Professional Development of Teacher Educators through Developing their Computer Skills

The aim of this research was to study the professional development of college teacher educators by teaching them computer skills. The study covered 25 instructors and lecturers teaching at a teacher training college who participated in a course of computer applications in teaching. Each one of the teachers applied the skills acquired in the course in his classroom in his area of specialization. The data was gathered by means of an open-ended questionnaire and a survey of the teachers opinions about the connection between the use of technology in teaching and professional development. These teachers reported progress in the courses they taught thanks to the content, the methodology learned in the course, and the personal attention they received from the course instructor. The findings also showed the teachers expressed positive opinions about using computers in teaching. Their responses to the questionnaire stressed the positive contribution the computer had made to communication, knowledge and study communities. One of the more striking effects of teaching these teachers computer skills for their work at the college was the great increase in cooperative group learning in accordance with the suggested strategies of this research.