Esera09 Poster V2

CONSIDERATIONS FOR DESIGNING ONLINE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES TO SUPPORT SYSTEMIC REFORM OF SCIENCE EDUCATION - Stephen Best, University of Michigan (more info at http://mmstlc.net)

Content of PD: • Content Knowledge • Pedagogical Content Knowledge • Fostering meaning making for students • Contextualization, etc.

Strategies of PD: • Demonstration • Scientific Investigation and Experimentation • Examine student work • Examine teacher practice • Create curriculum

Media of PD: • Print format (PDF) • Video (live or recorded) • Audio • Discussion (text)

Sites for PD: • Face-to-face workshop or graduate course • Online CMS (Moodle) • Web site / blog / podcast

Teacher Knowledge / Beliefs / Attitudes

Evidence of Student Performance Curriculum and Resources

The curriculum expectations, as well as instructional resources and facilities of teachers influences what one can design and the context that frames PD.

Time • Participant schedules • Time required to complete • Time of day of PD

Access • Access to technology • Access to participants through other means

Policy and Need

Familiarity

• Teacher license needs • Perceived student needs • School policies

The following are some examples of activities using online PD as a learning resource and strategy. These are online samples from a much broader range of possible tools and activities.

Underlying goal for PD design and implementation.

• For people, comfort in sharing and discussion • Comfort with tools/tech

Hid did you deal with the reading? Here is an example of the kinds of activity I was thinking of So, did you use this with your students yet?

Video

Online text

Discussion

Chat

Demonstrate a concept, learning activity for the classroom, or setup of an experiment

Readings and case studies with hyperlinks can support content knowledge and pedagogy.

Threads may center around participant questions or samples of teacher/student work

Synchronous conversation with peer groups or content experts provides immediate feedback

Cognitive Change Mechanisms Intelligibility - teacher can make sense of the activity and learning intended from it These are all based on cognitive and emotional functions of the teacher.

Feasibility - teacher believes the innovation or content is feasible to employ in their instruction

Research on these elements comes from analysis of teacher feedback to online tasks, interviews, surveys.

Fruitfulness - teacher believes the learning and associated classroom instruction will improve student knowledge and/or motivation or other positive outcomes

Cultural Change Mechanisms Support for Risk Taking teacher has social support to use the knowledge or innovation in instruction (can be through online social networking as well as in school) Culture and Norms - extrinsic factors that can influence the teacher in implementing the innovation or using the knowledge and skills gained through PD.

Classroom Instruction

PD Design elements are shaped by a number of contextual factors for both the leader and participating teachers, including the following:

PD Activities / Online Resources

The Context Filter

PD Design Elements

ESERA 2009 - Istanbul

The goal of any PD is to influence classroom instruction in some way, whether through teacher strategies, content covered, or resources used. To use this in online PD, feedback needs to come from artifacts of instruction. Artifacts of Classroom Instruction: • Video recording of teaching • Samples of student work • Reflections from the teacher • Sample lessons or plans

Online Professional Development Design Considerations: Design of PD is based on a model for teacher learning (such as the model shown above) which incorporates a feedback loop.

Online components of a program of PD need to be incorporated directly with teachers, and cannot rely upon self-motivation to use.

Separate public resources available to all teachers from those designed by or submitted from a community of teachers.

The online tools need to provide a reason for teachers to come back to use them, and need to provide timely support.

Don't try adapting online tools that do not have a learning focus , or try using too many tools to serve different functions. Use a core set of tools often.