Online Professional Learning - Breaking Barriers to Teacher Development
OER 20/21 LSS - An Inquiry into Instructors’ and Teachers’ Perspectives and Experiences of Online Professional Learning
Project Team
PI: Dr Lee Shu Shing, CRPP, NIE
Co-PI: Dr Tay Lee Yong, Beacon Primary School
Co-PI: Dr Andrew Pereira, CRPP, NIE
Collaborator: Dr Caroline Ho, AST, MOE
Project Description
Quality online professional learning (OPL) considers teachers as central to the PL experience. OPL refers to formal OPL experiences comprising fully synchronous and blended learning. Blended learning relates to online asynchronous, online synchronous and in-person learning, or online asynchronous and online synchronous learning.
The online environment enables teachers to learn, examine practice, and interact as communities. OPL affords flexibility because teachers access learning and revisit content anytime, anywhere, and over time. While OPL affords unique characteristics, little is known about how instructors design OPL, the facilitation involved, how teachers perceive OPL, preferred features, experiences, and challenges.
The study investigates the forms of OPL, how these forms are implemented and aspects that support and challenge teachers’ professional learning (PL). Using a mixed methods study, data collection involved (1) online survey, (2) observations and field notes of OPL experiences and (3) in-depth interviews. Thematic analyses were prioritised and triangulated with quantitative data.
Project Implications
Implications for practice:
- It is important to understand teachers’ readiness and level of comfort in using technological platforms and tools.
- When designing OPL, instructors should make explicit use of design principles, optimise online engagement and interaction, and promote sustained OPL.
- OPL’s structure should embrace teachers’ needs by optimising the modes of OPL, frequency, timing, duration, number of screen breaks and breakout rooms.
- OPL’s content should make learning manageable and engaging for teachers.
- OPL’s facilitation should include sufficient facilitators to support administrative duties, teachers’ PL, interaction, and rapport building. Facilitators should maximise teaching presence.
- Considerations should be made to support teacher ownership and self-directedness. It is important to reiterate the value of continuous PL so that time and space are provided for teachers to apply learning in classrooms.
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