10 steps for successful online professional development programs for teachers
Developing digital asynchronous self-learning modules
Felix Kapp
Not only students are affected by digital learning. The number of digital professional development programs for teachers in Germany is also steadily increasing. Online courses offer the opportunity to reach a larger and more diverse group of teachers regardless of time and location compared to face-to-face events. Digital media also create new forms of interaction for participants. The German Center for Teacher Education in Mathematics, which is based at the IPN, focuses on such courses in its development and research work.
A shift from face-to-face events to digital options in professional development programs for teachers leads to changes in teaching and learning modalities. Each teacher decides for themselves when and how they engage with the material. The direct exchange between colleagues often takes a back seat in online environments in favor of an in-depth individual examination of the subject-specific educational topic.
The success of an online professional development program, i.e. how it is used by the teacher, and whether it is perceived as helpful and ultimately has a positive effect on teaching, depends on a variety of factors. The German Centre for Mathematics Teacher Education in (DZLM) develops and examines, among other things, digital professional development programs with self-study modules as their main component. Below we present how such digital programs can be developed. This proposal is based on findings and experiences from the DZLM network, which is coordinated by the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN).
The first example, the “Digital Self-Learning Module Algebra”, was developed by the DZLM network partners Heidelberg University of Education and Freiburg University of Education with the University of Duisburg-Essen. This module addresses subject-specific didactic content in the areas of “variables”, “terms” and “equations”. Mathematics teachers receive a short teaching scene in the form of a so-called vignette to begin each subject area. Using the format of a cartoon, these vignettes depict typical requirements for teachers in a teaching situation from the respective subject areas and are supplemented by corresponding questions. Recommendations for specific learning content within the self-study module are made based on the teachers' assessment of these situations. These are subsequently presented as explanatory videos and corresponding quizzes. Each subject area or section has up to three explanatory videos with subject-specific background information.
Following the learning phase with subject-specific learning materials, teaching vignettes are again presented and teachers are asked to identify the challenges in the depicted situations. Correctly recognizing the subject-specific challenges is a prerequisite for obtaining the certificate. The completion time for the “Digital Self-Learning Module Algebra” varies between one and three hours, depending on prior knowledge.
The second example of an online professional development program is based on the established program Mathe sicher können (MSK) at the Technical University of Dortmund. The online course offered by the program allows teachers to work with the subject-specific educational background on the topics of “Understanding place values”, “Ordering and comparing numbers”, “Understanding addition and subtraction” and “Understanding multiplication and division” in a total of four modules. Each module contains explanatory videos from experts, instructional videos, examples from students, texts, illustrations as well as quizzes and reflection tasks. The modules also contain diagnostic and support material from the MSK program for students. The tasks provided can be used by teachers directly in their classes. The modules also contain corresponding instructions for implementation and evaluation in the class or support group. Teachers should ideally first deal with the educational background as part of the online professional development program and then go into their own classes with the diagnostic and support tasks to try out the use of the material. Should it not be possible to try out the tasks in their own class, they are provided with sample solutions from fictitious students, which they can use to understand both the diagnosis of missing comprehension basics and the starting points for support. The implementation of this online course usually takes place in groups of teachers. Following a joint kick-off - either through a face-to-face event or a joint online meeting - participants have access to the modules over a period of approximately four months. Optional appointments with the MSK team in the form of video conferences are available during this time. Each of the four modules takes around three hours to complete. The online course ends with a final synchronous session in which participants can discuss the content and how the application of the diagnostic and support material has been going. Participation in the introductory and closing events and completion of the central tasks in the modules are mandatory to receive a certificate of participation.
When examining the two professional development programs presented as examples, similarities and differences become clear: in both courses, the participating teachers are given considerable freedom in shaping their individual learning process. Unlike joint group activities and defined framework conditions, which are common in face-to-face events, the educational content can be individually adapted to personal prior knowledge, motivation, individual goals and available resources.
The two programs differ in terms of their scope and structure. While the “Digital Self-Learning Module Algebra” allows individual and flexible use by teachers, the online course from the Mathe Sicher Können program includes self-study phases as well as a joint kick-off and closing event in real time. Both the total duration of the courses and the activities planned as part of the professional development program vary between the courses. An important element of the online course Mathe Sicher Können is the practical testing of diagnostic and support material. The course acknowledges that this activity cannot always be carried out in the teachers' respective schools and offers an alternative approach using fictitious students.
Various factors influencing the learning process are identified in models of self-regulated learning as well as in Lipowsky and Rzejak's offer-and-use model for research on teachers’ professional development. These influencing factors include teachers' prior knowledge, individual motivation and goals as well as their available time and cognitive resources. All of these influencing factors deserve attention when developing online professional development courses. However, a particular challenge with online professional development programs is that participants differ more in terms of personal goals, prior knowledge and motivation compared to face-to-face trainings due to the larger number of enrolled teachers which accompanies the easier access to online courses. The trainers are also not able to provide the same level of support during the event. Support services must be planned and implemented in advance.
The DZLM guidelines for professional development programs summarize extensive experience in the area of professional development for teachers. The development process for online professional development courses can be described in the following ten steps, considering the DZLM guidelines for in-person trainings, previous experience with online programs and established models for designing digital learning environments.
Due to the easier access to online professional development courses and the subsequently larger number of participants, there is also a more diverse target group compared to face-to-face events. Defining and describing future users plays therefore a crucial role in developing tailored professional development courses.
The first step should therefore involve defining and then describing relevant characteristics of the target group, such as motivation, prior knowledge and expectations. One can approach this task both by creating so-called personas (prototypical profiles of users) and by surveying the target group.
The second step involves defining the learning content and skills to be taught in the course. This step results in a precise description of the content of the professional development course - using mind maps, for example - and answers to questions such as “What will the participants be able to do after the online course?” and “What will they do differently in their lessons after the professional development program?”.
While the first two steps are almost identical for face-to-face and online professional development courses, the third step addresses specific aspects of online professional development courses or trainings with digital elements. This step involves selecting and adapting learning materials in the form of texts, videos, presentations, animations, simulations and interactive tasks either from existing collections or creating new ones for online courses.
The fourth step involves determining the organizational framework of the course: “In what sequence should sections or modules of the professional development program be completed?”, “Is there a kick-off and closing event?” and “What support is available for participants during the online professional development program?”
The fifth step focuses on describing the activities carried out during the professional development program. This should consider different pathways through the program. The greater degree of freedom in online courses allows learners to take different paths in the learning environment, so it makes sense to model these different ways of progression through professional development program in advance. On the one hand, the different personas from step one can be used for this (“How would experienced teachers learn within the online course compared to career changers with little prior experience and knowledge?”), on the other hand, different organizational conditions should be considered. For example, one person may have access to students in a class and can therefore test diagnostic material, while another may not.
As soon as these conceptual decisions have been made during the development phase, the technical implementation begins in the sixth step by setting up and configuring a learning management system (LMS). Both infrastructural issues (e.g. “What URL can the service be accessed via?”) and data protection issues (e.g. “What data is stored?”) need to be clarified.
Once the infrastructure for the online professional development program is in place, the seventh step is to start adding content. Depending on the chosen platform (e.g. Moodle, Ilias), videos, images, texts and interactive tasks can be integrated, sometimes using additional authoring tools such as the free and openly accessible H5P software. Based on our experience training for the team of authors and some time to get to know the specifics of the chosen LMS are helpful at this stage of the development process (e.g., technical specifications such as the size of uploaded video files must be considered to ensure smooth use later on).
The eighth step involves piloting the course: both the content and the technical functions (accessibility, registration) are tested for quality assurance purposes. Depending on the resources and the timeline of the project, this can be done within the team of developers by taking on the role of a participating teacher, by Critical Friends or by carrying out a test with teachers.
The ninth step involves publication and operation. The focus of the tasks shifts at this point from the development to the implementation of the professional development program. This includes recruiting teachers for the program, supporting them while learning and, once they have successfully completed the professional development program, awarding a certificate.
The tenth step, entitled “Evaluation”, examines the effects of the professional development program. This step includes both a summative evaluation of the completed online professional development course and an accompanying (formative) evaluation during its development. This step furthermore contains research activities addressing more general questions, for example, on the cognitive or motivational effects of individual elements of the professional development program. These studies do not necessarily require being carried out at the end of the development process, but can take place parallel to the other steps. Nevertheless, this step illustrates the importance of empirically investigating the effects of the designed professional development program. Last but not least, this investigation is the basis for further development of the training and is necessary for the justification of the professional development program.
The ten-step procedure presented here provides guidance for developing digital professional development courses. It also offers designers of such programs a basis for communication on which one could categorize their own questions and link them to established research fields in the area of professional development. The most important conclusion from the experiences in the projects presented is the cooperation between different disciplines. The ten-step process illustrates, on the one hand, that knowledge from subject-specific pedagogy, findings from instructional science and technical know-how can work together to create a successful professional development course. On the other hand, the cooperation between the target group, the multipliers and the development team deserves special mention. Cooperation between different disciplines and people active in the field has proven to be a success factor for the development, implementation of and research on digital professional development courses.
About the author:
Dr. Felix Kapp, is a research scientist in the Department of Subject-Related Knowledge Transfer at the IPN. In his research, the psychology graduate investigates factors influencing technology-supported learning. A particular focus of his work is the identification of success factors for online professional development courses for teachers.
