Learner Interaction And Self Regulation In Web Based Professional Development

Abstract

Web-based courses are becoming increasingly popular as a means of providing professional development opportunities for technology educators. Some of the advantages of web-based courses include the ability for learners to learn at their own pace, to access information anytime and anywhere, and to communicate easily with instructors and peers. While web-based courses continue to gain acceptance as a viable alternative to traditional face-to-face professional development workshops, more research is needed to explain why some individuals perform better than others with regard to learning outcomes in online learning environments. The current body of literature suggests that learner interaction (i.e., learner-to-learner, learner-to-instructor, learner-to-content) is critical for successful learning outcomes in web-based courses. Researchers have also shown that self-regulation, a metacognitive process, is positively linked to learning outcomes in web-based courses. A gap in the research exists, however, that explains how individuals’ self-regulation relates to learner interaction in online learning environments and how it contributes to successful individual learning outcomes. In this paper, we present the initial results of an ongoing study in which we examine the relationships among learner interaction, self-regulation and learning outcomes in an online teacher/faculty professional development program for technology educators. Participants in the study include 12 high school teachers and 11 community college faculty from five geographic regions across the US participating in Project Photon2, a National Science Foundation Advanced Technology Education (NSF-ATE) project aimed at increasing the number of educators across the US prepared to teach photonics technology. Background Currently 85% of all universities and colleges in the United States offer distance education courses, an increase from 62% in 1998 1 . According to the National Center for Education Statistics 2 , enrollment in online instruction courses has more than doubled, from approximately 1,364,000 in 1998 to over 2,870,000 in 2001. One of the fastest growing forms of distance learning is online instruction. Online instruction makes education and training more accessible and more individualized, and provides more educational opportunities than traditional face-to