Source: Journal of Technology and Teacher Education. Vol. 18, Iss. 1; pg. 83. (January 2010).
This article describes a blended in-service arrangement which was designed to support Russian science teachers from rural schools in the integration of technology.
Blended learning combines multiple delivery modes that are designed to complement each other and promote learning and application-based behavior.
The blended in-service arrangement consisted of two main components:
1. a teacher network with workshops, classroom observation and on-line collaboration and
2. exemplary curriculum materials.
In the arrangement a train-the-trainers approach was applied: expert-teachers were prepared to support science teachers in technology integration.
During the implementation phase the science teachers were given feedback by expert-teachers and fellow teachers through online collaboration.
Quantitative and qualitative data were collected to determine the impact of the blended approach on science teacher learning, classroom impact and student affective outcomes.
The results of the study indicate that the blended in-service arrangement as developed in this study was a promising approach in supporting Russian rural school teachers with the integration of technology.