Turning Teachers on to Digital Technologies: Acknowledging the Place of Cognitive and Affective Constructs in ICT-Related Professional Learning

Abstract

Information and communication technologies are yet to revolutionise the classroom and transform teaching and learning despite mandates for its inclusion in curricula across the world. Many theories have been advanced for the limited impact ICT has had on teachers, teaching and learning. The efficacy of ICT professional development for teachers looms as prospectively significant in any systematic inquiry concerning teachers' reservations and research indicates that teachers' beliefs and effect might be a good place to start. The purpose of this study was to identify and examine the function of teacher participant's beliefs and effect as my co-researchers and I endeavoured to develop our technological, pedagogy and content knowledge (TPACK) (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) and integrate it into our classroom practice. Action research was adopted as the methodology of choice for its capacity to employ a range of methods to address authentic problems and to frame the professional learning component of the inquiry.