Intel Learn Program Evaluation Findings

Program Description and Objectives

Intel realizes that teaching for the twenty-first century is very different from traditional teaching. Improving teacher training and knowledge is a high priority for nations engaged in educational reform since the quality of instruction is central to improving academic achievement.5 Teachers and students play different roles than in earlier eras. The teacher is no longer the sole font of information, and the student is not a passive recipient. Increasingly, students assume active roles in their education, continually striving to understand the world and to apply what they learn. To meet the demands of these evolving roles, teachers need to expand their skills and refine their pedagogical approaches and students need to be able to access resources. The key to changing what is taught and learned in the classroom is effective professional development that builds teachers’ capacity and that provides them with new resources to share with students. The Intel Teach Program is designed to help bring schools into the twenty-first century by providing teachers and administrators with the skills and resources they need to effect change. Launched in 2000 as Intel® Teach to the Future, the program has trained more than 4 million teachers in over 40 countries. Its customizable set of course components ranges from basic ICT literacy skill training to training on tools that support the development of students’ twenty-first century skills to the training of school administrators on effective ICT implementation. The program is composed of five components: Getting Started, the Essentials Course, Skills for Success, Thinking with Technology, and the Leadership Forum. All five Intel Teach professional development courses directly target improving teachers’ knowledge about effective instructional strategies and the use of ICT.