Teacher professional development

Abstract

The development and evolution of the ICT4RED Implementation Framework was indicated in Sections 1 and 2. In this framework the importance of the Teacher Professional Development (TPD) component was explained. Throughout the initiative it became evident that the classroom interaction in the participating rural schools had to change in a way that would accommodate the introduction of appropriate ICTs. The 21st century teaching and learning engagement was identified as the most appropriate interaction that would facilitate this need. A curriculum was conceptualised, based on the Mobile Learning Framework. The framework was essentially a domain effort to articulate the current understanding of how mobile learning can contribute to educational gains (Botha, Batchelor, Traxler, de Waard & Herselman, 2012). This resulted in the ICT4RED Teacher Professional Development (ICT4RED TPD) Course as an instantiation of the Mobile Learning Curriculum Framework, which was piloted at one school in 2012, and refined through two further iterations. The second iteration scaled to 11 schools and the third to 14 additional schools. In total the engagement will thus extend to 26 schools, encompassing 6 500 learners, 350 teachers and 16 district officials. The rest of this section aims to share the methodology used, the main findings drawn from the literature that guided the ICT4RED TPD Course design, the use of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model as a theoretical framework, design decisions made, design strategies used and the resulting design heuristics.