TEACHER EDUCATION FROM E-LEARNER TO E-TEACHER: MASTER CURRICULUM
ABSTRACT
E-learning and e-teaching systems are involved in teachers’ professional activities and development in several ways: (a) If e-learning/e-teaching is the technology which supports the process of teachers’ learning of university courses, the teacher is in the position of e-learner; (b) If e-learning/e-teaching is the content of the teachers’ university curricula in order to be applied in the teaching process, the teacher switches from the position of e-learner to the one of e-teacher in blended or total e-learning systems.
Systematic formal teacher education concerning e-learning/e-teaching implementation, and the structure of teachers’ ICT competencies and e-competencies, as well as the reasonss for their occurance, are considered in the paper.
The Master curriculum of e-learning and an example of the programme realization are presented. The university curriculum of e-learning at Kragujevac University - Technical Faculty in Čačak (Serbia) was developed as a part of the international project (TEMPUS JEP-41016-2006). The curriculum focuses on the development of different e-roles for teachers and e-teachers: e-creator, e-designer, e-facilitator, e-tutor, e-moderator, etc.
This master programme is a part of teacher in-service formal education for primary and secondary school teachers. In addition, the curriculum is adaptable to teachers’ pre-service education. However, it is more effective as a part of in-service education than as a part of pre-service undergraduate education, because the active teachers recognize their professional roles better than prospective teachers.