Evaluation of Teacher Professional Development Program—A Developmental Evaluation Approach

Abstract

The professional development of teachers is the main mechanism for improving classroom teaching and improving students’ learning outcomes. To have secondary school teachers improve their teaching by using the new teaching approach of project-based learning, this study engaged teachers to participate in Teachers’ Project-Based Learning Program (T-PjBLP) to learn new knowledge, pedagogy, and skills. During the program implementation, the study applied a developmental evaluation (DE) approach to evaluate teachers’ professional development and to assist them to develop an initiative program for students. In the DE approach, the role of the researcher was as a team member, shaped the course of development to help participants learn, and tracked the professional development process and results through a digital technology platform. The participants in this study consisted of 7 science teachers coming from two secondary schools. The major findings indicated that more than 95% of participants agreed that digital technology was a wonderful platform to provide them with an opportunity to share ideas, feedback, and experiences about what they learned from the program. Also, most of them provided positive feedback about their learning. To conclude, the program effectively changed teachers teaching beliefs from the teacher-centered approach to the learner-centered approach and used what they learned from the program to develop an initiative program for students. However, some limitations encountered in applying the DE approach to evaluate the program also were discussed in this study.