Research+Plan

Professional Learning at Your Fingertips: The Impact of Podcasts and Online Classrooms on Teachers' Professional Growth

In today's schools, teachers are expected to meet high demands in terms of instruction, management, planning, and preparation which leaves them with little time to focus on their own professional learning. As a result, many teachers participate in nothing more than the trainings and workshops required by their school systems and use very little of the information to improve or enhance their classroom instruction (Gusky, 2002). Thus, professional learning has very little impact on student achievement (Yoon et. al., 2007). A great deal of research into effective professional development has been done, but time constraints remain a constant hindrance to teachers seeking to improve their teaching skills. In order to remedy this problem, teachers need access to professional learning opportunities that meet their specific needs and allow for flexibility with time and place (Duncan-Howell, 2010). Providing technology-based professional development can help to meet both of those criteria.

In this study, teachers will listen to weekly podcasts and/or view vodcasts focused on an area of professional learning that has gained a significant amount of attention in recent years--providing effective feedback to students. Participants will then interact about their learning in an online community. Discussion forums in Moodle will be used for this element of the study. Within these discussion forums, participants will discuss the content of the week's podcast along with its impact on their instruction. At several points during the study, teachers will be asked to put their new learning into practice within their own classrooms and share the results with other participants in the online classroom. The professional learning course will last for six weeks. Throughout this time, teachers will participate in online surveys to track their professional growth and document their responses to the technology-based professional learning model. The goal of the study will be to determine the effect of technology-based professional learning on teachers' attitudes toward professional learning and its impact on classroom instruction.

Methodology

Research Design: For my study of the impact that vodcasts and podcasts have on professional learning, I will use a quasi-experimental research design. This decision was influenced by the review of professional learning research written by Thomas Guskey (2009). Guskey reports on the failures of research in the field of professional learning. One of the most significant failures comes from an emphasis on single group pretest/posttest designs that fail to control for confounding variables. For my study, I would like to use two groups of teachers, one that learns about giving effective feedback via face-to-face workshops and the other that learns about the same topic by listening to podcasts or viewing vodcasts and then discussing the topic via a Moodle site. Though this may sound like a full experimental design, I do not believe that I will be able to control which teachers will participate in the technology-based group and which will participate in the face-to-face group. This coincides with Johnson and Christensen's (2008) point that "in most instances, the primary reason why full control is not achieved is because participants cannot be randomly assigned to groups" (p. 328).

Types of Data: To conduct this study, I plan to use a mixed methods approach that will offer quantitative and qualitative data. Participants will complete a survey on their perceptions of professional learning prior to the start of the study, following each session of professional learning, and at the end of the study. The survey will include items that teachers evaluate on a Likert scale and a few open-ended questions that will enable participants to mention other important points that may not fit the Likert scale model. The Likert scale portion will provide the quantitative data and the open-ended/short response questions will provide the qualitative data.

Data Collection Strategy: As mentioned earlier, both quantitative and qualitative data will come from participants responses to surveys conducted prior to, during, and after the series of professional learning sessions. These surveys will be conducted using a Google Docs survey. This will enable teachers to complete the survey anonymously, thus offering more reliable data. Pre-Survey: [] In Progress Survey: [] Post-Survey: [] (This survey will be developed based on the results of prior surveys.)

Data Analysis: The analysis of the data collected in this study will be set up using a grounded theory approach (Johnson & Christensen, 2008). I will use this inductive approach to assess the data and look for emerging themes. The constant comparative method will be used to analyze the data with sensitivity to the criteria established by the grounded theory approach: fit, understanding, generalitity, and control. The three stages of data analysis in the grounded theory approach are open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. Open coding will help me to identify key ideas presented in participants open responses. During axial coding, I will begin to set up and organize conceptual categories based on the data I have gathered. Selective coding will require me to develop the grounded theory based on the data collected. The quantitative data will be evaluated using simple averaging to determine the average response among participants.

Timeline:

The following provides a timeline of this study:

October 27-- Discuss research plan with school's professional learning committee

January 10-- Submit IRB paperwork

January 28-- Distribute consent forms to staff

February 4-- Consent forms due back, participant groups randomly assigned

February 8-- Participants take initial survey

February 15-- First meeting of technology-based group to learn how to download podcasts/vodcasts and participate in Moodle community

March 1-- First face-to-face professional learning meeting/ First podcast and discussion forum open

March 8-- Second face-to-face professional learning meeting/ Second podcast and discussion forum open

March 15-- Third face-to-face professional learning meeting/ Third podcast and discussion forum open

March 22-- Mid-study survey

March 29-- Fourth face-to-face professional learning meeting/ Fourth podcast and discussion forum open

April 12-- Fifth face-to-face professional learning meeting/ Fifth podcast and discussion forum open

April 19-- Sixth face-to-face professional learning meeting/ Sixth podcast and discussion forum open

April 26-- Participants complete final survey

Throughout-- Look for emerging themes from open-ended survey responses, online discussion forums, and transcripts from face-to-face sessions

Literature Review

In a meta-analysis of educational research, Robert Marzano (2001) identified teacher quality as the primary factor influencing student performance. With this in mind, the importance of professional learning for teachers is obvious. The National Staff Development Council (2009), recently renamed Learning Forward, defines professional development as “a comprehensive, sustained, and intensive approach to improving teachers’ and principals’ effectiveness in raising student achievement” (para. 2). Unfortunately with increased demands on teachers’ time, it has become difficult for teachers to find time to enhance their professional performance through professional learning opportunities. Stephanie Hirsch (2009) explains that “too few teachers experience the quality of professional development and teamwork that would enable them to be more effective educators each day” (p.10). This is particularly true for teachers in the state of Georgia. In the 2010 NSDC/SCOPE study which analyzed the availability and quality of professional development based on eleven factors, Georgia earned only one point of the possible eleven for access to content-focused professional development.

The lack of opportunities for teachers’ professional growth has led many researchers to explore alternative methods to help teachers receive the professional development they need. In many cases, researchers turned to technology-based solutions to accomplish this goal. Technology-based learning is often referred to as distance learning. Hossain (2010) defines distance learning as “a system of learning which delivers education to students using different means of communication like radio, television, Internet, satellite, etc. and learners can enroll … without being physically present on campus” (p. 124). Though many other terms can be used to describe technology-based learning (e-learning, Internet learning, distributed learning, networked learning, tele-learning, virtual learning, computer-assisted learning, web-based learning, and distance learning), the term “distance learning” will be used throughout this paper.

Distance learning has been shown to be just as effective as face-to-face learning but far more efficient and far less expensive. Online courses can be taught in one-half to two-thirds the time of courses taught in person (Barker & Brooks, 2005). Additionally, distance learning eliminates many of the time constraints associated with scheduled class meetings. This allows learners to organize their learning schedules based on other demands on their time. For teachers who juggle work and personal commitments, this is an important benefit of online learning (Duncan-Howell, 2010). Another benefit of distance learning is the speed at which it can be updated to meet learners needs (Ally, 2008). Trexler (2009) explains this by saying that “learning that used to be delivered ‘just-in-case,’ can now be delivered ‘just-in-time, just enough, and just-for-me’” (p. 14). This ability to meet the needs of individuals in a timely manner supports two of the fundamental premises of adult learning theory: adults expect immediate utility and a focus on issues that concern them (Fogarty & Pete, 2004).

Though distance learning clearly meets the needs of teachers in many ways, trainers must take care in designing distance learning environments to incorporate what is known about effective professional development practices. Research has shown that there are five critical qualities of professional development: it must be sustained, job-embedded, interactive, collegial, and integrate a variety of learning methods (Fogarty & Pete, 2004). Building a collegial community of learners is sometimes difficult to accomplish in a distance learning environment. For example, in a study of member participation in The Education Network of Ontario, Riverin and Stacey (2008) found that the initial community that had developed dissolved over time. Parr and Ward (2006) were unable to form an online community in their study of FarNet, an online learning community designed to link schools in isolated regions of New Zealand. The researchers attributed the failure of FarNet to teachers’ feelings of protectiveness and ownership of resources they created as well as teachers’ fear that the work they contributed might not be seen as “good enough” by other teachers. Interestingly however, FarNet was found to be an effective means of professional exchange in pre-existing communities. This result is reflected in other online community studies in which a community of teachers had developed in a face-to-face context first and was then transferred into an online realm (Duncan-Howell, 2010; Fry, 2006; Mardis & Hoffman, 2007). Thus, professional development trainers must work hard to establish a sense of community amongst participants or take advantage of existing social and professional communities in order to fully develop the collegiality that has been shown to be so important in professional development.

In a review of over 1,300 studies into the effect of professional development on student achievement, Yoon, Duncan, Lee, Scarloss, and Shapley (2007) found that professional development that made use of outside experts had a greater effect on student learning than site-based trainings offered by in-house staff members. Unfortunately, such a finding can have costly implications for schools that must pay the fees associated with bringing in an outside expert. Distance learning can resolve this issue because experts can meet virtually with large groups of teachers to share their knowledge without having to travel. The use of experts in online professional development was acknowledged by participants to be one of the greatest factors influencing their learning in a study of NASA Explorer Schools (Marrero, Woodruff, Schuster, & Riccio, 2010). Presentations to teachers around the country by scientific researchers from NASA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administrations, and other respected science institutions would have been financially unfeasible in a face-to-face format. The research review conducted by Yoon et al. also revealed the importance of time in professional development. Teachers who spent an average of 49 hours on professional development focused on one topic boosted their students’ achievement up to 21 percentile points.

While large amounts of research have been done on distance learning for teachers using computers and online communities, there is far less research into professional development that makes use of mobile devices such as iPodsTM, a fundamental element of this study. Morris and Easterday (2008) explain that “with the iPodTM, teachers can personalize their interactions with professional development resources in ways that would have been cumbersome at best using older technologies” (p. 50). In their study of the use of video iPodsTM to support the learning of mathematics teachers, Morris and Easterday found that teachers came better prepared for face-to-face professional development sessions when the book and article readings were provided in an audio format that could be downloaded. Additionally, viewing videos of classroom teachers in action was a useful learning experience because the video iPodTM allowed teachers to watch and rewatch lessons and focus on parts deemed to be of greater importance. References

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