Design of a Framework for Professional Development Programs for Teachers in the Use of Interactive Touch Screen

Abstract

The aim of this study was to design a framework for professional development programmes for teachers in the use of Interactive Touch Screen (ITS). At present ITSs are distributed in selected schools in Sri Lanka. Although, in these schools, selected teachers are trained on the use of the ITS, comprehensive training on the instructional strategies of ITS is yet to be provided. The objectives of the study were (1) Analyse the current usage of ITS of teachers in the school system, (2) Design and develop a professional development program (PDP) for teachers on the use of ITS, (3) Implement the PDP and evaluate the effect on the teachers and (4) Reflect on the evaluation results to upgrade the current PDP to conduct the following PDP. The sample was a total of 31 teachers of an educational zone in the Colombo district. Instruments for quantitative data collection were six scales and open-ended questions were used to collect qualitative data. Design Based Research (DBR) approach was made in this study in which both quantitative and qualitative data were collected in the research process. DBR approach is characterized by analysis of the problem domain, design of the solution (intervention), iterative cycles of testing and refining the solution and finally reflecting on the whole process to arrive at design principles and inventing the solution. Intervention of this study was in terms of two professional development programmes on the integration of ITS in instruction. The results of the first intervention are presented in this paper. Analysis of data formed the feedback to design the revised PDP. Proposed revisions were to increase the time allocation of the PDP, provide more hands-on experience, demonstrate ITS-based instructional strategies related to different subject areas and conduct separate PDPs for non-ICT teachers.