by on Teachers’ Readiness to Adopt and Adapt Digital Content — TRAAC
Project Tomorrow has recently completed a National Science Foundation funded study on teachers’ readiness to adopt and adapt digital content for classroom use. The primary goal of the research study (called Teachers’ Readiness to Adopt and Adapt Digital Content — TRAAC) was to develop a rubric by which teachers could assess their “digital readiness” along a spectrum ranging from novice to expert level. Using pre-existing theoretical frameworks and other adoption methodologies, the Project Tomorrow team developed and tested two new tools for school usage: a user-friendly self-assessment tool for teachers and a Digital Readiness Spectrum that described classroom usage along a continuum of integration and sophistication. The primary project sites for the three-year research on the efficacy of the tools was four middle schools in Onslow County, North Carolina. Additionally, approximately 3,000 additional teachers have completed the assessment tool. A key component of the TRAAC study was the understanding that teachers’ readiness to use digital content did not follow a “one size fits all” formula. In fact, across the study group of middle school math and science teachers in Onslow County, we encountered a broad range of readiness within the teaching staff. This is not atypical in most schools today. However, too often, schools do not approach teacher professional development from an individualized or personalized
perspective. Rather, teacher PD is quite often still a “one size fits all” for an entire staff. Therefore in understanding how to help teachers develop greater capacity for using digital content and other digital tools, we also needed to explore how various PD methodologies and approaches addressed teachers at various points along the Digital Readiness Spectrum.
