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Research Topic:
Can the creation of professional learning communities better support teacher professional development?

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Research Topic:
Can the creation of professional learning communities better support teacher professional development?

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Typical teacher professional development is delivered through a workshop model.  When teachers return to their classroom contexts, does the innovative learning content transfer easily, does it need continued implementation support, or is it abandoned?

Below is a professionally-produced video advocating for teacher professional development in the use of technologies to support classroom teaching and learning.  I noticed that while the presenters were animated, the teacher-participants were passive learners.

While educators understand that students who are actively engaged in their learning show greater learning motivation and higher content retention, this understanding is generally not applied to teacher-learners in professional development classrooms.

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#EdTechNJ - Teacher Professional Development Technology Conference

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As more and more technology is introduced into the classroom, it increases the need for Teacher Training. This is to ensure that our educators can use these high-tech advancements to their fullest potential; and cultivate a better learning environment for our students. The Edison Public Schools Professional Development Team, recently held a conference for this purpose: #EdTechNJ.

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Why do professional learning communities interest me?

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Why do professional learning communities interest me?

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I have been involved with creating curriculum that integrates educational technology for many years. I have run workshop-based professional development on digital arts, blogging, and eBook creation and have found that although teachers are initially excited and may leave feeling confident in their new skills, meaningful implementation requires ongoing support until a level of confident mastery is achieved. Onsite professional learning communities might offer the support needed.

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Is research into professional learning communities applicable to my teaching context?

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Is research into professional learning communities applicable to my teaching context?

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My school district has recently achieved a 1:1 student-to-device ratio and has invested heavily in adaptive learning systems by devoting both financial and daily classroom teaching resources for implementation.  Teachers are not using technology to build 21st century skills partly because they are not expected to and partly because they do not have the educational technology skills to do so.  My district offers a robust assortment of professional development in more creative uses of technology to support classroom teaching/learning but actual implementation is problematic.

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What is already known about professional learning communities

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What is already known about professional learning communities

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Experiential learning is not a new pedagogy.  Hands-on learning has been correlated to higher student motivation and content retention for students(_____).  Adult learners, such as teachers in a professional development context, can also reap the benefits from experiential learning.

Below is a video that describes the elements necessary for effective professional development.  It outlines fundamental concepts that can be applied to professional learning communities.

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Providing Effective Professional Development for Educators

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This is a final assignment/presentation for EDLD 5364, a Lamar University Educational Technology Leadership graduate course. The critical information presented here seeks to help identify sound professional development strategies that will be both meaningful and effective to educators and their long-term instructional practices.

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This article, Together We Are Better: Professional Learning Networks for Teachers (Trust, Krutka, & Carpenter, 2016), considers the potential benefits of online professional learning networks (PLNs), a term that is synonymous with professional learning communities.  This qualitative study analyzed survey data from 732 grade P-12 teachers.

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This article, Together We Are Better: Professional Learning Networks for Teachers (Trust, Krutka, & Carpenter, 2016), considers the potential benefits of online professional learning networks (PLNs), a term that is synonymous with professional learning communities.  This qualitative study analyzed survey data from 732 grade P-12 teachers.

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Click here to access the full text article.

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In the article, A Professional Learning Model Supporting Teachers to Integrate Digital Technologies (Sheffield, Blackley, & Moro, 2018), researchers discuss the need for teacher proficiency in both the pedagogical and content implications of educational technology integration before they can effectively leverage technology-supported teaching/learning in their classrooms.  A 28-school pilot project emphasizing teacher collaboration through a professional learning network was evaluated.

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In the article, A Professional Learning Model Supporting Teachers to Integrate Digital Technologies (Sheffield, Blackley, & Moro, 2018), researchers discuss the need for teacher proficiency in both the pedagogical and content implications of educational technology integration before they can effectively leverage technology-supported teaching/learning in their classrooms.  A 28-school pilot project emphasizing teacher collaboration through a professional learning network was evaluated.

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Click here to access the full text article.

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In the article, The Relationship Between Teacher's Technology Integration Ability and Usage, Hsu (2010) identifies an important distinction between a teacher's self-perception of educational technology proficiency and actual classroom implementation.  The researcher makes the argument that scales of ability and usage need to be evaluated independently and finds that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between the two factors.  

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In the article, The Relationship Between Teacher's Technology Integration Ability and Usage, Hsu (2010) identifies an important distinction between a teacher's self-perception of educational technology proficiency and actual classroom implementation.  The researcher makes the argument that scales of ability and usage need to be evaluated independently and finds that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between the two factors.  

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Click here to access the full test article.

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EdisonBOE (2013, October 30). #EdTechNJ- Teacher professional development technology conference [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo7L3OhRKpE

Hsu, S. (2010). The Relationship between Teacher’s Technology Integration Ability and Usage. Journal of Educational Computing Research,43(3), 309–325. doi:10.2190/EC.43.3.c

Nelson, M. (2015, April 5). Providing effective professional development for educators [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG7fXp5BmOE

Sheffield, R., Blackley, S., & Moro, P. (2018). A professional learning model supporting teachers to integrate digital technologies. Issues in Educational Research, 28, 487–510.

Trust, T., Krutka, D., & Carpenter, J. (2016). “Together we are better”: Professional learning networks for teachers. Computers & Education, 102, 15–34. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2016.06.007