Digital courseware meets professional learning community: blended learning to improve the teaching of early literacy in a developing country

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article reports on a study of a teacher professional development (TPD) course that combined digital courseware with a face-to-face professional learning community. The aim of the course, implemented in a developing country, was to improve teacher knowledge and practice in early childhood literacy and numeracy. Using interview and questionnaire data, this article focuses on teachers’ views on the literacy modules of the course; that is, their views on the impact of the course on their learning and teaching and the design features of the blended course. The findings highlight that the blended course was successful overall despite a number of challenges associated with contextual conditions in a developing country. Themes related to teacher knowledge, views and practices, positive features of the course design and limitations of the course design. The findings have implications for future development, delivery and evaluation of blended learning courses for teacher professional development in developing countries.