Scaling Educational Technology Professional Development: The Case of Intel Teach to the Future
Type: Brief Paper Topic: Information Technology Diffusion/Integration
Room: 8
Wed, Mar. 2 11:15 AM-11:35 AM
Authors:
Wendy Martin, EDC/Center for Children and Technology, USA
Katherine McMIllan Culp, EDC/Center for Children and Technology, USA
Andrew Gersick, EDC/Center for Children and Technology, USA
Hannah Nudell, EDC/Center for Children and Technology, USA
Abstract:
This paper presents findings from a three year evaluation of Intel Teach to the Future, a large-scale technology professional development program. In describing the impact that this program has had on the teachers, schools and districts it reached, we use a conceptual framework developed by Coburn (2003) for examining the outcomes of large scale school reform efforts across four dimensions: depth, spread, sustainability and shift in ownership. We argue that Intel Teach to the Future was largely successful in achieving positive outcomes across these four dimensions of scale, in part because local adaptation and teacher creation of instructional materials were key design elements of the program, and in part because the scaling model focused on creating large cohorts of trained teachers within schools and developing district leaders to support technology integration.