A Model of Professional Development in On-line Technology

Use of Internet based technologies is an innovative and challenging task in ALBE. Internet use is limited to a small number of enterprising teachers. Some have made significant gains in their skills and knowledge of Internet and are exploiting its various resources with a degree of confidence. Others have achieved moderate success with Internet applications for both their personal and class room teaching use. Still others are just beginning to explore the Internet. This study reports the experience of teachers from each category.

Starter -----------------------> User----------------------------> Developer Continuum of Internet Skills Development

Figure 1: Level of Development in Internet Skills

Drawing on Benner (1984) Figure 1 expresses these three levels of development as a continuum from Starter to User to Developer. Starters are persons who have just begun to explore Internet as a communication and information-seeking tool. Starters typically begin their Internet experience with a Web browser and E-mail program. Their main use of Internet involves visiting Websites of interest, e-mailing to friends and colleagues, using Search Engines and bookmarking sites of interest. Most Starters experience problems in relation to Internet connectivity, Web addresses and functioning of software programs. Depending on previous experience, access and computer skills some Starters will fast track to Users level in a matter of days. Others with less confidence and computer skills will stay at the Starter level for a longer period. In this study we identified 3 participants as Starters.

Users have reasonable confidence in using computer based technologies, Internet applications and asynchronous communication. They can surf the Web to locate sites of relevance. Users can use the Internet to join Mailing List discussions and participate in Newsgroup discussions. They use e-mail to a more sophisticated level and can attach documents with e-mail, create and organise address books, include signatures and broadcast a message to several people. Users demonstrate a better understanding of the Web. They can save Web pages for off-line browsing and resolve simple errors in addressing. Users show a basic understanding of designing Home Pages and down loading files from Internet but need assistance from experts in resolving HTML and FTP related technical difficulties. In this study we identified 3 participants as Users.

Developers have gained necessary expertise in designing and maintaining Web sites and are most likely to have personal and work related Websites developed by them. They have a good command over both synchronous and asynchronous communication tools and use them for their work and professional development. Developers show competence in finding, downloading and installing new software from Internet. They also have contacts with a virtual community of literacy and language teachers and use Internet with their learners. In this study we identified 4 participants as Developers.

The terms Starter, User and Developer, should, however, be seen as a general guide to the skill level of different participants rather than as indicating that a particular individual satisfied all the criteria for each described above.

A pertinent issue for research not fully addressed in this study is the question of which factors promote professional development along the continuum. As NLTs become more widely available it is crucial that most ALBE staff can exploit the potential of the technology through acquiring the skills of Users and, if possible, Developers within a short time frame.