A Comparative Analysis of Teacher Education Faculty Development Models for Technology Integration

Overview & Synopsis

Research shows that unless university-based teacher educators effectively integrate technology into teacher education courses, students (pre-service and in-service teachers) are unlikely to use technology effectively in their own teaching. This creates negative repercussions in teacher education and in the schools. However, many teacher educators do not feel competent or equipped to integrate technology into their courses for a host of reasons, including the fact that they work for institutions that do not offer relevant, adequate faculty development in technology integration. This article uses research-based criteria to analyze and compare seven faculty development models for teacher education technology integration. These models are organized into three broad categories: (a) workshops, (b) mentoring, and (c) university-school collaborations. The comparative analysis reveals that some models are distinctly more effective than others. It also shows that, based on all the studies analyzed, not a single one describes a faculty development model that meets all of the fundamental criteria for excellence in faculty development. If universities start using criteria for excellent faculty development in teacher education technology integration and intentionally gear their efforts toward those criteria, positive changes in technology use could occur in teacher education and hence in schools. (Contains 1 table.)