Self-directed Professional Development Research Articles

UNVEILING THE POTENTIAL OF ONLINE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: A SELF-STUDY APPROACH FOR EDUCATOR GROWTH

The digital revolution in education has transformed professional development opportunities for teacher-educators. While a wealth of resources exists for teacher-educators, accessibility remains a significant challenge due to their busy schedules. This study explores the effectiveness of online distance platforms for professional development, specifically emphasizing the self-study of teaching practice (S-STP) approach that provides new perspectives for evaluating my self-motivated and self-directed professional development in obtaining strategies for improving the quality of my teaching practices. This research assesses free online educational webinars, focusing on 10 sessions accessed through the edweb.net platform in February 2024. It presents a detailed examination of the content and structure of these professional development sessions, offering insights into strategies for acquiring and applying new knowledge, skills, and viewpoints shared by professionals in the field. A key component of this study involves maintaining a reflective journal and engaging in active learning reflection through quizzes, program slides, and recorded videos available on the platform. By embracing the S-STP approach, I obtain micro-credentials and gain practical knowledge that can be directly implemented and customized in my daily teaching. The digital landscape providing professional development sessions encourages ongoing professional development and promotes a dynamic exchange of innovative practices within the educational community.

Self-directed professional development used as intervention to enhance teachers’ curriculum as praxis

School teachers must be prepared for ongoing, unpredictable and rapid changes in the world, therefore, they need specialised and general knowledge to be able to think independently and imaginatively. The purpose with this article was thus to report on the effectiveness of a self-directed professional development (SDPD) intervention that guided teachers to enhance their curriculum as praxis, especially for 21st-century education. Self-directed learning (SDL) and the capability approach were used to support teachers, through SDPD, to become the teachers they would want to be or could be in the 21st century, in terms of enhancing their curriculum as praxis. Qualitative research was conducted in South-Africa with Grade 9 teachers. Pre- and post-SDPD interviews were conducted, and the SDPD-intervention continued for 3 to 5 months. The results from our research show that the SDPD-intervention effectively supported the participating teachers to enhance their curriculum as praxis.

Virtual Communities of Practice on LinkedIn: A Study on Self-directed, Work-related Learning

As a career network, LinkedIn offers access to a wide range of job-related information and a low-threshold opportunity for exchange among experts in various fields. The purpose of this study was to find out which LinkedIn functions are particularly useful for self-directed professional development and to what extent users’ motivation to learn is influenced by their virtual community of practice (VCoP) on LinkedIn. Two approaches were taken to answer this question. First, a literature review on four different learning theories was conducted: self-directed learning, situated learning, social learning and connectivism. The learning mechanisms on social media were then put into the context of those four learning theories. Additionally, the specific potential of learning via social media and especially via LinkedIn was considered. Second, a qualitative interview study with LinkedIn users who were categorised as digital learning experts based on their education and/or profession was conducted. According to the results of the study, LinkedIn offers excellent conditions for professional development. Various functions such as consuming others’ posts, writing own posts, comments or private messages and subscribing to hashtags or newsletters support work-related learning processes. The value of the LinkedIn Learning course platform is controversial. The results also show that VCoP activities can influence users’ motivation to learn both positively and negatively. The LinkedIn activities of others can inspire users, but they can also cause social pressure. The results of the interview study represent an addition to the research field of “learning with social media” and can be used as recommendations for dealing with LinkedIn in order to broaden or deepen one’s professional knowledge. This study especially highlights the use of LinkedIn for lifelong learning with the goal of professional development.

Exploring Chinese EFL pre-service teachers’ perceptions of self-directed professional development: The benefits and challenges disclosed

Teaching has long been regarded as a demanding and complicated job, in which teachers play a vital role. To be effective and successful in this profession, they need to constantly engage in professional development programs. However, such programs are mostly externally driven with teachers playing passive roles. Against this pitfall, self-directed professional development (SDPD) has recently captured the attention of educational researchers. Yet, the benefits and challenges of SDPD in pre-service programs are unknown in EFL contexts. To fill this gap, this study used a semi-structured interview with 50 Chinese pre-service teachers regarding their perceptions of this mode of professional development. The findings of thematic analysis obtained by MAXQDA software (v. 2022) revealed that the most frequent benefits of SDPD were being “needs-based” and “self-directed”, which, in turn, produce “flexibility”, “autonomy”, and “professional knowledge development” in teachers. Concerning the challenges in implementing SDPD, “lack of professional interaction/assistance” from external forces and being “labor-intensive” for teachers were posed most frequently by the participants. Despite these complexities, most of the Chinese pre-service teachers (82%) preferred self-directed and self-initiated PD given their potential and effectiveness. The study encourages EFL educators to revisit their perspectives, plans, and strategies regarding professionalism and professional development. FUNDING INFORMATION. This study is a part of a research project on ‘The Training Mode of the Five-Year Bilingual International Talents under the Background of New Liberal Arts Construction’ supported by Nanjing Normal University’s New Liberal Arts Research and Reform Project in 2021.

Awareness of the professional needs of secondary school teachers through self-directed professional development

The importance of teacher professional development has been extensively studied, with researchers agreeing that opportunities for professional development can improve both teacher education and student learning outcomes. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a new approach to professional development, known as self-directed professional development. It focused on the knowledge, participation, and effectiveness of voluntary professional development methods in secondary schools, with a specific emphasis on Almería's secondary school teachers. The study utilized the systematic sampling method to select 194 respondents from the sample group. These respondents were given a Likert scale questionnaire, and the data collected were analyzed using statistical methods such as percentage, mean, standard deviation, and chi-square test. The results showed that even though the secondary school teachers had limited knowledge about self-directed professional development and online resources, they still informally participated in self-directed professional development.

Enhancing EFL Teaching Skills: An Auto-Ethnographic Online Professional Development Journey

Modern technology has altered English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction, opening new options for creativity and greater learning. Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) can update their knowledge of best teaching practices and adapt to new challenges in the field by taking advantage of open, online resources. This auto-ethnographic study serves as a thorough resource for EFL educators, illuminating the procedure of selecting suitable online platforms and learning methodologies to correspond with the needs of the digital age. This study utilizes auto-ethnographic methodologies to examine the cognitive shifts and adaptive strategies involved in integrating conventional teaching practices with cutting-edge technology. Educators of foreign languages interested in self-directed professional development can gain knowledge from this study. Educators are advised to actively participate in self-directed learning pursuits, leveraging an extensive array of online resources. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse surrounding auto-ethnography, online learning, and the pedagogy of teaching English as a foreign language by providing a first-person narrative that is grounded in theoretical frameworks. Ultimately, this highlights the transformative capacity of digital platforms in the context of EFL teaching, as it promotes continuous learning and adaptability among educators.

Self-directed professional development activities: An autoethnography

This article explores my participation in teacher professional development (PD) practices. In a form of an autoethnography, I present an account of my experiences in self-directed PD activities and institution-mandated ones, highlighting benefits of PD activities that were self-initiated. My self-directed PD activities seem to promote ongoing engagements. In this article, I also reflect on how financial costs affected my attitude towards institution-mandated PD. However, in self-directed PD, I invested my time and financial resources. This article also highlights the way self-directed PD activities shaped my worldview, from questioning the legitimacy of qualitative research to celebrating the subjective human experience.

EFL Teachers’ Perception Self-Directed Professional Development Toward Oral Language Maintenance

This case study presents an EFL teacher's perception of self-directed professional development aimed to maintain and enhance her oral language proficiency to support her professional growth. Semi-structured interviews were used as the primary guides to extract information concerning EFL teachers' self-directed professional development (PD) activities associated with the maintenance and enhancement of oral language proficiency. The participant of this study was an EFL teacher who experienced oral language attrition and has motivation to maintain her oral language proficiency. Data were analyzed descriptively to result in EFL teacher perceptions of self-directed PD activities that demonstrates a positive attitude towards improving and maintaining her oral language skills as an integral aspect of her professionalism. The result indicated that self-directed professional development activities had a significant impact on the participants' recognition of the importance of maintaining oral language skills. These activities also emphasized the need to continuously improve and enhance their oral language proficiency, highlighting the benefits it brings to both teaching and learning. One specific example mentioned was the participant's engagement in self-directed PD activities using Netflix series, which proved to be highly beneficial for improving linguistic features. These efforts contribute to her long-life growth as a language teacher, enabling her to provide effective language instruction and create an engaging learning environment for her students. The study highlights the importance of self-directed professional development in supporting EFL teachers' language maintenance and the positive impact it has on their professionalism.

A local two-way partnership for teacher development

Middle school teacher Michael Yell and education professor Geoffrey Scheurman discuss a decades-long partnership of ongoing professional development opportunities that involve teachers, university faculty, and teacher candidates working together to create personalized, meaningful, and sustained initiatives that enhance the growth and skills of all those involved. The resulting professional laboratory includes classroom collaborations, preservice teachers shadowing students, school/university exchanges, and the ability to take advantage of learning opportunities that arise organically. The results are reciprocal, inexpensive, ongoing, administrator-approved, and self-directed professional development experiences any teacher-professor duo can consider as they build their own laboratory.

Fostering "Reflection-On-Practice" Through a Multisource Feedback and Peer Coaching Pilot Program.

Reflective practice involves thinking about one's practice and often involves using data to effect such reflection. Multisource feedback (MSF) involves evaluation by peers, patients, and coworkers. Coaching has been identified as a key aspect of MSF with peer coaching involving two or more colleagues working together to reflect on current practices and share ideas. We introduced a pilot MSF and peer coaching program with a goal to evaluate its effect on fostering reflective practice. Physician participants completed a 360-degree assessment of their practices, followed by peer coaching sessions. Peer coaches were oriented to an evidence-based theory-driven feedback model (R2C2) to support coaching skills development. A mixed-methods evaluation study was undertaken, including pre to post surveys of readiness for self-directed learning, a postevaluation survey of participant satisfaction, and semistructured participant interviews. Thirty four (N = 34) participants completed the 360-degree assessment, and 22 participants took part in two coaching meetings. Respondents reported significant improvement to aspects of their readiness for self-directed learning ( P <.05), including knowing about learning strategies to achieve key learning goals, knowing about resources to support one's own learning, and being able to evaluate one's learning outcomes. Overall, respondents felt empowered to "reflect" on their practices, affirm what they were doing well, and, for some, identify opportunities for further and ongoing professional development. MSF and peer coaching emerged as key elements in enabling reflective practice by facilitating reflection on one's practice and conversations with one's peers to affirm strengths and opportunities for strengthening practice through self-directed professional development.

The relationship between the teaching experience of South African geography teachers and their involvement in self-directed professional development activities

This study explores the relationship between teaching experience of geography teachers and their involvement in self-directed professional development (SDPD) activities to enhance their geography knowledge, skills and attitudes, understanding and development in the geography curriculum areas, as well as teaching and learning practices. A non-experimental survey design was employed in the study. Grade 10 to 12 geography teachers (n = 130) from the Dr Kenneth Kaunda and Bojanala Platinum districts in the North West province in South Africa with different amounts of teaching experience in geography education who attended the scheduled geography meeting with their respective subject advisors, completed a questionnaire on SDPD activities in geography education, developed by the researcher. The analysis of the results did not establish any relationship between geography teachers’ teaching experience and their involvement in SDPD activities. In this study the practical significance was calculated to indicate whether the difference between the geography teachers with different teaching experiences and their involvement in SDPD activities is large enough to have an effect in practice. Medium to small practically significant differences between early-, mid- and late-career geography teachers’ involvement in reading articles and books, watching videos, consulting role-players and experimentation were reported. Interestingly, medium practically significant differences were reported between mid-career and late-career geography teachers in conducting self-directed research in geomorphology, development geography and geographical information systems.

Teachers’ self-directed professional development in under-resourced contexts: How do open educational resources matter?

Teachers’ self-directed professional development in under-resourced contexts: How do open educational resources matter?

SELF-DIRECTED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT APPROACH: A CHALLENGE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN PAKISTAN

The purpose of this article is to investigate the provisions for secondary school teachers' self-directed professional development in Pakistan. Professional growth is vital for all professions, but it is especially crucial in the teaching profession because it directly influences generational change. Continuous professional development is necessary to update teachers’ knowledge and skills, and to enable them to meet new challenges of the changing demands of learners. Self-directed professional development is the way to help instructors improve their expertise and skills in teaching. Adult learning ideas, such as learning according to one's needs and interests, were adopted to self-directed professional development. In situations where resources are scarce, budget allocation for education is lesser than requirement, and number of students are more than ideal self-directed professional development is very much important. While exploring the provision of self-directed professional development in secondary school teachers where it is seen as positive and motivational for other teachers, there are some challenges faced by self-directed teachers. The challenge for secondary school teachers is to perceive their development as a success in professional learning and teaching process that may enhance the quality of their teaching. These challenges must be reported to school administration as well as policymakers to minimize these challenges and set a proper mechanism to consider self-directed professional development as positive and value demanding for a teacher. Keywords: Self-directed professional development, secondary school teachers.

The Role of Teachers' Grit and Motivation in Self-Directed Professional Development.

Through English language teaching (ELT), educator professional development is an interesting and significant subject due to the fact it is in the interest of the educators’ career to make sure that its participants perform consistently with the highest degrees of agreed criteria. Correspondingly, educators mostly state a willingness to enhance their own education that allows them to enhance learners’ knowledge and consistent with the advent of the information-based community, the self-directed learning is vital for the employees. The self-directed professional development (PD) method is considered one option to improve vocational educators’ skills to improve their professionalism, learning development, and school development. Within the learning procedure, self-directed PD has used the rules of learning that are covered within the rules of individual teaching and the mental traits and ideas including motivation and grit that could have a mediating function in this area. Grit is critical within English language educator PD and improving it within educator PD means modeling it as a determinant of the learners’ success. In addition, comprehending motivation is vital for everybody intending to reduce expenses for PD, motivate employees, or be self-directed in their learning about the job. The purpose of the present literature review is to examine the function of such constructs in self-directed PD which is considered a great dimension of educator quality. Briefly, many applications are suggested for the scholastic beneficiaries.

Self-Directed Professional Development Approach: A Challenge for Secondary School Teachers in Pakistan

The purpose of this article is to investigate the provisions for secondary school teachers' self-directed professional development in Pakistan. Professional growth is vital for all professions, but it is especially crucial in the teaching profession because it directly influences generational change. Continuous professional development is necessary to update teachers’ knowledge and skills, and to enable them to meet new challenges of the changing demands of learners. Self-directed professional development is the way to help instructors improve their expertise and skills in teaching. Adult learning ideas, such as learning according to one's needs and interests, were adopted to self-directed professional development. In situations where resources are scarce, budget allocation for education is lesser than requirement, and number of students are more than ideal self-directed professional development is very much important. While exploring the provision of self-directed professional development in secondary school teachers where it is seen as positive and motivational for other teachers, there are some challenges faced by self-directed teachers. The challenge for secondary school teachers is to perceive their development as a success in professional learning and teaching process that may enhance the quality of their teaching. These challenges must be reported to school administration as well as policymakers to minimize these challenges and set a proper mechanism to consider self-directed professional development as positive and value demanding for a teacher.

Self-Directed Professional Development: EFL Teachers' Understanding

Self-directed professional development is the process to develop professionally with the help of self-motivation, self-initiation, and strong willpower. Teacher development through self-direction is the concern these days in Nepal. The study explores the experiences of secondary-level English language teachers in the practice of self-directed professional development strategies within the theoretical framework of adult learning theory, more specifically, a key component of self-directed learning. Based on the telephone interviews with five English teachers teaching English at the secondary level of Dadeldhura district, the practice of the experience of practicing self-directed learning strategies was explored. The study reveals that the teacher teaching in secondary level challenges like large class, less or no effective teacher training, improper use of CAS, and lack of teaching material in the teaching profession. To tackle these challenges, they adopt different strategies themselves. Mainly this study showed that strategies like reading printed materials, use of internet and ICT tools, action research, reflection, and collaboration among teachers are some common among them. These strategies are very often and easy for their professional development. These strategies are adopted for solving mainly everyday problems. Despite being in remote areas of Nepal secondary level English teachers are self-motivated to adopt different strategies for their professional development.

The dance artistry of Diane Alison-Mitchell and Paradigmz: Accounting for professional practice between 1993 and 2003

Diane Alison-Mitchell and the dance artist known as Paradigmz started their careers in the 1990s. They went on to become accomplished dance artists. Between 1993 and 2003 the independent dance sector expanded in terms of activity yet there was very little training in Higher Education for a career as a dance artist in the Dance of the African Diaspora (DAD) as a sector. Furthermore, the administrative debate over the definition of Black Dance at a peak made career definition difficult. Produced through a combination of narrative and critical inquiry, this paper looks at how Diane Alison-Mitchell and Paradigmz developed careers during this period, through on-the-job learning and self-directed professional development projects and engaging with events organised by dance industry professionals. The DAD sector is posited as a community of practice that brings into view ways that the dance practitioners during this time generated discourses to create a context for professional practice. The career journeys of Alison-Mitchell and Paradigmz display how their critical engagement with a range of activities and dance discourses in the UK and abroad enabled them to develop a dance practice with a hybrid but specific identity from a range of dance forms, techniques, modes of dance making and performance.

Mobilising new understandings: an actor-network analysis of learning and change in a self-directed professional development community

ABSTRACT This study joins recent research that explores the phenomenon of teacher learning through complexity and variability . Our paper furthers this line of enquiry by exploring how literacy teacher learning unfolds in self-directed professional development. In particular, we use concepts from actor-network theory (ANT) to help understand the ways two iterations of a teacher book club influenced participants’ learning. The first iteration supported one teacher, Sebastián, in changing from traditional, teacher-centred literature study to more student-driven reading and writing workshop instruction and in taking up critical, asset-based perspectives of students. A second iteration of this group did not support a different, new teacher, Claire, in reframing her practice or perspective in similar ways. While we, as both active participants within the teacher book clubs and researchers interested in teacher learning, were initially confused and disappointed with what appeared to be a failed learning experience for Claire, engaging ANT offered a new angle. Rather than focusing on Claire as an individual, ANT allowed us to trace backwards to see how networks came together, competed, dissolved, overlapped in ways that produced Claire’s teaching practices and perspectives, unsettling individualised and linear conceptions of teacher learning.

A Self-Narrative Study on Self-Directed Professional Development of a High School English Intern Teacher

Teachers are the mainstay of education. Teacher’s self-directed professional development can give full play to the main role of teachers in professional development. In recent years, more and more voices have emphasized the effectiveness of self-directed learning theory for teachers’ professional development, but very little literature has presented the specific process of teachers’ self-directed professional development. This paper uses a self-narrative research method to present the specific process of the author’s year-long self-directed learning, revealing the dilemmas and challenges of teachers’ self-directed learning, as well as the growth trajectory of actively seeking countermeasures to solve real-world problems and thus improve her research capacity. This paper has also put forward the dynamic developmental model of self-directed learning.

Self-Directed Learning: An Effective Way for Teachers’ Professional Development

The traditional model of teacher professional development ignores the individual uniqueness of teachers and requires teachers to develop in the form of external instruction. While self-directed learning, which is characterized by autonomy, flexibility, universality, and development, can give full play to teachers’ initiative in process of their professional development. This paper starts from the status quo of teachers ‘professional development, summarizing the main characteristics of teachers’ self-directed professional development, pointing out the necessity and feasibility of teachers’ self-directed learning, summarizing the main factors affecting the self-directed learning of teachers. In order to effectively improve teachers’ self-directed learning ability, teachers must “want to learn, know how to learn, enjoy learning, and persist in learning” while external support must be “harmonious, diverse, timely, and efficient.”