The Peaks and Valleys of Online Professional Development
Online professional development (PD) fits today's fast changing K-12 educational environment where demands on teachers and re-certification require teachers to continually learn new and challenging content and pedagogy. Online professional development has the benefit of supporting teachers in their daily practice and connecting them with a network of like-minded professionals so that they can learn and share with each other. It affords the opportunity for teachers to take ownership of developing their pedagogical skills and strategies, increasing their use of technology, and deepening their content understanding. Teachers move from the more traditional model of being isolated in their classrooms to one where they collaborate with colleagues. Yet, online professional development adds a whole new layer of complexity. Text-based computer-mediated professional development eliminates most of the sense cues that usually help teachers get to know one another, which in turn builds community and inspires commitment. There is not the immediacy of exchange and chemistry that happens in face to face professional development. Although online discussions provide a way to read, reflect and respond for deeper thinking and learning, it does take time, a commodity that teachers have in short supply. With time so critical and work online done remotely, it is easy for tasks to fall to the bottom of a teacher's queue. To participate in online professional development, a teacher has to be motivated and has to have the discipline to stay involved.
To add to the online complexities, there are the vagaries of unreliable technology. For those still unsure about the computer, figuring out how to connect to the Internet at school or setting up connectivity at home is a challenge. And then there is the teacher's hectic school day which leaves little room for professional development. A typical day includes morning preparation for the day's lessons, teaching students, preparing for the next day, school meetings, meeting with parents, and writing reports. It is not surprising that there are peaks and valleys in participation. Despite these complexities, many districts view online professional development as potentially being an efficient way to deepen teachers' content knowledge and change their practice, which can result in improved student performance.
This paper draws on two online professional development projects to discuss what is valuable about online PD, identify some successes, some problems, and provide tips for those doing online PD. The first project, "MSTelementoring," funded by the National Science Foundation for three years beginning in 1998, was an innovative, online professional development model for K-12 teachers in central New York State's Syracuse and Onondaga-Cortland-Madison Board of Cooperative Educational Services region (OCMBOCES). It provided sustained support for teachers as they worked to change their practice to more inquiry methods in math and science, fostered the integration of the Internet into existing curriculum, and provided an online mentoring group for sharing and learning. The second project, Mathemagica, started in 2000, is a five-year mathematics initiative funded by the Department of Education that uses rich multimedia content and mathematical investigations to improve instruction in mathematics. Mathemagica addresses the national need for improvement in student achievement in mathematics through systematic professional development for teachers.
Teachers in these projects were either selected by their administrator or joined voluntarily. Holding teachers' interest was a critical element, much more so than if these programs had been online graduate courses where participants paid a fee and were rewarded with credits.
Being Part of a Professional Community
"E-Learning should be first and foremost about creating a social space that must be managed for the teaching and learning needs of the particular group of people inhabiting that space."
—Kathleen Gilroy, "Collaborative E-Learning: the Right Approach" The Otter Group
The key to successful online learning is what Gilroy calls the "social space" or "community of practice" (CoP)—an environment where teachers generate ideas and build knowledge and expertise through collaboration. Online communities go beyond superficial exchanges to create a space where teachers share and benefit from each other's expertise, jointly committed to developing better practices" [Schlager , M., Fusco, J., Schank, P. SRI ; Brown, John Seely, Duguid, Paul, 1991; Sharp, J. 1997 http://www.tfriend.com/cop-lit.htm].
An online learning environment works most effectively to facilitate the examination of issues from multiple perspectives. Teachers can take time to read, reflect, and respond. This gives a participant a sense of security to say what s/he really means. The combination of a certain anonymity coupled with a sense of connectedness allows teachers to open up and take risks to express their thoughts, even in areas they are just learning. The environment motivates teachers to think rather than to take a fixed position—divergence rather than convergence (Zuboff, 1984).
When I have a problem or need an idea, the online community helps me. I like reading other posts to know what others are thinking and doing, and I relate their philosophies/ideas to mine.—MSTelementoring teacher
Members in MSTelementoring facilitated each other's growth toward more constructivist practices and beliefs. As a result teachers gained confidence in their abilities, felt empowered, and took on more professional and leadership roles in their school communities.
"Some of the discussions really got me to thinking about my teaching and caused me to change some of the things I do. Also some of the "conversations" validated that I was doing some neat and worth while things in my classes." —MSTelementoring teacher
"The process has extended my classroom allowing me to have professional dialogue with other teachers…Online discussion allowed me, and in many cases forced me, to rethink how I teach and what I teach."
—MSTelementoring teacher
Value
Research has found that PD is most successful when it is done in context, e.g., embedded in developing and evaluating curricula, instructional activities and student assessment. It provides teachers with a rich learning experience where they engage the content through inquiry, one that continues over time, extends into their classroom AND provides the opportunity to be part of an ongoing professional community. More traditional models of professional development differ in the dimensions of time—e.g., a weeklong workshop; place—e.g., at an off-site location outside the school context. In both MSTelementoring and Mathemagica teachers were immersed in inquiry experiences while continuing their daily teaching.
The benefits cited by teachers regarding their online experiences include increased understanding of content areas, access to experts and information resources, support for new ideas and teaching methods, increased confidence in their own abilities, [ Millen, D. R., Fontaine, M. A., Muller, M. J., 2002] collaboration and support to try innovations in the classroom, and membership in a community of like-minded colleagues in an atmosphere of trust and openness. Among those benefits, the teachers identified those that relate to the social context of learning as the most valuable— "sharing information and knowledge" was sited as the most useful aspect of the online. More than half indicated that the support they received from other teachers through online communication was very important to them [Evaluation report—PERG Lesley University 2001].
I like knowing that there are many of us from various districts going through the same hurdles/frustrations as me.—MSTelementoring teacher
Teachers have found that the openness of the threaded discussion makes them comfortable about discussing concerns that have "bogged them down in their classrooms."
I enjoy going into the discussion areas to share accomplishments I have had with classes and to get suggestions when thing didn't go so well. Being the only teacher in my district involved in this project makes the online connection vital for me to feel involved.
Most participants characterized the discussion forum as a good format to ask questions and respond to each other, allowing for interaction among a broad range of participants and the ability to draw upon resources of others in the group. One teacher in the Mathemagica project stated that reading others' mathematical explanations made him realize for the first time that there were "multiple thinking approaches" to doing any math problem.
With communication having a degree of remoteness, teachers have a sense of anonymity, which makes some hesitant teachers more comfortable in expressing their struggles. This is called the "strength of weak ties" [Lave, J. and Wenger, E., 1984]. An example happened with a group of teachers in a rural, central NY district. Low scores on the state math tests galvanized their district to radically change the math curriculum. At the start of the school year, a group of elementary teachers had to cope with adopting their new inquiry-based math curriculum with little previous training. They willingly shared their difficulties with each other and responded with their suggestions and solutions.
One teacher felt comfortable expressing this concern:
"The thing that I find very difficult sometimes is how to ask the questions the "right" way to get the most out of [students] or to be clear. I am trying to make my questioning techniques more effective and like the suggestion [from my online colleagues] of writing them down for reference."
