Web-Mediated Approaches to Teachers’ Professional Development

A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 October 2015) | Viewed by 20166

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Education, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA
Interests: critical literacy; writing pedagogy; teacher professional development

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Education, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA
Interests: critical literacy; visual discourse analysis; children’s literature; English education

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Professional development is a critical necessity in today’s educational environment, and educators are often required by their institutions to engage in on-going learning. However, with today’s technologies, this learning is no longer restricted to local and physical contexts. Educators are turning to a range of spaces to provide appropriate and effective training and professional development (PD) opportunities (Vu, Cao, Vu, and Cepero, 2014), including online course software, Moodle, Facebook, Twitter, listservs that provide open access avenues for sharing ideas through online venues (Albers, Pace, and Brown, 2013). The educational landscape has shifted greatly through such technologies and educators desire real-time, authentic, self-directed, and on-demand learning (Simonson, Schlosser, and Orellana, 2011). This guest-edited issue  "Web-mediated Approaches to Teachers' Professional Development" addresses the possibilities and challenges of designing and participating in professional development in web-based venues.

Albers, P., Pace, C., and Brown Jr., D.W. (2013). Critical participation in literacy research through new and emerging technologies: A study of web seminars and global engagement. Journal of Literacy and Technology, 14(2). Retrieved from http:// www.literacyandtechnology.org/jlt_14_2/jlt_14_2_albers_pace_brown.pdf

Simonson, M., Schlosser, C., and Orellana, A. (2011). Distance education research: A review of the literature. Journal Of Computing In Higher Education, 23(2-3), 124-142.

Vu, P., Cao, V., Vu, L., and Capero, J. (2014). Factors driving learner success in online professional development. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 15(3). Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/ article/view/1714/2907

Prof. Dr. Amy Seely Flint
Prof. Dr. Peggy Albers
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • teacher professional development
  • online
  • education
  • on-demand
  • learning communities
  • technology
  • web-based
  • conceptual change
  • motivation
  • global

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

446 KiB  
Article
Remix as Professional Learning: Educators’ Iterative Literacy Practice in CLMOOC
by Anna Smith, Stephanie West-Puckett, Christina Cantrill and Mia Zamora
Educ. Sci. 2016, 6(1), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci6010012 - 18 Mar 2016
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 10335
Abstract
The Connected Learning Massive Open Online Collaboration (CLMOOC) is an online professional development experience designed as an openly networked, production-centered, participatory learning collaboration for educators. Addressing the paucity of research that investigates learning processes in MOOC experiences, this paper examines the situated literacy [...] Read more.
The Connected Learning Massive Open Online Collaboration (CLMOOC) is an online professional development experience designed as an openly networked, production-centered, participatory learning collaboration for educators. Addressing the paucity of research that investigates learning processes in MOOC experiences, this paper examines the situated literacy practices that emerged as educators in CLMOOC composed, collaborated, and distributed multimediated artifacts. Using a collaborative, interactive visual mapping tool as participant-researchers, we analyzed relationships between publically available artifacts and posts generated in one week through a transliteracies framework. Culled data included posts on Twitter (n = 678), a Google+ Community (n = 105), a Facebook Group (n = 19), a blog feed (n = 5), and a “make” repository (n = 21). Remix was found to be a primary form of interaction and mediator of learning. Participants not only iterated on each others’ artifacts, but on social processes and shared practices as well. Our analysis illuminated four distinct remix mobilities and relational tendencies—bursting, drifting, leveraging, and turning. Bursting and drifting characterize the paces and proximities of remixing while leveraging and turning are activities more obviously disruptive of social processes and power hierarchies. These mobilities and tendencies revealed remix as an emergent, iterative, collaborative, critical practice with transformative possibilities for openly networked web-mediated professional learning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Web-Mediated Approaches to Teachers’ Professional Development)
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4281 KiB  
Article
Exploring Elements That Support Teachers Engagement in Online Professional Development
by Sarah Prestridge and Jo Tondeur
Educ. Sci. 2015, 5(3), 199-219; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci5030199 - 29 Jun 2015
Cited by 48 | Viewed by 9352
Abstract
This study sought to identify the most effective elements required in online professional development to enable teachers to improve their use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in their classrooms. Four schools in Queensland were involved, with twelve classroom teachers participating in a [...] Read more.
This study sought to identify the most effective elements required in online professional development to enable teachers to improve their use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in their classrooms. Four schools in Queensland were involved, with twelve classroom teachers participating in a year-long online professional development program over the school year supported by an online mentor. The online professional development program did not provide course based or sequential learning activities. Rather it was design to enable individual learning pathways and draw on the many professional learning opportunities available through web 2.0 tools and Internet resources. The focus was to explore the process of online ICT professional development to contribute to the conceptualization of how teachers learn in the 21st Century. Findings indicate that teachers need to engage in three elements: investigation, reflection, and constructive dialogue; build a sense of group and individual online presence; and be supported by mentorship that responds to the various cognitive and affective demands of autonomous learners. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Web-Mediated Approaches to Teachers’ Professional Development)
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