ERIC Number: EJ919327
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Dec
Pages: 4
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0816-9020
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Using ICT to Increase Professional Connectedness for Teachers in Remote Australia
Reading, Chris
Australian Educational Computing, v25 n2 p3-6 Dec 2010
Connecting with other education professionals is important in supporting teacher learning. Teachers in remote locations in Australia experience a professional isolation due to geographic isolation that makes it difficult to engage in sustained collaborations with other teachers. In a national project ICT was used to assist these teachers by connecting them for the purposes of having reciprocal interactions and developing a sense of community, both of which facilitate professional connectedness. A five-phase Transformative Professional Learning Model supported by the use of ICT, in particular videoconferencing was implemented for teachers in remote locations across five different states of Australian. These teachers reported a sense of an expanded professional connection despite technical issues during the videoconferencing sessions used to support some phases of the model. To improve the sustainability of the connection of remotely-located teachers in the future it is recommended that the model be modified to include videoconference-based connection in each phase rather than just focusing on synchronous inter-teacher communication at the introductory and concluding phases of the professional learning. (Contains 1 figure.)
Descriptors: Professional Isolation, Distance Education, Foreign Countries, Geographic Isolation, Rural Education, Synchronous Communication, Teleconferencing, Technology Uses in Education, Communities of Practice, Professional Development, Models, Transformative Learning, Training Methods, Social Networks, Teacher Collaboration
Australian Council for Computers in Education. P.O. Box 1255, Belconnen, ACT 2616, Australia. Tel: +61-3-9349-3733; Fax: +61-3-9349-5356; Web site: http://www.acce.edu.au
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
IES Cited: ED544210
Author Affiliations: N/A