Role of Educational Technology in Distance Teacher Training Programme

Educational technology is the development, application and evaluation of systems, techniques and aids to improve the process of human learning. In almost all the important activities engaged in the name of teaching, training or instructions the possibility of using educational technology has been explored and is being explored, even today. Educational technology is a matter of making education more meaningful or a question of improving its quality or even the issue of making it accessible to more children. One thing that always prominently matters is the teacher, the quality of his preparation and his maintenance as a professional. His/her performance is the most crucial input in the field of education. So their training with special linkage with technology is one of the most essential needs. The use of educational technology is an innovative practice, which needs to be adopted by every teacher. The present study was undertaken with a view to evaluate the quality of educational technology used in teacher training, to specify the advantages of educational technology in teacher training and to identify the problems in the use of educational technology in teacher training. To achieve the desire end, data was collected from 200 student teachers/prospective teachers enrolled in B.Ed course of Allama Iqbal Open University in the semester spring 2006 from Multan region through a thirty one items questionnaire on likert scale. The study reports that use of educational technology does not get its due status in the Pakistani settings. The major findings are the course does not include all the essential components of educational technology, attitude towards usefulness of educational technology is not positive, teacher training programme is not supported by the use of mass media, the teacher training programme is not supported by models and display cards, teacher training programme is not supported by use of computers, teacher training programme is not supported by micro teaching. Besides it very interesting findings were found. It is recommended that computer must be provided during training, Internet facilities should be provided during training session and teacher training programme can be improved by the effective use of educational technology.