Making Educator Professional Development More Accessible and Inclusive With Mobile Teacher

2022 ◽  
pp. 453-467
Author(s):  
Katherine Guevara

This chapter describes how curious and reflective TESOL educators can engage in ongoing appreciative inquiry by participating in a unique global community of practice facilitated through an app called Mobile Teacher that also works offline. With the aim of recognizing and sharing the expertise of non-native English speaker TESOL educators who are primarily BIPOC and women working in the majority world, teachers are encouraged to watch short videos of colleagues' effective teaching practices, try out the practices with their students, and in turn share videos describing or demonstrating their own proven techniques. Through a case study of using Mobile Teacher with teachers in Ecuador, the author provides a self and group reflection guide based on the 4D appreciative inquiry framework to establish a definition and examples of effective teaching practice, and a video script template to complete in preparation for recording and sharing an effective teaching practice.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Hee-Jeong Kim

Teacher professional learning occurs across various contexts. Previous studies on teacher learning and changes in practice have focused on either classroom contexts or learning communities outside of school, but have rarely investigated teacher learning across multiple contexts. Investigating teacher learning across the double contexts of classroom and learning community has presented methodological challenges. In response, this paper proposes the suitability of adopting a socio-cultural development framework to further the analytical approach to such challenges. Using the framework, this paper considers the case study of a middle school mathematics teacher who resolved a problem of teaching practice through interacting with other members of the community of practice where they build shared goals and knowledge. This paper contributes to the field by expanding the scope of research on teacher learning across these two contexts, in which problem of practice becomes conceptual resources that the teacher uses in her teaching practice.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Emery ◽  
Jessica Middlemis Maher ◽  
Diane Ebert-May

AbstractResearch-based teaching practices can improve student learning outcomes in a variety of complex educational environments. The implementation of learner-centered teaching practices in STEM can both benefit or be constrained by different factors related to individual instructors and the teaching environment. However, we know little of how the instructional climate varies across institutions and how this climate affects teaching practices. Our study sought to describe the relative importance of environmental influences and individual characteristics on learner- centered teaching practices across institutions. We also assessed departmental climate for 35 US higher education institutions. We found that self-efficacy in teaching and professional development exert a strong influence on faculty teaching practices. While departmental climate did not emerge as a significant predictor of teaching practices, there was consistently low support for teaching, and institution size was negatively correlated with leadership and evaluation of effective teaching. We also found that professional development may prepare instructors to teach learner-centered courses in different collegial teaching climates. Our results suggest that through cultivating self-efficacy and participating in iterative professional development, instructors can implement effective teaching practices across institutional environments.


Author(s):  
Ronda Cypret-Mahach

This chapter describes transformational experiences of a faculty of teachers during a yearlong action-research case-study of professional development, infused with digital technologies intended to capitalize on self-directed learning strategies, in the use of essential questions specifically designed to target critical thinking in students. Teachers who began to adopt the essence of essential questioning into their teaching practice also began to seek ways to engage in personalized self-directed learning as they looked for avenues to continue development of successful practice. The ability to self-investigate and self-delineate pedagogy was critical for most of participant teachers. The faculty of teachers involved in the action-research case-study demonstrated statistically significant growth on the Measure of Questioning Skills, indicating the experience encouraged teacher growth in questioning abilities. Research data also reflected statistically significant student growth in STAR Reading and STAR Math scores, and an increase in student's Measure of Questioning Skills.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 148-179
Author(s):  
Mohammad Jahangir Hossain Mojumder

Nowadays, demands are growing for outcome-based and transferable learning, particularly in higher education. Being the terminal formal schooling, it needs facilitation of pupils’ achievement of problem-solving skills for real-life by teachers. To this end, this qualitative research employs a case study approach, which is suitable to test an event with small samples, and a phenomenological method to analyze respondents’ perceptions and activities thematically and descriptively to assess changes. In-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and class observations are used to collect data from two selected colleges to examine the extent of professional development and methodological shift in teaching as effects of training to include active learning strategies for better learning outcomes. The data though reveals that the selected flagship training program offers a bunch of pedagogical methods (not need-based) to imbibe, yet reject the idea that the nationally arranged training remains a successful effort to increase trainees’ knowledge, skills, and polish attitudes except disseminating a few concepts superficially. Moreover, trainees lack the motivation to shift their teaching habits and are unconvinced that the application of these newly learned strategies will transform anything. Likewise, they are discontented about training contents and unenthusiastic in consort with unfavorable opinions about training procedures and trainers to some extent. Therefore, the results suggest limited or no significant professional development and modification in teaching practice, rather teachers continue conventional teacher-centered method, and the effort stays insufficient, extraneous, ‘fragmented’, and ‘intellectually superficial’. Additionally, at the colleges, large class size, inappropriate sitting arrangement, pervasive traditionality, absenteeism, and other analogous challenges limited them to change their practice. Considering all these, this study suggests that alternations should be initiated at a micro (teachers & college) and macro-level (training providers & policymakers) to offer tailor-made, autonomous, and need-based training. Last but not the least, this endeavor is limited by being entirely qualitative with a small sample size and not eliciting the views of any of the trainers and policymakers and which can be an indication of points of departure for future study.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 585-597
Author(s):  
Ida Fatimawati Adi Badiozaman

Purpose The study explores how a novice English teacher’s motivation is sustained as she navigates a range of complex educational contexts in her teaching career. Through the lens of self-concept, the purpose of this paper is to gain an in-depth understanding of the role of this construct when navigating the challenges often faced in the early stages of the teaching profession. Design/methodology/approach In this case study, data were drawn primarily from a series of interviews with one English teacher over the course of three years. Teaching materials, together with teaching evaluations, were used to compare and validate the information obtained during the interview. Findings Despite the challenges faced in each new teaching context, the teacher’s motivation and commitment to the profession were driven and sustained by the high integration of personal goals with one’s self, goal fusion. Furthermore, an inherently strong drive to minimise the discrepancy between her current self and her ideal future self, helped the novice teacher navigate each new setting and its respective demands. Practical implications English teachers need specific support and professional development that goes beyond pre-service education into in-service training. It is important that continuous professional development be undertaken to allow opportunities for the conception of reflective practice and reflective practitioners. Originality/value Self-concept is not only a means of self-evaluation, but also a key driver for goal-relevant cognitions and behaviours effective for teaching practice.


2018 ◽  
pp. 1961-2005
Author(s):  
Mayela Coto

Recent research suggests that professional development initiatives within the framework of a community of practice are more likely to have an effective result than traditional forms of professional development. The overall objective of this chapter is to present a study that aims to improve the understanding of how a distributed community of practice approach affects communication, collaboration, and professional development of faculty, and whether this leads to promote a transformation in teaching practices. The results indicate that a community approach to professional development in higher education is feasible but requires careful design if it is to work with a wide range of faculty staff. Findings also show that while the approach has been successful in many areas, there are aspects that require further work and research.


2014 ◽  
pp. 1029-1070
Author(s):  
Mayela Coto

Recent research suggests that professional development initiatives within the framework of a community of practice are more likely to have an effective result than traditional forms of professional development. The overall objective of this chapter is to present a study that aims to improve the understanding of how a distributed community of practice approach affects communication, collaboration, and professional development of faculty, and whether this leads to promote a transformation in teaching practices. The results indicate that a community approach to professional development in higher education is feasible but requires careful design if it is to work with a wide range of faculty staff. Findings also show that while the approach has been successful in many areas, there are aspects that require further work and research.


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Gràcia ◽  
Ana Luisa Adam-Alcocer ◽  
Pamela Castillo Mardones

Abstract This article reports on the use of a digital application (EVALOE-SSD) for the professional development of teachers to improve the linguistic competence of their students. We conducted a multiple case study that involved five teachers and their students from different schools. Over a period of three months, the teachers used the digital application to assess their classes, make decisions and introduce changes in their teaching practices. The results show that the change process includes stages of progress and stages of regression, but in general the trend was to a progressive increase in scores. Therefore, the use of the digital application improved the competences of teachers and students, regardless of the type of school or students’ age. This is shown in the cases of two teachers, which are analysed in greater depth. We believe that our findings are important as they document how self-reflection, stimulated by aids such as video recordings, reflective questions and pictures, facilitates a change in teaching practices. At the end of the programme, all the teachers stated that the experience of using the digital tool had clearly been enriching, and they had learnt and improved teaching practice linked to communicative competence.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. e1501422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry L. Derting ◽  
Diane Ebert-May ◽  
Timothy P. Henkel ◽  
Jessica Middlemis Maher ◽  
Bryan Arnold ◽  
...  

We tested the effectiveness of Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching IV (FIRST), a professional development program for postdoctoral scholars, by conducting a study of program alumni. Faculty professional development programs are critical components of efforts to improve teaching and learning in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines, but reliable evidence of the sustained impacts of these programs is lacking. We used a paired design in which we matched a FIRST alumnus employed in a tenure-track position with a non-FIRST faculty member at the same institution. The members of a pair taught courses that were of similar size and level. To determine whether teaching practices of FIRST participants were more learner-centered than those of non-FIRST faculty, we compared faculty perceptions of their teaching strategies, perceptions of environmental factors that influence teaching, and actual teaching practice. Non-FIRST and FIRST faculty reported similar perceptions of their teaching strategies and teaching environment. FIRST faculty reported using active learning and interactive engagement in lecture sessions more frequently compared with non-FIRST faculty. Ratings from external reviewers also documented that FIRST faculty taught class sessions that were learner-centered, contrasting with the teacher-centered class sessions of most non-FIRST faculty. Despite marked differences in teaching practice, FIRST and non-FIRST participants used assessments that targeted lower-level cognitive skills. Our study demonstrated the effectiveness of the FIRST program and the empirical utility of comparison groups, where groups are well matched and controlled for contextual variables (for example, departments), for evaluating the effectiveness of professional development for subsequent teaching practices.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document