E-Learning-Inclusivo (Mashup)

Higher education officials are bombarded with pitches for how the latest emerging technologies are going to upend their students’ learning experiences and professors’ instructional methods. From online courses to learning management systems to autograders to AI-enabled “tutors,” schools have no shortage of products claiming to offer transformative change.

Many of the factors described above raise specific training and technical issues and these are important for schools and providers of CPD. Technology has little impact if teachers are not trained properly in its use (Sandholtz, 2001), but the diversity of ICT hardware and software resources available can pose a major challenge for teachers, since selecting the right tools to meet pupil needs demands an understanding of the impacts of each tool (Passey, 2006). Expecting teachers to know each and every piece of new technology is a difficult goal to achieve with far too many technologies making this view impractical. Indeed teaching ICT skills alone is not sufficient, because there is a tendency for teachers to learn how to operate ICT-related tools without being able to integrate the technologies effectively in the classroom to promote students’ learning (Graham et al., 2009; Mishra et al., 2009). Teacher training courses may not adequately prepare teachers in the ways of creating pedagogical connections between the benefits of technology and the teaching of a particular subject area (Angeli & Valanides, 2009; Brush & Saye, 2009; Mishra & Koehler, 2006).