Exploring professional development needs of digital immigrant and digital native teachers for the successful integration of technology in a Jewish elementary education setting

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20005047

Today's teachers are tasked with the integration of technology in their curriculum and their classrooms. In order to do that, teachers require professional development/training and support. Further, schools are encountering a unique landscape of teaching with digital natives becoming teachers alongside digital immigrants. This study aimed to discover whether the professional development needs of digital immigrant and digital native teachers differ in order to successfully integrate technology in a Jewish elementary education setting. Additionally, the research explored what models of professional development those teachers report as most beneficial and/or successful for their abilities to integrate technology in an elementary education setting. This qualitative case study used Activity Theory and Concern Based Adoption Model (CBAM) as the theoretical framework to guide the research. Participants were from two independent schools in the southern United States. Both schools were Jewish elementary schools in similarly sized Jewish communities, with approximately equal resources (both educational and Jewish) with ongoing technology integration initiatives in place. Findings of the research study concluded that both digital immigrant and digital native teachers require professional development that addresses pedagogical change to inform curricular impact. Despite the greater comfort with technology as a whole, digital natives still require training for pedagogical change in order to integrate technology effectively into the curriculum. Models of professional development most favorably reported were those of on-site designated specialists and peer sharing and collaboration. Notable characteristics of successful professional development (as reported by teacher participants) included professional development training and support being held one on one and on an ongoing basis.