Grappling with technology: A case of supporting Malaysian Smart School teachers' professional development

Authors

  • Siew Ming Thang Universiti Kebangsaan
  • Puvaneswary Murugaiah Universiti Sains Malaysia
  • Kean Wah Lee Universiti Malaysia Sabah
  • Hazita Azman Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
  • Lay Yean Tan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
  • Yit Sim Lee Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.1083

Abstract

This paper discusses the challenges faced by a group of Smart School teachers in a partnership model designed to help them develop professionally through the use of online tools. This model known as e-CPDelT: Model 2020 is loosely based on the successful, UK basedImproving the Quality of Education For All (IQEA) project (Hopkins et al., 1996). The model was piloted on 20 teachers of English, mathematics and science from 5 Smart Schools around Kuala Lumpur. It features collaboration between these teachers in the hope that it would lead to the development of viable communities of practice. Teacher collaboration in this pilot was in the form of (a) sharing text based narratives of perceived good lessons through blogs and (b) sharing of video clips of good lessons through the ViP (Virtual interactive Platform) and (c) forum discussions of lessons. Data were obtained from teacher interviews and mentor reflections. Brinkerhoff's (2006) framework on technology adoption was used to identify the challenges faced by these teachers. The findings revealed that teachers faced resource, institutional, informational and attitudinal problems. The paper concludes with discussion of suggested measures to improve technology adoption by teachers.

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Author Biography

Siew Ming Thang, Universiti Kebangsaan

Associate Professor Thang Siew Ming PhD (Nottingham)
School of Language Studies and Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan

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Published

2010-05-16

How to Cite

Thang, S. M., Murugaiah, P., Lee, K. W., Azman, H., Tan, L. Y., & Lee, Y. S. (2010). Grappling with technology: A case of supporting Malaysian Smart School teachers’ professional development. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 26(3). https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.1083