Online Professional Development: What Have We Learned From Research and Practice

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Online Professional Development What Have We
Learned From Research and Practice?

• Glenn Kleiman
• Education Development Center, Inc (EDC) Center
  for Online Professional Education (COPE)and
• Harvard Graduate School of Education

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Key Questions

• What do we mean by online professional
  development (OPD)?
• Can OPD be effective?
• Whats required to create an effective OPD
  program?
• How might OPD advance in the near future?
• What are the main lessons about OPD we have
  learned so far?

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Our Knowledge Base

• Innovative programs reflective practitioners
• Survey research
• Discourse and interaction analyses
• Quasi-experimental comparisons
• Experimental comparisons
• Historical analyses of the adaption of innovations

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EDCs Work

• Capacity Building Programs EdTech Leaders
  Online
• Professional development programs SETDA,
  Milwaukee, Maine
• Technical assistance NEIRTEC, NSF Math Science
  Partnerships
• Online course development PBS TeacherLine
• SREB Multi-State OPD Collaborative (MOPD)
• Research NSF-funded Optimizing OPD project

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What is Online Professional Development?

• Learning and communicating at a distance
• Anytime, anyplace components
• Use of information and communication technologies
• Goal is to improve professional knowledge and
  practice

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Online Communications A Historical Change

• Instant yet permanent
• Not limited by time and space
• Rich, multimedia information
• Broadcast and/or interactive
• Allows for individual, community, or mass
  communications
• Brings a new economics to communication

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Balancing Cynicism and Seduction

• This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be
  seriously considered as a means of communication.
  (Western Union internal memo, 1876.)
• There is no reason anyone would want a computer
  in their home. (Ken Olson, president, chairman
  and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation,
  1977.)
• I believe that the motion picture is destined to
  revolutionize our educational system and that in
  a few years it will supplant largely, if not
  entirely, the use of textbooks. (Thomas A.
  Edison, 1922.)
• New media do not make old media obsolete they
  assign them other places in the system.

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Flavors of Online Prof Development

• Broadcast vs. interactive
• Academic vs. job-embedded
• Synchronous vs. asynchronous
• IP-based vs. other technologies
• Self-paced vs. cohort of learners
• Fully online vs. hybrid
• Instructor focused vs. learning community
• Technology, content, or pedagogy focused

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Can Online Professional Development be Effective?
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Yes
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Effective Professional Development

• Focuses on improving classroom practices and
  increasing student learning
• Fosters both subject matter knowledge and
  understanding of learning processes
• Engages teachers in their own development
• Provides time for inquiry, reflection, and
  discussion
• Involves collaboration and mentoring
• Is integrated into teachers daily work
• Provides for ongoing learning

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OPD in Louisiana

• In 1999, EDC began working with America 2000
  Technology Innovation program in 5 rural parishes
• Dept of Ed started to explore OPD in Spring 2000
• In 2001, 50 staff trained in EdTech Leaders
  Online Program
• 2001-2002 Over 50 online courses offered across
  state
• Licenses Blackboard elearning system

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OPD in Louisiana is Now Used in

• LEADTech Gates-funded program
• Principal Internship program
• FIRSTTech teacher induction, retention, support
  program
• Universal Design for Learning Initiative
• School district programs throughout the state
• State-wide Effective Instructional Technology
  program
• Louisiana Technical Colleges faculty development

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Sheila Talamo

• Online learning provides an added dimension and
  added value to a good PD program
• Online learning provides opportunities for
  learning that would not otherwise be available to
  the individuals involved
• Online learning has the potential to strengthen
  and renew ongoing programs
• Online learning does not replace face-to-face PD

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Tennessee

• Participated in SREB Multi-State OPD
  collaborative program offered with EDC
• Jerry Bates This experience moved the
  participants from being cynics about OPD to
  seeing it as a viable option to include in state
  and district programs
• Using Title IID grant money to encourage
  districts to use OPD

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Milwaukee

• Working with EDC to develop a large scale OPD
  program
• First round 25 facilitators trained, ran 25
  online workshops
• 65 online facilitators now trained
• Graduate credit arrangement with local University
• Designing own OPD courses using Desire2Learn
  elearning system
• OPD has had a substantial impact on the overall
  professional development program in the Milwaukee
  Public Schools

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Florida

• OPD as core component of their Reading First
  Teacher Quality program
• Six months to develop content for graduate level
  developmental reading course, using WebCT
• Jan, 2003 launch with 3,400 teachers taking
  course
• Plans to offer to total of 43,000 teachers

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What Does the Research Say?
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EDC Survey Data

• Sample of 120 participants
• Louisiana, Los Angeles, Massachusetts, and Maine
• Pre-K to 12 teachers represented
• 92 benefited from and enjoyed learning online
  and would be interested in taking another online
  course
• 91 increased their sharing of info with
  colleagues
• 82 increased knowledge of content
• 66 implemented classroom project based on course
• 70 report increased use of technology in the
  classroom

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Studies Comparing OPD and Classroom Learning

• Most frequent finding in college courses No
  significant difference in student learning
  (Russell, 1999)
• But depends on many factors

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An Introduction to Shakespeare Course (Corey,
2003)

• Consistently better learning outcomes online
• Due to increased textual communications that
  reinforces skills relevant to a literature
  course.
• Course design and interactions more important
  than online or f2f delivery

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TERC Science PD Study

• Inquiry based science PD course
• Delivered online and f2f
• Both groups used science inquiry skills
• Online students averaged 7.5 hours per week, f2f
  5.5
• Instructors spent 16 more time in online course
• Online students showed greater
• reflection on learning and science inquiry
• increase in understanding of the inquiry process
• increase in confidence in teaching inquiry
  methods
• classroom use of inquiry methods

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Discourse and Interaction Analyses

• Teaching presence online
• Student instructions participation in discourse
• Depth of threading
• Brainstorming vs. reflective discussions
• Facilitating discussions

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Whats Required to Create a Successful OPD
Program?

• MOPD Toolkit will Address
• Planning
• Course development
• Preparing online instructors
• Technology infrastructure
• Program administration
• Participant incentives
• Policies
• Evaluation
• Etc.

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How Might OPD Advance in the Future?

• Voice based communication capabilities
• Higher bandwidth video conferencing, more use
  of multimedia
• Improved collaborative work tools
• Better understanding of effective design and
  facilitation

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What are the Main Lessons We Have Learned about
Online Professional Development So Far?
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OPD Can Be Effective

• OPD can be a valuable addition to a PD program
• OPD can incorporate the principles of effective
  PD
• Collegial relationships learning communities
  can be formed successfully online
• OPD can encourage engaged and reflective
  discussions
• OPD enhances, but doesnt replace coaching,
  mentoring, hands-on workshops, study groups, etc.

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On the Other Hand

• OPD can be effective for many purposes and many
  people, but not all
• Some people are not comfortable with
  asynchronous, text-based communication
• OPD workshops need to be designed and structured
  differently than face-to-face workshops
• Time intensive for instructors
• Maintaining engagement can be a challenge
• Best when integrated with other PD methods
• You cannot assume that if you build it they will
  come

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The Main Message The 4 Cs

• Successful OPD programs are built upon effective
  design and implementation to address the 4 Cs
• Content
• Context
• Course Design
• Communications
• The technology needs to enable effective delivery
  of the 4 Cs.

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For More Information

• gkleiman_at_edc.org
• http//www.edtechleaders.org