Four critical issues of applying educational technology standards to professional development of mathematics teachers

Abstract

To have students adequately prepared for adult citizenship, computer-based technology is to be routinely used at schools and universities. To achieve this end, new approaches to teacher education are to be developed and utilized, which should be based on some suitable educational technology (ET) standards. As computers are, in general, rarely used in mathematics classrooms, such an ET-based approach, enabling these standards to be eventually widely applied, requires several issues to be kept in mind and dealt with in an adequate way. The most important among these issues are probably the following four dealing with basic indicators of ET standards, computer attitudes, software selection and a proper utilization direction, and Web-based professional development of mathematics teachers. This paper examines these four issues, offering practical solutions that may be used in the design and utilization of an ET-based professional development for mathematics teachers.