Promoting Technology Integration Through Collaborative Apprenticeship

Teachers often learn technology skills and integration strategies in intensive seminars, ineffective means for professional learning because experiences are seldom transferred to instructional practices. Thus, effective technology integration requires teachers to obtain learning experiences within the context of their teaching so they can practice, reflect, and mod#fy their practices. Learning in a teaching community is a social process that involves ongoing, on-site, and just-in-time support. Teachers need avenues to continually interact to provide such support across all members of the community. Collaborative Apprenticeship, a professional development model featuring reciprocal interactions, is one such approach to promoting technology integration. Teachers experienced in technology use serve as mentors of peer-teachers' technology applications aimed at improving instruction. Technology is progressively infused as peer-teachers learn to design technology-rich lessons from their technology-savvy peers through modeling, collaboration, and coaching. 0] Instructional technology, "the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p.1), is rarely well integrated into classroom practices (CEO Forum on Education and Technology, 1997). Several factors have contributed to this state of affairs. School districts typically spend far less on training and support than on hardware (Means & Olson, 1997), so technology integration efforts are often compromised. Ineffective teacher in-service programs also contribute to this trend (Office of Technology Assessment, 1995). Practicing teachers often learn about integrating technological tools outside of their classroom environment during summer or weekend workshops, and have only limited opportunities to apply and evaluate what they have learned. When learning is not situated in authentic environments, knowledge and skills tend to become more abstract and less meaningful (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989). Consequently, when teachers return to their classrooms, efforts are often unsuccessful, because of a lack of practical opportunities and experience integrating technology in their instructional settings to address their instructional needs. This problem is compounded by the changing nature of teachers' responsibilities, which have become increasingly complex and time consuming. Teachers often have little time available to troubleshoot technical difficulties or sift through manuals to acquire basic software skills (OTA, 1995). Indeed, teachers who are unsuccessful initially seem to become discouraged quickly, tending to abandon the technology