Blended Professional Development Research Articles

A Grounded Theory of Indonesian English Teacher Educators’ Professional and Identity Development in a Blended Professional Development Community

This study aims to explore engagement that shows evidence of the professional development of Indonesian English language teacher educators converging in a blended learning community pseudonymously called the PL community. Further, the study seeks to explore how professional identities, which are also part of the professional development of teachers and teacher educators, are negotiated and claimed. The data was collected through (1) participant observation (participation in Facebook discussions), (2) interviews, and (3) documents (e.g., Facebook interactions/dialogs, workshop materials, or published papers). Grounded theory was used to analyze the data and to theorize emerging themes. Here, three layers of coding (open, axial, and selective) were done. Data analysis suggests that, by actively interacting in the PL community, members experience professional development activities, particularly in teaching, research, and publication. How professional identities were negotiated and claimed was also discussed.

Teachers’ understanding of realistic mathematics education through a blended professional development workshop on designing learning trajectory

This study aims to analyse teachers’ understanding of realistic mathematics education (RME) through a blended workshop on designing an RME-based learning trajectory. Data was collected via online pre-test and post-test, involving mathematics teachers of junior high schools in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The tests were accompanied by interviews, chats on WhatsApp groups, and video recording. A descriptive analysis of the various sources of data indicated that the teachers made varying shifts in understanding the principles of RME. The teachers slightly altered their understanding of the intertwinement and level principles. However, their comprehension of the reality principle remained the same; they considered real problems as daily life problems only, even though some teachers had already written the meaning of real problems as problems that students can imagine. They also have already possessed a satisfactory understanding of the activity principle before the workshop. Moreover, nearly half of the teachers showed a good understanding of RME-based learning trajectories. The findings reported that teachers benefited from the blended workshop and obtained knowledge of the RME-based learning trajectory after participation. Finally, the implications for further research were discussed in this paper.

How am I a creative teacher? Beliefs, values, and affect for integrating creativity in the classroom

This study addresses the gap in research on integrating creativity and arts integration in the classroom by describing and testing a blended professional development (PD) model guided by the theory of change that teachers' understanding and beliefs about creativity are foundational to their development as a creative teacher and to their classroom implementation. Using an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, the study demonstrated increased beliefs about teachers' ability to teach for creativity for n = 30 rural K-12 teachers and illustrated teachers’ perceptions of early implementation of creative routines in practice. (Word count: 91).

Design an international blended professional development model for gifted education: An evaluation study

The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate an international professional development program with a blended learning design in gifted education (i.e., The RITHA program), which is applied globally. By using Design-Based Research, the prototype of this program was examined before it was launched. That process is reported in this study. The main research focus of this study is the blended learning design. Based on the evaluation surveys of training participants, the results showed that participants were highly satisfied with their overall learning in the blended learning model. What was appreciated most was a well-designed course with an instructor to provide good instruction, positive interaction, and quality feedback. The findings show that online courses participants expect synchronous and asynchronous online activities and feedback. The two most mentioned benefits of blended learning seem to be flexibility and the use of asynchronous discussion boards. Implications were also reported.

Application of creative learning principles within blended teacher professional development on integration of computer programming education into elementary and middle school classrooms

Purpose While it is particularly important that professional programs help teachers become members of a community of practice, especially in crisis situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a lack of research about strategies to effectively encourage the development of a community of practice and to support teachers’ transformation of their way of teaching. Thus, this paper aims to report on lessons learned from a blended professional development (PD) program for elementary and middle school teachers in Japan focused on computer programming education. In particular, the authors explored how application of the creative learning principles in the blended teacher PD may have helped to nurture a community of practice among teachers in Japan, and how the creative learning principles may be a valuable framework for designing online or blended teacher PD to support teachers’ transition into emergency remote education. Design/methodology/approach This paper reports on the lessons learned from two iterations of blended teacher PD situated within a larger design-based research project on applying creative learning pedagogy in teacher PD. Creative learning is a learning approach focused on engagement in personally meaningful projects by tinkering with materials and learning from peers. A total of 26 teachers and coaches participated, all of whom work in elementary or middle schools across Nagano prefecture in Japan. Participant experiences were evaluated based on a pre-survey and a post-survey conducted before and after the in-person kick-off camp; observation notes taken; a final report submitted by each teacher; a debrief meeting at the end of the program; and semi-structured interviews with three selected participants after the program concluded. For this paper, the authors focus on two participants who fully and actively engaged in the program, and they introduce their stories to highlight the outcomes from the PD. Findings The results highlight how a blended PD designed to support creative learning of teachers provided teachers with opportunities to gain help from other teachers and cultivate their expertise. The results also illustrated that how a community of practice emerged from the PD program, providing teachers with moral support when they tried new lesson designs. This paper offers several recommendations for designing professional learning experiences for instructional designers and professional developers that incorporate remote learning technologies. Originality/value While an increased number of studies have shown the values of online and blended communities of practice for teacher PD, there are still limited insights on different strategies to support teachers in transforming their teaching practices. They generally do not provide teachers with opportunities to continue learning with and from one another beyond the program itself. This study examined the teachers’ experiences in a unique PD that implemented a creative learning approach into a blended learning environment for teachers.

Investigating engagement in a blended learning course

AbstractProponents of a blended course paint an ideal picture of participants leisurely learning and reflecting on how they can apply their new knowledge. The reality is of course much more complex, especially in the lives of working adults. This study sought to understand the complexity better through analysing the experience of 123 participants enrolled in the 9-h in-service blended course. In particular, it investigated participants' engagement by examining their experience as they interacted with elements of the blended environment. The mixed methods approach was employed with quantitative data from the course analytics and responses from the 34 participants who returned the evaluation questionnaire at the end of the course. This was complemented with one-to-one interviews with 10 participants. The findings suggest that designers of blended professional development courses should bear in mind the characteristics of both the learner and the online platform to achieve greater cognitive, behavioural and ...

COMPARISON OF SUPPORT INTERVENTIONS DURING A BLENDED COURSE FOR EDUCATORS FROM URBAN AND RURAL SETTINGS

This research focused on the design and delivery of a blended Professional Development (PD) Program for in-service teacher-educators from both urban and rural settings. The overall purpose of the PD Program was to enhance the educators’ Information Communication Technologies (ICT) skills, with emphasis on eTools for supporting teaching-and-learning methodologies. Two groups of teacher-educators undertook the course. A strong facilitation and support approach was maintained throughout the PD Program to encourage self-directed learning. A case study approach was adopted to explore the experiences in the overall implementation and impact of the program. This article reflects on the findings regarding program design and structure; access to resources; impact time management; design of a support structure for the monitoring and evaluation of the program; and educators as self-directed learners using eTools to enhance teaching-and-learning methodologies.

A Blended Professional Development Program to Help a Teacher Learn to Provide One-to-One Scaffolding

Argumentation is central to instruction centered on socio-scientific issues (Sadler & Donnelly in International Journal of Science Education, 28(12), 1463–1488, 2006. doi:10.1080/09500690600708717). Teachers can play a big role in helping students engage in argumentation and solve authentic scientific problems. To do so, they need to learn one-to-one scaffolding—dynamic support to help students accomplish tasks that they could not complete unaided. This study explores a middle school science teacher’s provision of one-to-one scaffolding during a problem-based learning unit, in which students argued about how to optimize the water quality of their local river. The blended professional development program incorporated three 1.5-h seminars, one 8-h workshop, and 4 weeks of online education activities. Data sources were video of three small groups per period, and what students typed in response to prompts from computer-based argumentation scaffolds. Results indicated that the teacher provided one-to-one scaffolding on a par with inquiry-oriented teachers described in the literature.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF A BLENDED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR MATHEMATICS TEACHERS

The study presents a conceptual framework of a blended professional development program for teacher success in deep learning and enhanced practice. Twenty-nine middle school teachers (22 first year and 7 continuing teachers) participated in a year-long blended professional development program. Effects of the blended PD program were measured by analyzing the content of participants’ virtual interactions, i.e. 1,149 online threaded discussion messages. The continuing teachers were more actively engaged in the Online Community of Practice than the first year teachers. The types of structured assignments and learning time influenced the level of participation but did not make a significant impact on the content of interactions. Most virtual interactions involved the sharing of instructional ideas based on personal experiences. Results showed the changes of participants’ teaching practice toward more student-centered lessons, encouraging students’ (verbal) engagement, using various questioning strategies, and using collaborative group work employing a wider variety of resources.

Enabling connections in postgraduate supervision for an applied eLearning professional development programme

This article describes the practice of postgraduate supervision on a blended professional development programme for academics, and discusses how connectivism has been a useful lens to explore a complex form of instruction. By examining the processes by which supervisors and their students on a two-year part-time masters in Applied eLearning negotiated the blended approach adopted to supervision, it illustrates the conditions that enable connections to occur and flourish. The socio-technical context for supervision was supported using learning technologies (VLE, research wikis and ePortfolios), small group supervision (two to three supervisors and students) and traditional individual supervision. Qualitative data were obtained through surveys and focus groups, and analysed using a framework which drew on connectivist principles. Findings suggest that for increased connections between supervisors and their students, a sense of sanctuary, community and regulation within the supervision process is important; the role of technologies in unifying postgraduate supervision in professional development are discussed.