INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM - AN EVALUATION OF PROFESSIONAL-DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS

In 1990, teacher development in the effective use of information techn ology in the classroom was offered to teachers in the Canterbury, Nels on and West Coast regions. Approximately 700 teachers participated. Un like earlier models of teacher development which have shared character istics of ''periodic detention'', the model employed for this programm e possessed a number of important differences which contributed to a t ruer model of ''professional development''. The evaluation of the prog ramme revealed substantial changes to teachers' confidence and compete nce in integrating computers into their classroom activities. Notable benefits were also found for students and the classroom learning envir onment. These outcomes were largely maintained twelve months later. Th e teacher development programme was extremely valuable for initiating teachers into using computers in the classroom and for providing a ''s pringboard'' for further professional development.