Educator and Professional Development is of the utmost importance in looking at the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology. This section of the plan focuses on the need for educators to continue learning.
The current look at educator and professional development shows that educator preparation programs should and are beginning to teach and model the integration of technology in the classroom. By teaching the Technology Applications standards in the educator preparation programs schools are able to hire teachers who are better prepared for 21st century learners. In terms of professional development not only do educators need to continue learning to be prepared for their subject matter, but they need to be prepared to integrate technology into their subject matter. Professional development programs have adapted to the needs of prodessional educators by providing online sessions. Nationally, univeristies are beginning to increase online continuing education programs as well as degree programs in the teaching field.
While there has been a great increase in technology based professional development as well as access to professional development, there is still a need for improvement. Many educator preparation programs still lack the necessary equipement to allow student teachers to prepare for integrated technology use. Professional educators also need follow up on their campuses and in their classrooms to assure that they understand the use of the technologies they are learning about. Professional development activities are a great beginning, but unless we follow up with teachers to ensure understanding, many of our less tech-savvy teachers give up on the new knowledge the first time they struggle with it.
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