, state, and district resources. One under-investigated possibility for…

Despite the abundance of research on the potential of lesson study for promoting teachers' professional growth through practice and collaboration, little is known on how language teachers perceive this strategy for their computer assisted language learning (CALL) professional development. In an attempt to contribute to this research base, this…

This article describes the findings of a qualitative study investigating teacher perspectives on the impact of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) on their classroom teaching practice, using intensive case studies focusing on six primary and secondary teachers from two rural schools. The study found that all teachers were enthusiastic, had seen…

The integration of Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) into the language arts classroom can greatly assist teachers meet the needs of diverse literacy learners. However, this new technology does not come without some concerns, including but not limited to ease of implementation, funding for new hardware and software, appropriate teacher support,…

Could enthusiasm for e-learning be dampened because it is detrimental to the relationships between those undergoing e-training and their direct managers or colleagues? Interviews conducted in four French banks provide material to explore this question. We see that e-learning has increasingly been adopted because it goes beyond the role limitations…

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 were gathered from two research projects that investigated aspects of teachers mentoring colleagues in Australia. In both…

The survey presented in this article examines teachers' perspectives of the effectiveness of the European Pedagogic ICT Licence pilot test in Greece. A total of 51 primary and secondary education teachers participated in the study, immediately following the blended training course. Data were gathered using both quantitative and qualitative…

This article discusses the multi-faceted challenges experienced by professionals embarking on professional development online. It is argued that the barriers to successful completion identified in the literature reflect the complex, overlapping, and not always supportive social systems in which professional learners are embedded. A…

This article described the experiences of an inservice professional development program for teachers with a focus on online synchronous discussions. Transcripts of six online synchronous discussions containing 3600 messages from an online teacher professional development course were analyzed. In addition, the researchers interviewed 10…

This paper discusses the findings of a case study conducted with an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher at a German secondary school. This case study is part of a research project that investigates the new competencies that EFL teachers need to acquire in order to be able to use the interactive whiteboard (IWB) to develop their practice,…

On April 1, 1983, thirteen "enthusiastic, daring, creative and resourceful" (Landstrom, 1993, p. 113) Canadian distance educators who were attending an international conference on telecourses gathered in a hotel room in Washington DC to socialize. They left that evening with a dream: a Canadian distance education association. Now, after…

Describes an online independent study course, "Telecommunications and Information Access," offered by the University of Oregon and the International Society for Technology in Education for educators who want to learn about computer-mediated communication. Course evaluation results are discussed, and recommendations for educators are…

This paper provides an overview of Nebraska's K-12 Internet Evaluation Project, undertaken cooperatively between the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Nebraska Consortium of Educational Service Units. The purpose of the project is to document the implementation model and effectiveness of its K-12 telecomputing activities as they impact upon…

Given the evident potential shown by developing new technologies, there are increasingly more companies that develop and implement training programs that use the new-technology-based facilities. Likewise, suppliers developing new-technology-based programs have emerged seeking greater effectiveness and cost reduction as opposed to traditional…

Existing knowledge of computer conferencing is synthesized to indicate how it could address some of the current professional difficulties faced by Ontario teachers with regard to computers in the classroom, and strategies and guidelines for introducing such a computer-mediated learning approach into educational activities are provided. This report…