Conceptualising self-generating online teacher professional development

In 2012, a research project was implemented to investigate the possibility and effectiveness of instituting a personalised and virtually networked mode of professional development to promote teacher confidence and competence with information and communications technology and its use as a key component of teachers’ pedagogy. The aim of the project was to examine an online mode of professional development where a network of teachers was built without any face-to-face contact and where the approach for professional development was personalised and self-directed. Six geographically dispersed schools in Queensland were involved, with 12 teachers participating over the school year supported by a mentor. Findings reveal that teachers operated in an independent manner, acknowledging community but taking from rather than contributing to the generation of co-created knowledge. Implications drawn from the case studies suggest that greater milestone-setting, multiple levels of leadership and special interest groups are required to support interaction between users and content while still maintaining an agile approach.     

Supporting online collaborative design for teacher professional development

ABSTRACT

This article describes a study of online collaborative design in the context of teacher professional development. Twenty-five teachers from different Spanish universities participated in the online course. The aim was to understand how to support teachers in interuniversity teams to collaborate fully online throughout the learning design process of a scenario based on their discipline integrating information and communications technology (ICT), an issue scarcely tackled in the literature. The described interpretive study, using mixed methods, explores the support of online co-design provided by a novel ICT community platform named ILDE (Integrated Learning Design Environment). Lessons drawn from the results can contribute to the improvement of online collaborative design processes in the context of teacher professional development.     

Identifying success in online teacher education and professional development

The rapid pace of technological innovation, along with the global fascination with the Internet, continue to result in a dominating call to integrate Internet technologies into higher education. As this practice has evolved in recent years, the field has learned much. However, pressing questions remain as to how online and hybrid (online and face-to-face) classes may support quality and success in professional development, teacher education, and professional schools' programs. This paper presents case study research that explores the dynamics and experience offered for a professor and learners participating in a hybrid-modeled classroom in teacher education. The conceptual discussion includes potentials and limitations to be considered in further dialogue, development, and research in this area.     

A design framework for online teacher professional development communities

This paper provides a design framework for building online teacher professional development communities for preservice and inservice teachers. The framework is based on a comprehensive literature review on the latest technology and epistemology of online community and teacher professional development, comprising four major design factors and three contextual factors. The design factors include learning goals, communication tools, participant structures, and member responsibilities; the contextual factors are culture, politics, and economics. Finally, the role of universities and implications of the design framework for teacher professional development in the new culture of learning are discussed.     

Improving teacher professional development for online and blended learning: a systematic meta-aggregative review

Educational technology research and development - In order to fully realise the potential of online and blended learning (OBL), teacher professional development (TPD) strategies on how to teach in...     

Mentor teacher professional identity development in a year-long teacher residency

In this article I examined the professional identity development of five mentor teachers in a year-long, clinically rich teacher residency partnered between a university-based teacher education program and schools in a southern state of the United States. Qualitative data were collected through classroom observation and individual semi-structured interviews with a focus on participants’ mentoring activities and the ways they enacted and described their identities. Participants came to new mentoring beliefs and practices as they navigated the residency and developed a multifaceted identity to mediate their learning to become mentors and teacher educators. Implications for mentor teacher professional support, teacher preparation, and future research were discussed.     

An emerging community in online mathematics teacher professional development: an interactional perspective

Online collaborative and content-focused professional development (PD) is becoming an increasingly important setting for supporting mathematics teachers’ professional learning. The purpose of this study was to better understand the process by which a community emerges in such a PD setting by examining how the cohesiveness of 21 mathematics teachers’ social network evolves and associated shifts in the quality of mathematics teachers’ mathematical discourse. We employed social network analysis (SNA) to examine the evolving cohesiveness of mathematics teachers’ social network and coding procedures to examine teachers’ mathematical discourse. A key finding was the documentation of an emergent divide between participation in the core and periphery during initial weeks of the PD and then a reduced divide and emergence of a social network that resembles a community. We argue that the instructor’s pattern of participation that included distributing their interactions across the subgroups while sending a common message regarding expectations for mathematical discourse in the PD may have contributed to the community formation process. We propose the Interaction Assessment Model, which outlines an approach for PD facilitators to use SNA as a feedback mechanism to differentiate facilitation of online collaborative and content-focused PD and build online communities.

     

Informal online communities and networks as a source of teacher professional development: A review

Informal online communities and networks offer teachers the possibility of voluntarily engaging in shared learning, reflecting about teaching practice and receiving emotional support. Bottom-up online communities and networks are an important source of professional development, although research around these social learning structures mainly consists in describing particular cases using a wide diversity of theoretical and methodological approaches. This review analyses the existing theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches, the main characteristics and practices of online communities and networks, as well as their principal repercussions in teacher professional development. A critical analysis of the emergent themes in the revised articles sheds light on eligible perspectives for further research.     

Teacher professional leadership in support of teacher professional development

Counteracting perceptions of teaching as a profession with a flat career trajectory may require professional leadership opportunities for experienced teachers that differ substantively from those typically available. This evaluation study investigated the results of a professional development initiative for subject specialist teachers seconded to a leadership role in their curriculum areas. Interview and survey data supported teacher growth in subject expertise and leadership capacity attributed to the opportunities provided by the new teacher-leadership role. The findings of this study indicate expanded leadership roles may further develop experienced professionals while simultaneously supporting teacher knowledge during a period of embedding educational reform.     

Collaborative inquiry in teacher professional development

This article presents an in-depth case study of a complex community of inquiry. In this community, teachers worked collaboratively to build from situated assessments of students' learning through reading to refine and monitor practices designed to enhance student learning in their subject-area classrooms. In this report, we present evidence to address three questions: (1) What did inquiry look like within this community?; (2) How was collaboration implicated in teachers' inquiry?; and (3) How was engagement in inquiry related to meaningful shifts in teachers' practice and learning? This research contributes by uncovering important links between teacher inquiry, collaboration, and educational change.     

Measuring characteristics of teacher professional development

The primary purpose of the study was to create and psychometrically test an instrument which measured teachers’ perceptions of characteristics of professional development. The sample consisted of elementary teachers from five school districts in Washington State participating in a district improvement initiative. Results of exploratory factor analysis resulted in a five-component solution which provided evidence of construct validity. All components/subscales had moderate to strong internal consistency as measured by Cronbach’s alpha. The secondary purpose was to determine if characteristics of professional development predicted teachers’ use of new knowledge and skills, and student learning outcomes, thus contributing to the predictive validity of the instrument. There was a slight, but significant, correlation between Active Learning in Classroom and teachers’ use of new knowledge and skills, as measured by classroom observation scores. A small negative correlation emerged between Collective Participation and student learning, as measured by student scores on the state’s mathematics assessment. Potential uses of the instrument, called Characteristics of Teacher Professional Development (CTPD), are discussed.     

人工智能助推教师专业发展的若干思考

智能时代的到来加速着教育教学和教师角色的转变。人工智能一方面为教师的专业发展赋能,包括:既提供了反思教学的数据基础,又提供了反思极端个案的条件,为教师增进教学洞察、提高教学能力带来了机会。另一方面,人工智能也对教师的专业发展提出了新的要求,包括:在态度上要掌握教育主导权,不可盲信智能系统的判断;在教学中要善用人工智能技术发现宏观模式和微观细节,采用循证路线反思教学,促进教学元认知的转变。     

浅议物理教师专业发展

《中学教师专业标准》的制定和实施给教师的专业发展提供了新的方向,也向当今的教师展开了新的挑战,物理教师踏上专业发展道路势在必行。教师的专业发展必须具备健全的专业知识、专业技能、专业情意,着重建立全面、完整的物理知识体系,进行创新实验教学,进行角色转换。     

计算机教师专业化发展与思考

计算机教师专业化是教师教育的潮流与趋势。笔者通过对教育专业化与计算机教师专业发展的界定,并对我国的计算机教师专业化发展现状加以分析,从而对我国计算机教师专业化发展进行了进一步的思考。     

Predicting continued use of online teacher professional development and the influence of social presence and sociability

This study examined how a well‐established Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) could predict teachers' intentions to continue using e‐learning for professional development based on perceived ease of use and usefulness. Although studies have shown social interactions are important to teachers, no study has analyzed the mediating influence of social presence and sociability within e‐learning professional development. Therefore, the original TAM was expanded to encompass user perceptions of social presence and sociability. Structural equation modeling was used to measure the mediating affects on their intention to continue using e‐learning for their professional development. The results indicate that the expanded hypothesized model was a good predictor of continuance intention. Perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and social presence were found to be significant determinants of teachers' intent to continue using e‐learning to meet their future professional development needs. The results have implications for educational leaders, designers and facilitators who want to promote teacher online professional development and embed e‐learning conditions that will be readily embraced by classroom teachers.     

Reflective journaling: a tool for teacher professional development

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study explores the introduction of postgraduate education students to reflective journaling as a tool for professional development. Students were purposefully selected to keep a weekly journal in which they reflected in and on the activities (methodologies, techniques, strategies) they engaged in while executing a workplace assignment. Empirical results from the study demonstrate that while the students initially expressed reluctance and resistance to journaling, they subsequently became aware of the benefits of being consciously reflective; both for their own professional development and for the learners they taught. This outcome highlights the role of higher education institutions in the preparation of prospective teachers.     

The role of video in teacher professional development

This literature review focuses on the e-use of video in teacher initial and continuing professional development. There is evidence that video technology used synchronously, and particularly asynchronously, can extend the quantity and quality of classroom observation experience, which in turn supports the development of observation, analysis and reflection in viewers. Theorising on these gains, the authors describe how the linking of theory to practice, the development of pedagogical language and collaborative learning through communities of practice might all be related to video-enhanced teacher education. Claims for gains in codified subject knowledge are less convincing.     

Supporting the professional development of teacher educators in a productive way

This study reports on what 13 teacher educators going through a procedure to become registered as a teacher educator in 2011–2012 learned, what goals they formulated for their further professional development and what activities they planned to achieve these goals. The methods used in this study are mainly the same as were used at the time the first cohort went through the registration procedure in 2002. The 2012 cohort participated in a supportive programme, whereas the 2002 cohort did not. This enables a comparison of the results of both studies and thus some insight into the possible benefits of integrating a registration procedure with a supportive programme for the professional development of teacher educators.     

Research and professional development of teacher educators

Over the last decade teacher educators have started to systematically study the processes involved in their efforts to improve their teacher education practices. This research by teacher educators (self‐study research) has made an enormous contribution to the professional development of the teacher educators involved. Many teacher educators, however, have neither the time nor the knowledge to systematically study their own practices. In the light of this situation, the authors of this article have tried to devise other research strategies to support the professional development of teacher educators. The three studies presented in this article can be described as research with teacher educators. In closing, and based on the reflection on the three studies, five characteristics of productive research with teacher educators are presented.

Au cours des dix dernières années, les formateurs d'enseignants ont commencé à étudier systématiquement les processus impliqués dans les efforts qu'ils déployaient pour perfectionner leurs pratiques de formation d'enseignants. Cette recherche (étude individuelle) effectuée par des formateurs d'enseignants montre qu'elle contribue énormément au perfectionnement professionnel des formateurs. Il convient de signaler toutefois que plusieurs formateurs ne disposent ni du temps ni des connaissances qui leur permettraient d'étudier leurs pratiques professionnelles de manière systématique. C'est dans le cadre de cette situation que les auteurs du présent article se sont efforcés de concevoir d'autres stratégies de recherche pour soutenir le perfectionnement professionnel des formateurs d'enseignants. Les trois études présentées dans l'article peuvent être décrites comme étant des recherches entreprises avec des formateurs d'enseignants. Pour conclure, cinq caractéristiques de recherche productive avec des formateurs sont développées à partir de la réflexion des trois études.

En la última década, los formadores de docentes han empezado a estudiar sistemáticamente los procesos implicados en sus esfuerzos por mejorar las prácticas de formación de docentes. Esta investigación realizada por los propios formadores de docentes (investigación de autoestudio) ha demostrado contribuir enormemente a su desarrollo profesional. Sin embargo, muchos formadores de docentes no disponen de tiempo ni de conocimientos para estudiar sus propias prácticas de forma sistemática. En vista de esta situación, los autores del presente artículo han intentado diseñar otras estrategias de investigación para apoyar el desarrollo profesional de los formadores de docentes. Los tres estudios presentados en este artículo pueden describirse como una investigación con formadores de docentes. Para finalizar, y partiendo de la reflexión sobre estos tres estudios, se presentan cinco características de la investigación productiva con formadores de docentes.

In der letzten Dekade haben die Lehrerausbilder begonnen, systematisch die Prozesse zu erforschen, die zur Verbesserung ihrer Handlungsweise im Lehrerausbildungsbereich erforderlich sind. Diese von Lehrerausbildern durchgeführte Forschung (Selbststudienforschung) leistet einen bedeutenden Beitrag zur beruflichen Entwicklung der betroffenen Lehrerausbilder. Viele Lehrerausbilder haben jedoch weder die Zeit noch die Kenntnisse, ihre eigene Handlungsweise systematisch zu erforschen. In diesem Licht betrachtet haben die Autoren dieses Artikels versucht, andere Forschungsstrategien zu erarbeiten, um die berufliche Entwicklung von Lehrerausbildern zu unterstützen. Die drei in diesem Artikel vorgelegten Studien können als Forschung mit Lehrerausbildern bezeichnet werden. Abschließend und basierend auf der Reflexion über die drei Studien werden fünf charakteristische Merkmale produktiver Forschung mit Lehrerausbildern vorgelegt.     

论高校教师的继续教育与专业化发展

继续教育是促进高校教师专业化发展的有效途径。当前,高校教师继续教育的问题已成为教育改革的重要内容。而解决这些问题,应处理好教师个人发展与学校发展的关系、科研能力与教学能力的关系、校外培训与校内培训的关系。