scholarly journals Algerian University Teachers’ Disposition and Experiences in Using MOOCs for their Continuous Professional Development

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selma SIA ◽  
Imane CHERIET
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Continuous Professional Development ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Ministry Of Higher Education ◽  
Training Opportunities

The professional development (PD) programmes initiated by the Algerian ministry of higher education for newly recruited teachers: “ICT and Pedagogical Practices” and “Pedagogical Accompaniment” cannot prepare the novice teachers for all the challenges they may face along their career. Accordingly, teachers need to look out for additional training opportunities. One of these opportunities is found in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Nevertheless, research on applying MOOCs for continuous professional development (CPD) with regard to Algeria is overlooked. Hence, this study aims at filling in this gap by exploring Algerian university teachers’ familiarity, disposition, and experiences of using MOOCs for CPD. To reach this end, an online questionnaire is administered and a semi-structured interview is conducted with university teachers. The results of the study evinced that: 1) Teachers have low familiarity and weak interaction with MOOCs in general and, 2) teachers acknowledge the importance of CPD and are aware that the initial training and the teaching experience are not sufficient to maintain career advancement. Yet, 3) they do not have the disposition to engage in a CPD, 4) teachers consider this study as an eye opener on MOOCs and show a positive attitude for leveraging MOOCs for their CPD in the future. In the light of these findings, urgent plans to implement and value the culture of informal CPD are recommended, in addition to creating centres at the level of the universities devoted exclusively to CPD and related research. Most importantly, MOOCs that address the Algerian teachers’ CPD needs should be developed.

scholarly journals Automatic Assessment of University Teachers’ Critical Thinking Levels

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Antonella Poce ◽  
Francesca Amenduni ◽  
Maria Rosaria Re ◽  
Carlo De Medio
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Automatic Assessment ◽  
Multiple Choice Questions ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Basic Language ◽  
Project Model

<p class="0abstract"><span lang="EN-US">The present work describes the structure of a pilot study which was addressed to test a tool developed to automatically assess Critical Thinking - CT Levels through language analysis techniques. Starting from Wikipedia database and lexical analysis procedures based on n-grams, a new approach aimed at the automatic assessment of the open-ended questions, where CT can be detected, is proposed. Automatic assessment is focused on four CT macro-indicators : basic language skills, relevance, importance and novelty. The pilot study was carried out through different workshops adapted from Crithinkedu � EU Erasmus + Project model aimed at training university teachers in the field of CT. The workshops were designed to support the development of CT teaching practices at higher education level and enhance University Teachers’ CT as well. The two-hour workshops were conducted in two higher educational institutions, the first in the U.S.A (CCRWT Berkeley College NYC, 26 university teachers) and the second in Italy (Inclusive memory project - University Roma Tre, 22 university teachers). After the two workshops, data were collected through an online questionnaire developed and adapted in the framework of the Erasmus + Crithinkedu project. The questionnaire includes both open-ended and multiple choice questions. The results present CT level shown by university teachers and which kind of pedagogical practices they intend to promote after such an experience within their courses. In addition, a comparison between the values inferred by the algorithm and those calculated by domain human expert is offered. Finally, following up activity is shown taking into consideration other sets of macro-indicators: argumentation and critical evaluation.</span></p>

scholarly journals Factors Influencing Continuous Professional Development of Teacher at University Level

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-46
Author(s):  
Sana Mairaj Bugti ◽  
Muhammad Umair ◽  
Rukshinda Basharat
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Continuous Professional Development ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Sindh Province ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Data Collection Instrument ◽  
Structural Regression

This study intends to find how time, funding and head influence impact on continuous professional development of university teachers. Purposive sampling (non-probability) was used for the study and survey method was adopted. The data was collected from 225 respondents and questionnaire is used as data collection instrument and respondents belongs to a public university Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur Mirs’ which is located in Sindh province. For hypothesis testing, structural regression model was selected. IBM SPSS is the tool we used to analyze the collected data and applied tests like Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and multiple regression and AMOS is used to check Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Overall results provided the evidence that time and funding does not influence on Continuous Professional Development of university teachers while head influence significantly effecting on it. Continuous Professional Development (CPD) enhance competencies and skills of teachers that ensure the quality education therefore it is the demand of the age. This study provides an exclusive viewpoint of university teachers regarding factors influencing on continuous professional development

scholarly journals University teachers’ perspectives on the use of mother tongue in ELT

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 80-93
Author(s):  
Trilok Datt Tiwari
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
L1 Use

The use of mother tongue (L1) in teaching English has always been a debatable issue as there are multiple opinions of the teachers regarding it. They are not sure to either use mother tongue in English language teaching or avoid it for effective teaching. The primary purpose of this phenomenological study of qualitative research was to find out the university teachers' perception on the use of mother tongue along with their effectiveness of L1 use at undergraduate level of Far Western University in Nepal. The participants of this study were four English language teachers teaching in the same university having more than ten years of teaching experience. The researcher used semi-structured interview and classroom observation for collecting data. The findings demonstrated that most of the teachers supported the judicious use of mother tongue in English language teaching classes based on their own experiences. The study also showed that overuse of L1 in second language (L2) classes might have some harm. It concludes that judicious use of L1 is a better way to deal with the students having poor proficiency in English language and enhance students' participation. The study recommends that teachers can make use of the students’ mother tongue purposefully whenever they think it is necessary to do in their classes.

Use of Web 2.0 tools and social media for continuous professional development among primary healthcare practitioners within the Defence Primary Healthcare: a qualitative review

2019 ◽  
pp. jramc-2018-001098
Author(s):  
Antony Sean Willman
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Primary Healthcare ◽  
Continuous Professional Development ◽  
Free Text ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Web 2.0 Tools ◽  
Protected Time ◽  
Free Text Response

IntroductionAlongside traditional attendance at learning, general practitioners use social media and Web 2.0 tools in the UK for continuous professional development (CPD). Research has demonstrated, however, barriers to their uptake and use, as well as a requirement for training. Primary care doctors working for the Defence Primary Healthcare (DPHC) use similar technologies, but it is not known what factors affect the uptake. This qualitative research aimed to explore the knowledge and attitudes of this demographic further.MethodsAn online questionnaire was distributed to DPHC doctors via email and a social networking service (SNS) tool. Questions included demographic and open free-text response boxes. These were subjected to thematic analysis to identify initial concepts subsequently grouped into categories.ResultsDPHC doctors are already using Web 2.0 and social media for education. The benefits of convenience are recognised, but protected time is required to maximise impact. They also identified attendance at learning events, better quality information technology (IT) and further training as important enablers for their CPD.ConclusionsThe results reaffirmed previous findings that while there is engagement with online learning and Web 2.0 technologies, training in Web 2.0 use and substandard IT infrastructure were barriers to greater uptake. Attended learning events are also popular due to the peer-to-peer networking that takes place, but also as they allow protected time out of the office. The use of Web 2.0 for CPD and of SNS should be given equal status to allow the development of a DPHC doctors’ ‘communityof practice’.

scholarly journals Collaborative reflection on shared journal writing to foster EFL teacher CPD

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-281
Author(s):  
Summaya W. Elhussain ◽  
Aisha Y. Khoja
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Continuous Professional Development ◽  
Proximal Development ◽  
Collaborative Reflection ◽  
Efl Context ◽  
Efl Teacher ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Theoretical Foundations

Despite the importance of Continuous Professional Development in the EFL context, a limited research has been done on EFL teachers’ collaborative reflection on teaching. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of teachers’ reflection that is fostered and enhanced by the collaborative written exploration of practice using an online-shared teacher journal in a Saudi tertiary context. To achieve this, the study adopted three theoretical foundations: the characteristics of the online teacher professional development, Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development and the constructivist theory of learning. The level of reflection in the teachers’ journal is analysed by using the discourse semantics approach, namely, systemic functional linguistics. Besides, a semi-structured interview is used to collect the qualitative data. They strongly suggest that maintaining an online-shared teachers’ journal will support and augment teachers’ reflection, enhance knowledge and improve teaching performance. Keywords: Continuous professional development, reflective practice.

Investigating non-medical prescribers' awareness of compliance

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (9) ◽  
pp. 504-510
Author(s):  
Sonia Boulton ◽  
Alison White
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Continuous Professional Development ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Survey Technique ◽  
Recommendations For Practice ◽  
Purposive Sample ◽  
Personal Formulary ◽  
Descriptive Statistical Analysis

This paper sought to investigate non-medical prescribers' awareness of compliance and what is required for them to be compliant when prescribing in an acute NHS trust. This was a quantitative pilot study using a survey technique with an online questionnaire. A purposive sample from 85 registered non-medical prescribers who were actively prescribing were invited to participate. Data analysis was restricted because of the limited number of respondents (n=14), making this a pilot study. Data were analysed using descriptive statistical analysis IBM SPSS 25 software. The majority (85.7%) of non-medical prescribers were shown to be compliant, highlighting 14.3% as non-compliant. Furthermore, 28% prescribed outside of their personal formulary, which is in breach of the non-medical prescribers' trust policy. A further 85% participated in continuous professional development and 72% requested regular continuous professional development. Despite the majority being compliant with the non-medical prescribers' policy, 14.3% were not. This clearly has implications for patient safety and practitioner professionalism, in terms of responsibility and accountability. Although limited by small respondent size, the findings highlight the need for further research to inform recommendations for practice.

scholarly journals Role of MOOCs in Pakistani English Teachers’ Professional Development

2018 ◽  
pp. 33-54
Author(s):  
Ayesha Perveen
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
English Language ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Teachers Professional Development

The paper takes up one of the least researched areas in Pakistan i.e. the role of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for professional development in general and the capacity building of English teachers in particular. Although MOOCs are getting popular in Pakistan, the majority is still unaware of the concept especially those who teach in traditional face-to-face mode. As many second language University teachers have not attended any MOOCs, convenience sampling was used for data collection. Only 32 respondents completed the questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire on Cronbach alpha was 0.83. The results show that the number of Pakistani English teachers responding to the survey who attended MOOCs either partially or completely, was very low. Therefore, of course, the number of MOOCs attended by each was also very low. However, whoever attended and whichever MOOCs were attended, the teachers found them quite beneficial for their overall professional development, be it language improvement or teaching skill set development. The researcher recommends the use of MOOCs in classrooms which is only possible if more English Language Teaching MOOCs are available and teachers attend a variety of MOOCs. The researcher also highlights the need to develop Pakistani MOOCs with a national flavour.

scholarly journals Pedagogical aspects of students' digital competence development

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (Extra-A) ◽  
pp. 471-480
Author(s):  
Kateryna Demchyk ◽  
Mykola Pasichnyk ◽  
Olena Pozharytska ◽  
Ihor Parfeniuk ◽  
Oleksii Tonkykh
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Competence Development ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Digital Competence ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Digital Pedagogy ◽  
The University

The purpose of the research was to study the pedagogical aspects of students’ digital competence development and the degree of teachers’ encouragement to develop their own professional digital competence. The study is based on quantitative and qualitative methodology and contains an online structured interview of 132 teachers of Ukraine who took an online course on the development of digital competencies. Results. University teachers demonstrated different beliefs and effectiveness in the use of ICT for pedagogical purposes. Although a few teachers seamlessly integrated ICT into the learning process, most were more tool-oriented and supported a teacher-rather than student-centered approach when designing online courses. In a pandemic, teachers are massively interested in the development of digital competence as part of professional development. At the same time, the strategy of the university and the practice of functioning of the university testify to the lack of a course for the implementation of absolute digital pedagogy.

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