Connecting, Collaborating, Continuing to Learn

The authors make the argument that there is no doubt of the importance of professional development in the field of education.  They outline the costs associated with teacher professional development and make the case that we must be cost-effective and diligent in our efforts to create meaningful sustainable professional development. With the emergence of interactive media that is both more powerful and more accessible the development of online professional development has increased in popularity.  However the methods for teacher learning have not been highly studied.  The authors of this article wrote it in hopes to outline the need for financial commitment to more research devoted to the study of online professional development models.  They stress the need to look at the design of the program (content, pedagogical strategies, methods of delivery,  and identification of best practices) to be highly effective, the ways in which we measure effectiveness and the types of evaluation we use to document the outcomes and impact of these programs, the specific tools utilized, and the types of interactions they program is able to foster.  They laid out criteria for selecting research articles to study.  After searching for articles about online, face to face and hybrid PD models, they located 400 articles.  Of those only 40 met the criteria that they defined as rigorous empirical research. The articles focused on program design, program effectiveness, program technical design and learner outcomes.

This article validated my research findings.  Empirical research was difficult to come by.  In addition no one seems to be looking at the types of knowledge that is being shared, they motivational factors involved in teacher participation, both from the initial engagement and sustainability aspects.  It was very helpful in outlining the direction in which the research should go.  It will serve as a guide as I progress deeper into this area of study.