Innovations in Teacher Professional Development

The professional development needs of teachers have changed dramatically over the last 25 years. When constructed to reflect best practices evidenced in the research literature, micro-credentials and other 21st century innovations provide accessible, meaningful, professional learning experiences for educators. This chapter discusses two cases that affected personal transformation and pedagogical change for in-service teachers by an institution of higher education (IHE). A preliminary analysis of these alternative experiences established that when teacher professional development is founded on the context-sensitive integration of social and cultural competencies, meaningful, empowering, and enduring learning can take place.

El cambio pedagógico en la docencia universitaria en los tiempos de Covid-19

Antecedentes: La aparición del virus COVID-19 ha generado una de las mayores disrupciones mundiales de los sistemas educativos (entre otros) en generaciones Propósito: Este estudio examina el impacto de la inmersión involuntaria de profesores de la Universidad Hebrea en entornos de aprendizaje digital debido a la pandemia COVID-19 y su impacto en las prácticas pedagógicas, de los instructores universitarios durante esta crisis. Metodología / Enfoque: Nuestra investigación siguió un enfoque de métodos mixtos, combinando componentes cualitativos con cuantitativos. Nuestro presente estudio pone especial énfasis en los componentes cualitativos de la investigación. Resultados / Conclusiones: En nuestro trabajo analizamos el modelo de aceptación de tecnologías desarrollado por Venkatesh y colaboradores (modelo UTAUT), y lo enriquecemos con una tipología de aceptación del cambio pedagógico (TACP) que permite comprender la situación planteada y actuar en consecuencia. El estudio encontró que existes dos dimensiones en la disposición al cambio pedagógico genuino en los docentes universitarios: Una es su nivel de alfabetización digital antes de la crisis; la segunda es su concepción pedagógica de enseñanza. Implicaciones: Nuestro modelo se puede aplicar a diferentes situaciones de crisis y puede ser útil para la formación y desarrollo del profesorado universitario en el campo de la alfabetización digital. Background: The emergence of the COVID-19 virus has generated one of the largest global disruptions of education systems. Purpose: This study examines the impact of the involuntary immersion of Hebrew University professors in digital learning environments due to the COVID-19 pandemic on pedagogical practices of university instructors during this crisis. Methodology / Approach: Our research followed a mixed methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative components. Our current study places special emphasis on the qualitative components of the research. Results / Conclusions: In our work we analyze the model of acceptance of technologies developed by Venkatesh and colleagues (2008), and we enrich it with a typology of acceptance of pedagogical change (TACP) that allows us to understand the situation and act accordingly. The study identified two dimensions in the disposition to genuine pedagogical change in university teachers: One is their level of digital literacy before the crisis; the second is his pedagogical conception of teaching. Implications: Our model can be applied to different crisis situations and can be useful for the training and development of university teachers in the field of digital literacy.

Teaching with Digital Technology and the Impact on Pedagogical Changes

This study aims to investigate lecturer teaching using digital technology and its impact on pedagogical change. The change from face-to-face learning to online learning has implications for educational institutions. <div><p>The problem is that many lecturers find it difficult to use digital technology in teaching, so that it is not in line with online pedagogy and online curriculum. The knowledge, abilities, and skills of the lecturers are questioned because there is no such alignment. Thus the impact of pedagogical change on online teaching is contradictory. Moreover, the components of digital technology and pedagogical changes will be fragmented.</p> <p>The research method approach is qualitative by interviewing six lecturers who teach at one university in Tangerang City. The findings obtained, three lecturers are knowledgeable, capable, and skilled in using digital technology to align with changes in online pedagogy. The other three lecturers have difficulty using digital technology, so the institution must provide continuous training so that learning can run smoothly.</p> As a result, by using digital technology that impacts pedagogical changes and online curricula, learning can run smoothly, despite the many difficulties in adopting digital technology. Learning using digital technology is a 21st-century learning process.<br></div>

English language education reform in pre-2020 Olympic Japan: educator perspectives on pedagogical change

This paper reports on the perspectives of English language teachers and teacher educators on the most recent English language education policy and curriculum reform in Japan, implemented in preparation for hosting the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo. Previous research has comprehensively analysed how language ideologies based on national imaginaries, native-speakerism and deficit views of Japanese teachers’ pedagogy and practice continue to frame debates about English language education in Japan. Through select thematic episodes derived from the interview data with English language practitioners located in Japan, this paper brings into focus the views of English language educators who articulated insightful counter-positions to taken-for-granted understandings of effective English language use and teaching. The authors argue that in order to effect a paradigm shift in global English language education, in Japan and internationally, it is important to incorporate a critical examination of teacher perspectives that challenge and augment prevalent tropes about English language teaching and learning. The paper concludes with implications for addressing the policy-practice and theory-practice divides in English language education. It argues that a continued engagement with educator perspectives is an important space for bringing about a transformation of language ideologies and pedagogical change at the grass-roots level of the English language classroom.

Teaching with Digital Technology and the Impact on Pedagogical Changes

This study aims to investigate lecturer teaching using digital technology and its impact on pedagogical change. The change from face-to-face learning to online learning has implications for educational institutions. <div><p>The problem is that many lecturers find it difficult to use digital technology in teaching, so that it is not in line with online pedagogy and online curriculum. The knowledge, abilities, and skills of the lecturers are questioned because there is no such alignment. Thus the impact of pedagogical change on online teaching is contradictory. Moreover, the components of digital technology and pedagogical changes will be fragmented.</p> <p>The research method approach is qualitative by interviewing six lecturers who teach at one university in Tangerang City. The findings obtained, three lecturers are knowledgeable, capable, and skilled in using digital technology to align with changes in online pedagogy. The other three lecturers have difficulty using digital technology, so the institution must provide continuous training so that learning can run smoothly.</p> As a result, by using digital technology that impacts pedagogical changes and online curricula, learning can run smoothly, despite the many difficulties in adopting digital technology. Learning using digital technology is a 21st-century learning process.<br></div>

A typology for catalyzing pedagogical change: Fostering multiple pathways through SoTL

Building on ecosystem models that examine individuals’ development within professional environments (Roxå, 2014; Hannah & Lester, 2009), we explore how campus centers for educational development and research can provide a range of experiences for faculty to learn about scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), conduct individual or collaborative – and sometimes multi-institutional – SoTL, and go public with their work. Using extended case studies of colleagues who have become increasingly more active in SoTL, we created a typology of the experiences that supported their development. The case studies illustrate that offering a variety of educational development options at different institutional levels and with different time commitments enables developers to meet faculty where they are – and to provide growth opportunities for deepening SoTL commitments. Our typology can help educational developers prioritize among potential programs by considering the cost-benefit analysis not only for individual faculty but also for micro-, meso-, and macro-level institutional cultures.

Working Methodology with Public Universities in Peru during the Pandemic. Continuity of Virtual/Online Teaching and Learning

This article describes the consultancy provided by the UTEC-UNED-TECSUP University Consortium to six national universities in Peru, during the COVID-19 state of emergency. This action aims to promote the techno-pedagogical change from a face-to-face to a virtual/online educational context. The process consists of three stages that ensured the continuity of the virtual/online educational service: diagnosis, design, and training, to strengthen instructional and digital competencies, support, and techno-pedagogical monitoring. It includes the basic principles of constructivist and constructionist learning theories for active and quality teaching and learning for the agents involved, and, in addition, the guidelines set by the emerging Peruvian regulations during the pandemic to move towards a digital university model according to the times. After a 157-day intervention, the analysis of the results raises some reflections: the importance of the socio-cultural context and its influence on the concept and development of the instructional act; the concept of distance learning in territories where connectivity is the main difficulty, and the university institution, in terms of a non-presential educational model with open and versatile methodologies, which anticipates a long process, involves a scheduled follow-up, requires fluid communication and demands continuous feedback.