Teachers need Transformation. The professional development of teachers sits at the heart of any successful technology and education program. Teachers need not only formal training, but also sustained and ongoing support from their colleagues to help them learn how best to integrate technology into their teaching. Training must go well beyond basic cutting-and-pasting. Teachers need to be able to transform their classrooms from places where a static one-way flow of information from teacher to student occurs, into dynamic, student-centered learning environments in which learners interact with peers in teams, both in their own classroom as well as with virtual classes around the world through the Internet.
Most teachers, however, are intimidated by technology and are comfortable with their own teaching styles. Any teacher training program should help teachers see past the technology to the pedagogical and educational gains that use of the technology will bring to classroom. Furthermore, teachers need to be transformed form information consumers, using the Internet to access resources, into formation producers, adapting the information for their particular cultural and educational reality. Some countries have established online networks or communities-of-practice, in which teachers share resources that enhance their curriculum, get peer reviews of lesson plans they have created, and exchange ideas and good practices with other teachers of their subject.
Teachers use technology as a tool, and transform their classrooms into interactive, inquisitive learning environments. Schools should be transformed into active learning environments open to their communities; telecommunication and power infrastructure policies should focus on school as starting points for rural transformation; teachers and students must be empowered to be creative agents for change in their schools; and leaders must embrace a vision that will prepare their youth for tomorrow’s challenges.
While the world has fundamentally changed over the past hundred years and will continue to do so at an accelerating pace, the classroom has not, but it will, soon. The issues outlined in this paper are not unique to developing countries. Schools around the world face the same challenges and by and large the same lessons apply. It is time to collectively change our approach to the learning process, and particularly, take advantage of the power of technology to improve learning outcomes, enhance economic opportunities, foster greater creativity, and realize the dreams of disadvantaged youth in developing countries. If together we can begin this transformation, schools a hundred years from now will sit at the heart of a learning society and allow youth from any country in the world-rich or poor-to have the same opportunities to create a better world.
Teachers need support, examples of good practice, and leadership from their school principal to receive the necessary time for professional development, in order to truly transform teaching and learning in the classroom.
By: Alma R. Garcia | Head Teacher III | Bonifacio Camacho National High School | Abucay, Bataan
