IT language teachers profile

As I am investigating language teachers' use of technology in Thai tertiary context, I read about what are characteristics of model IT teachers. Following are excerpts and summaries from previous literature.

1) Becker (1994) classified exemplary technology users based on standards that "suggest a classroom environment in which computers were both prominent in the experience of students and employed in order that students grow intellectually and not merely develop isolated skills" (p.294). In general, low-level technology uses tend to be associated with teacher-centred practices while high-levels uses tend to be associated with student-centered, or constructivist, practices (Becker, 1994; Becker & Riel, 1999)

Further reading:

Becker, H. J. (1994). How exemplary computer-using teachers differ from other teachers:
Implications for realizing the potential of computers in schools. Journal of Research on
Computing in Education, 26, 291-321.

Becker, H. J. (2000). Findings from the teaching, learning, and computing survey: Is Larry
Cuban right? [PDF file]. Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations.
Retrieved from http://www.crito.uci.edu/tlc

Becker, H. J., & Riel, M. M. (1999). Teacher professionalism, school work culture and the
emergence of constructivist-compatible pedagogies [PDF file]. Center for Research on
Information Technology and Organizations. Retrieved from
http://www.crito.uci.edu/tlc.


2) The Diffusion of Innovation (P.123)
Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York: Free Press.

Rogers (1993) notes that individuals with particular psychological profiles tend to display specific adoption behaviours. For example, individuals who adopt early tend to travel widely and are usually well-educated and upwardly mobile; they tend to seek out and be open to new ideas and they tend to have a high degree of exposure to mass media. Their contacts with other people are often extensive, and they are usually able to display diametrically opposite characteristics which the people in between exhibit intermediary traits.

So when I observed my participants' characteristics. I try to intrepret their behaviours and expression in order to justify them according to the notions from the literature above.