This is one of my favourite video clips to share with people as they begin to explore using ICTs for learning and teaching Languages (and people who’ve been exploring for a while, too!).

One of the messages it really drives home for me is the importance of having a variety of accessible professional learning opportunities available to teachers… and having them know about them. At the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Association (AFMLTA) Conference last year, I gave a presentation on my work in progress and what I had discovered from two case study sites. I didn’t offer an analysis of the issues, rather I literally let the data speak for themselves, the data being my research participants. One issue that came across quite strongly was that they felt inadequately supported in developing their ICT skills. The Department of Education WA does actually offer a great deal of professional learning opportunities in the area of ICT and other facets of teachers’ work, especially to schools in the LwICT and SLwICT Projects. Teachers can also apply to attend external courses, conferences, and seminars etc. that they hear about. However, these opportunities are often general in nature, or unknown to the Language teacher who may be working across multiple sites and who is often independent, without a Head of Learning Area or departmental team. The flow of communication about professional learning opportunities just may not reach Language teachers if they are not proactive in seeking this information out.

So back to the video clip. Why is it particularly relevant to what I have discovered during my research? One of the strategies in place for teacher ICT skill development is through the Department’s portal. There are a variety of online courses available to all teachers, covering many topics and relate back to pedagogical skills and knowledge. It’s a fair offering. But, just like in the clip above, you need to have the ICT skills to be able to access those resources in the first place. And the time. None of my participants had been able to do so.

There simply need to be more (tailored) opportunities for Language teachers’ needs with time provided to engage in the learning. And it needs to be accessible. There is so much potential for learning and teaching languages with ICTs and the field of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is well established. It is a shame that it has not really been engaged with by most of the teachers involved in my study and, through them, their learners. This is something that needs to change.