Technology Integration in the Most Favorable Conditions: Findings from a Professional Development Training Program

Abstract

It is a consistent finding of research on ICT use in education that technology has failed to transform teaching and learning practices on a large scale. First- and second-order barriers have been identified as technology integration obstacles, and professional development training (PDT) programs are seen as the main tools to address such obstacles. Although the literature provides guidelines with respect to form, length, and content of PDT programs, there is very little research on how teachers’ backgrounds might influence the effectiveness of PDTs. In this multiple case study we focus on three teachers who participated in an extensive PDT program. Owing to their science education expertise, their constructivist beliefs, and high academic credentials, it was expected that they would integrate technology in their practices in transformative ways. The results show that the teachers integrated technology in practices that follow the dominant science education paradigm in Greece. Technology was mainly used for accessing web information and providing visualizations and multiple representations. Contrary to expectations, potential uses of technology that are common in science education literature (Osborne and Hennessy, Literature review in science education and the role of ICT: Promise, problems and future directions, 2003; Webb, International Journal of Science Education, 27(6), 705–735, 2005) and would transform their teaching practices were not taken up although they were promoted in the PDT program. Finally, the three teachers were reluctant to recognize these potential uses of technology as serious challenges to the quality of their designs. In this work we discuss the implications of these findings for further research in in-service PDT programs on ICT pedagogy.