Investigating Distance Professional Development: Lessons Learned from Research

Michael J. Bossé & Robin L. Rider

East Carolina University

Rationale for Research

• Dilemma– Effective professional development (PD) is critical

in retaining rural teachers. – Rural school districts increasingly face budgetary

reductions for PD exacerbated by rising travel costs.

• One possible solution– Emerging technologies and alternative delivery

methods, such as videoconferencing and web-based media

Rationale for Research

• The current study focused on a D-PD initiative in mathematics and science education and examined how face-to-face, web-based, and video conferencing technology delivery affects the learner-learner/learner-instructor environment, communication and interaction.

About the Project

• REVITALISE - Rural Educators Using Visualization to Inspire Teacher Advancement and Learning to Improve Science and Mathematics Education http://revitalise.ncsa.uiuc.edu

• Creating a virtual learning environment via the Access Grid (www.accessgrid.org) for rural middle and high school mathematics and science teachers.

• Reduce teacher isolation and stimulate a renewed excitement for teaching and learning through the use of visualization technologies

About the Project

• Access Grid– Teaching

– Participant, Large Group Communication

– Shared Applications

• Visualization Technologies– Microsoft Excel

– GnuPlot

– Advanced Visual Systems (AVS Express)

Demographics of Project

Over 120 teachers spread across Eastern North Carolina and Illinois

North Carolina

Illinois

Best Practices in Face-to-face Professional Development

• Engage– Energy, enthusiasm,

authentic, eye contact, strong voice, hands-on activities

• Relevant– Know your audience, what

they already know and what they need to learn

• Collaborate– Respect their ideas, allow for

group collaboration• Reflect

– Internally ask “Am I reaching them”

QUESTION

• How would we do this presentation and get each of you to have a class discussion if half of you were in another room, watching us on a TV screen?

•Researchers evaluated modalities of distance professional development for effectiveness and observed the interactions and communications among participants to analyze the affect of these electronic media on participants.

Research Questions

• How does D-PD via electronic modalities differ from traditional face-to-face instruction?

• How can D-PD allow for these differences?• What affect does video conferencing and

web-based technologies have on reducing isolation of rural teachers?

• In what ways are participant-participant and participant-instructor communication enabled and constrained by videoconferencing and web-based technologies?

Teacher Participants Grappled with…

• Learning the technology• Learning the underlying mathematics and science• Learning to interpret the visualization in the context

of the math or science• Learning the pedagogical uses of the viz and the

technology• Use emerging communications technologies such

as videoconferencing, instant messenger, and the Access Grid

• Building a community of practice

Data

• Each workshop was videotaped • Baseline questionnaires at the beginning, halfway

through, and post institute questionnaires were administered. Items measured were– The effectiveness of individual instruction sessions– Perceived importance of communication technologies– Personal and classroom use of technology– Overall impact of the project on the participants

• Changes in the distribution patterns were measured.

Results

• Videoconferencing was found to be effective as a D-PD delivery method– Participant satisfaction was higher for sessions where the

presenter was live and local than when the presenter was remote

• Although a class “culture” formed at each location through formal and informal interactions among staff and teachers, it did not translate well between sites via whole group interactions– Natural spontaneous, and voluntary communication

between remote participants remained minimal.

• Thus whole group videoconferencing was found to be limited in creating a community of practice

Results

• The most effective method of D-PD was the small group parallel sessions by subject/grade level

• Proximity seemed to be the decisive factor in whether a community of practice was formed.

Effective Distance Education

• PLANNING• Communication among staff

– Locally and remotely

• Proper room setup• Opportunities for small group

collaboration and communication– Locally and remotely– Videoconferencing – Using interactive

communication tools

Suggestions for Future Research

• Scalability– How do we offer more high

quality D-PD opportunities for rural schools with less monetary expense?

– How do we prepare individual school sites to be operational for global networking or multi-site collaborations and to overcome technology infrastructure obstacles?

• Impact on student learning as they are exposed to more high-end visualizations in middle and high school mathematics

Color showing temperature at bay surface --NCSA

Questions?

• "This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0138819. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation."