t-learning - Future Scenarios - Continuous professional development for teachers

Marcello returns home from teaching science at his secondary school. Like most teachers his work does not finish when he leaves through the school gates. Most of his preparation and marking of assignments tends to be done at home. In addition, he needs to keep himself updated of developments in his own subject area as well as changes in the curriculum. Fortunately, he now has a new tool to help him keep up to date with developments and find out how fellow science teachers are using the latest teaching techniques to improve their science lessons.

As Marcello lives in a rural area of Italy it is difficult for him to travel to the nearest Teachers’ Resource Centre to meet his colleagues and discuss some new approaches to teaching science. The round trip would take him nearly three hours. However, like many people living in rural areas he does receive satellite digital TV in his own home. Therefore, the local education authority has provided Marcello with a personal digital video recorder (PVR) free of charge. His existing satellite receiver has been connected into the PVR which has been connected to his television. The PVR is also connected to his existing normal telephone line. Connecting the equipment took Marcello a few minutes with the aid of a colour-coded guide. Once switched-on the PVR automatically sets itself up. Programmes can be automatically recorded onto the PVR for viewing at any time without the need for Marcello to set the time to record.

At regular intervals programmes from the local and national education authorities are broadcast overnight and recorded automatically on the PVR. This is very convenient for Marcello as he is able to watch the programmes at his convenience when he does not have any other family commitments.

This early evening Marcello’s children are out with his wife visiting relations so it is an ideal opportunity for him to watch the weekly science update programme already recorded on his PVR. He enters his identify number and selects the appropriate programme from his personal menu using his remote control. The focus this week is on human genetics and starts off with an explanation from a senior government education advisor as to why it now been included in the national curriculum. The programme then demonstrates, using real teachers, various lesson techniques for teaching the topic. Using his remote control Marcello can easily stop, start, rewind and fast-forward the programme with hardly any loss of video quality.

In order to help his understanding of the topic and the techniques required to teach it, Marcello has to fill in various multiple choice questions at various points during the programme. He has to take these seriously as all the answers are sent back via the telephone line and recorded centrally on his continuous professional development (CPD) profile. As part of his teaching contract he needs to successfully complete a certain number of hours of CPD each year. This is taken into account when he might be seeking promotion and certainly is a condition of him receiving his annual salary increase. It also counts towards an “Advanced Teaching Certificate in Science Education” accredited by the nearby university.

Marcello’s mind then turns towards the rather difficult class of 13 year olds he has to teach later in the week. He recalls that there was a serious of programmes dealing with difficult classes a few weeks ago. Unfortunately they are no longer stored on his PVR but he is able to find them in the catalogue of available programmes and send a request to have them to be delivered to his PVR. Times of delivery of programmes vary according to the demand from other teachers. The higher the demand the quicker they are broadcast via satellite. Marcello receives a message saying that the programme will be delivered in about 45 minutes. He smiles, obviously he is not the only one having problems with a class of 13 year olds. In some city areas with broadband TV connections the programme can be made available immediately to his teaching colleagues.

He then settles down to watch the various five to ten minute news clips about “Science in the News”. He gets excited about the news clip referring to a wobbly footbridge over the River Thames in London. This is ideal for his Physics class of 15 year olds, he presses a button so the recording can be saved on videotape with his videocassette recorder. Next day he can take the tape into school to use.

A message pops up on the TV telling him that his requested programmes have now been delivered to his PVR. So Marcello settles down to watching how to deal with a difficult class of 13 year olds. However, unlike a linear programme various “What would you do if…….?” options are available to him at stages during the programme. This enables him to see the potential consequences of his actions. By going through the programme again and choosing various other options Marcello is able to gradually work out a strategy that would be most appropriate for his own class. Feeling better now he decides to finish his work for the day. Now he can settle down to watching the latest football match of his favourite team that was recorded onto his PVR a couple of hours earlier.

Future Scenario One - Continuous professional development for teachers