ABSTRACT
Implementing a plan for professional development in technology is an important step and often receives much attention. While the importance of providing quality training and professional development cannot be overestimated, the steps must be evaluated and developed within the context of the goals of the project. Too often, professional development and training are synonymous in focus and exclude all the other steps within the process. Without the other pieces of the puzzle in place, the implementation may be a waste of time, energy, and funding because the goals are not met. For example, imagine a school district technology coordinator purchased two digital cameras for each school for classroom use because additional funds became available. A one-hour training after school at the school district main office was immediately offered to any faculty or staff member who was interested in using the cameras once they arrived. Several teachers from each school attended the training. When the cameras were delivered to the schools several months later, they were placed in the media center for safekeeping and easy checkout by faculty and staff. Guess what? One year later the cameras were still sitting on the shelf; only a few of them had been checked out even once or twice. Why were they not being used? At the time of the training, the cameras were not yet available in the schools. No expectations or goals were made evident to participants attending training, so teachers did not have a personal motivation to take the time necessary to integrate this tool into classroom instruction. In addition, principals neither announced the availability of the cameras nor endorsed the cameras to indicate they were of value. With a little planning, collaboration, and time, teachers could have been using the digital cameras to make social studies, science, or math lessons more meaningful. Interestingly enough, no additional funding would have needed to be allocated in order to improve this learning opportunity. This is a simple example of training in isolation. It is not an example of effective training nor is it an example of sustainable professional development. The dollars appeared to be well spent; however, the implementation was ineffective.
