Maria Knobelsdorf, University of Dortmund, Germany - Didaktik der ...

Thus, training of trainers in PAKE requires negotiation on three
distinct levels:
� Level 1: teachers teach programming to students. Several
research findings point out the difficulties faced by students
when dealing with programming concepts and students’
perceptions when attempting to solve problems [2], [7]. The
concept of teaching scenario was created for the teaching of
programming. A teaching scenario is a detailed description of
a teaching module which can last more than one hour. Apart
from the description of the learning objectives and the lesson
itself, each teaching scenario includes information concerning
classroom organization, the learning theories which the course
is founded on, and when necessary, elements on epistemology.
The teaching scenario attempts to provide a broad and indepth
analysis of the course the teacher has prepared. So, in
this context the teacher must know how to create teaching
scenarios, which means that he/she must have knowledge and
skills related to the Didactics of the specific subject (i.e. of
Informatics): teaching methods, issues associated with
learning and the problems faced by students, assessment
techniques and a wide range of other knowledge and skills.
� Level 2: trainers instructing teachers. Besides the general
principles of adult education, there is no substantial research
on findings specifically on the training of Informatics and
Computer Science teachers. The training scenario - similar to
the teaching scenario- is the central idea of these courses. A
training scenario describes in detail a unit (a piece of
knowledge) which is taught to teachers. As is the case with
the teaching scenario, where a very important element is
students’ misconceptions, a significant part of the training
scenarios makes reference to the basic problems that may
arise in the training of teachers. A characteristic problem is
Greek teachers’ awareness (or lack of) the necessity of such
training. A typical response is: what can 140 training hours of
seminars offer to teachers with 10-15 years of teaching
experience? Teachers also tend to pose specific objections:
why, for instance, they have to be trained in the teaching of
Logo and Logo-like environments (such as Scratch and the
Greek environment Xelonokosmos, the StarLogo and Turtle
Art) – environments, specifically constructed for teaching
purposes (and thus not really helpful)? The program tries to
include all the necessary elements in order to provide
complete training to Informatics/ Computer Science teachers
(CS/ICT teachers) and to provide satisfactory answers to this
kind of questions as well [3].
� Level 3: training trainers (educators at PAKE teach trainers).
Few research data exist in this area – if any. In this case there
is no particular scenario to follow, as is the case with levels 1
& 2 above, as the content and purpose of training trainers is
too broad to fit into a single scenario model. A key element in
the training of trainers was the distinction between levels 1
and 2. For instance, the trainers themselves many times
questioned the need to actually create training seminars. The
training of trainers does not only include preparing them to
deal with new technologies that are known but have not yet
been introduced in education - such as tablets and
smartphones, but also to prepare them for technologies that
are completely unknown. How does one prepare trainers in
technologies that are unknown? Among other things, certain
recent changes in the Computer Science course at school, has
resulted in added obstacles to training. In Greek schools, the
interdisciplinary approach to the various subjects has recently
been introduced along with a ‘projects’ approach (usually
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students working in groups on a specific project topic over the
semester). Even in IT, there is an evident orientation to digital
literacy or computers/information literacy. These changes are
creating a new framework, a new "school ecology" in which
the IT course is a part of. As is perhaps to be expected, these
changes were not immediately accepted by all teachers thus
compounding the task of training [4], [5], [6].
3. DATA
Teachers of CS/ICT followed an intensive program in order to
become trainers of other teachers of CS/ICT. This program lasted
380 hours and almost 60 selected teachers followed the program.
The recording of data related to all levels of teachers’ preparation,
is part of a larger system for recording and evaluating the progress
of the whole project, a project related to the pedagogical and
didactical use of ICT. These data are of course a useful guide for
the further development of the whole project.
Along with this material, we had access to the material trainers
display themselves at various sites - with open access for all. This
material either falls within the framework of their training or not -
for instance, can be personal blogs. Finally, other data, such as
official documents and papers written and presented by the
trainers, were gathered from various sources.
In this paper we refer briefly to some of our findings that emerged
from the qualitative analysis of the data. The data analysis has not
yet completed, but the first important results are already
emerging. The time range, the volume (quantity) and the diversity
of the data, even if they do not guarantee the reliability of our
results, certainly are an important factor of this reliability.
4. SOME FINDINGS
Among the subjects that are taught in the context of trainers’
training for Informatics/Computer Science, programming
occupies a dominant position. Taking into account the fact that
the training focuses on secondary education, it is obvious that the
subjects of Information Technology that are taught, do not cover
the whole field of science. Programming stands out among these
subjects, since it is considered to be more closely connected with
mental processes, such as problem solving, in comparison to other
subjects that occur in sciences. Thus, the value of programming
and algorithm design is often considered to be more general, and
as such, surpasses the boundaries of the school course and has a
more general educational value. Most of the findings mentioned
below refer to programming activities, since in this field the
didactical phenomena we present become clearer.
The transformation of teachers from instructors to trainers of
teachers requires getting familiar with a variety of new theoretical
concepts, as well as acquiring knowledge of various theories
related to the learning and teaching of IT issues. This field is
generally known as Didactics of Informatics. It is obvious that
these theoretical concepts have no value per se, but as tools with
which the teacher can better understand didactical phenomena and
act accordingly. However, these concepts are often related to
views on education and learning, which do not get easily accepted
by teachers. Typical examples of such concepts are the concepts
of constructivism by J. Piaget and the theories of L. Vygotsky.
Modern theories on the organization of a course (such as the
project method or the so-called student-centered teaching) are
based on the socio-constructivism theories. Consequently, these
theories have a great practical usefulness.