Study On The Application Of ICT In Supporting Kindergarten Teachers’ Professional Development

The application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in supporting kindergarten teachers’ professional development is not only an important trend of education informationization, but also a meaningful topic with respect to how to promote kindergarten teachers’ professional development effectively. Taking kindergarten-based teaching research as the entry point with action research as main researching paradigms, this study explored the pattern of TCT supporting the sustainable development of kindergarten teachers.Some studies have indicated that ICT has penetrated into various ways in kindergarten teachers’ professional development with vast educational resources, and has built a conversation platform for teachers, experts and peer to support their self-study, education, training, teaching and researching effectively. However, some areas such as "kindergarten teachers’ professional development resources construction", "data collation, mining and utilizing" as well as" researching and using of mobile learning " are still subject to further researching.This study conducted through three stages.Stage One, taking kindergarten-based teaching research as the entry point and based on some theories like adult learning theory, blended learning theory and resource co-establishing and sharing, this study set up a theoretical model for kindergarten teachers to achieve sustainable professional development. This model based on the following assumptions:first, ICT will support teachers’ self-learning and synergistic learning and improve their professional level; second, ICT will support the construction of kindergarten-based educational resources; third, the two supporting ways influence each other and promote each other. On the one hand, with teachers’ rising professional level, educational resources will be richer and richer, and the quality will be higher and higher. On the other hand, non-stop accumulation of resources provides more supports for teachers to study and researching, and promotes teachers’ professional development much further. With such mutual supporting relationship, the support of ICT will be sustainable for teachers’ professional development.Stage Two, on the basis of the foresaid model and taking the kindergarten-based teaching research of "observing and evaluating early Children learn mathematics" as an example, the researcher assess the feasibility and effectiveness of the theoretical model through action research. The study has proved effectiveness in teachers’ professional development. On the one hand, teachers’ ability in observing and evaluating preschool mathematics learning is significantly improved; on the other hand, the attitude of teachers to mathematics teaching has also undergone a significant change. ICT plays an important role in the following aspects:from the kindergarten-based teaching research’s point of view, ICT has optimized the form and improved the effectiveness of kindergarten-based teaching research. From the teachers’professional development’s point of view, ICT has urged the teacher’s self-examination, peer coaching and expert guidance, and improved their ability to use technology to support their own professional development. Meanwhile, there are also deficiencies in ICT’s support, such as low quality of companion online interaction, lack of background resource, low use ratio of learning stories, among which improving the utilization of learning stories is a breakthrough for teachers to further enhance sustainable professional development supported by ICT.Stage Three, based on the theory of data mining, considering "improving the utilization of learning stories" as a breakthrough and establishing technology platforms, the researcher excavate and analyze the critical information in story learning and support teachers’ personalized search and management, which present visual feedback of both children’s learning and teacher’s learning. It was found that from teachers’ point of view, teaching and researching’s point of view, and kindergarten’s management point of view, the platform will play a certain role in supporting the sustainable development of teachers. The study also indicated that the function of data mining and personalized service need to be further strengthened, and the utilization of information and experience in kindergarten-based teaching researching also needs to be improved.In conclusion, this study established that, ICT based on kindergarten-based teaching research, will support professional development of teachers, and it also reveals the conditions for ICT to support teachers’ sustainable professional development. Finally, this study assessed "how to treat the relationship between information technology and kindergarten teachers", "how to look upon the role of information technology that plays in the kindergarten-based teaching researching " and "how to see the effect of data mining in kindergarten teachers’ professional development" and also gave recommendations respectively.