Professional Development- Differences in teachers' attitudes between online and traditional training courses

Egoza Wasserman,Ruth Migdal

doi:10.24059/olj.v23i1.1299

Abstract

The basic need for man to be constantly engaged in learning on the one hand and the technological revolution on the other hand lends itself to an interesting combination of change in the learning process. This change has not overlooked the teachers who have also undergone changes in their professional development at the Pisgah centers. The technology age has brought with it online learning. The purpose of this study is to examine the attitudes of the teachers training in the Pisgah centers in Israel on the differences between online and traditional training courses. This study was conducted using the quantitative method with 495 teachers participating. The study findings indicate four main areas related to teachers' attitudes. Effectiveness and application, environment, course assignments and attitudes towards ICT. Significant differences were found in the environment variable and the ICT variable between online and traditional training in favor of online training. In addition, a multi regression analysis found that the effectiveness of the course can be explained by the variables: environment, course assignments, and ICT.

Highlights

Humans have a basic need to be constantly engaged in learning
In the field of online training, valuable insights can be provided to lecturers by examining attitudes of trainees pertaining to teaching methods, quality of teaching, and coping with information and communication technology (ICT)
The results showed that pre-service teachers’ perceived ease of use had significant effects on perceived usefulness and attitudes to computers

Summary

Introduction

Humans have a basic need to be constantly engaged in learning. The learning process, has undergone interesting changes as a result of the technological revolution, such as the advent of online learning. Technological development has affected the educational system in general and professional development training programs in particular Both traditional (face-to-face) and online training programs have undergone significant changes. Momentum has gained among communities and local groups of teachers who emphasize professional development and view it as a social and interactive process. These groups provide participants with tools for growth and professional development (Desimone, 2011). The courses give them an in-depth understanding of the academic and learning materials They provide teachers with tools and skills to develop their students’ motivation and to present learning materials in an experiential and interesting manner. This has yielded a high success rate of integration, in comparison to situations in which the teacher did not take part in such a training course (Webster-Stratton, 1998)

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