Teacher training in ict-based learning settings: design and implementation of an on-line instructional model for English language teachers

The XXIst century confronts its citizenship with new choices, opportunities and challenges due to the ubiquitous presence of technology into all spheres of life: business and administration, government, education… The profound shifts undergone in the academic field must be viewed by thoughts on the new possibilities that new technologies involve. Traditional teaching and learning paradigms have been shaken by the impact of the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT from now on) into educational practices at the time that teachers and trainers are confronted by challenges which range from the acquisition of skill and literacy in the usage of IT to the delivery of the necessary tools which will lead students to become knowledge creators and users. Thus, deeply immersed in the Society of Knowledge, a society based upon a critical, rational and reflexive use of global and distributed information (Gisbert, 2003:252) in which the most outstanding communication means are telematic networks, one of the greatest challenges to be overcome on our way to the XXIst century is to enable teachers and students to achieve competency and mastery on the use of technology instead of letting them be enslaved by it.