Examining the Factors of a Technology Professional Development Intervention

This article discusses technology integration literature used to guide the design and implementation of a technology professional development intervention (TPDI) for secondary education teachers. Qualitative multiple-case research methods were used to examine teachers’ perceptions of the TPDI factors to provide a deeper understanding of which factors teachers’ perceived to be beneficial to the quality of the TPDI. A content analysis methodology was used to compare teachers’ perceptions at two different phases throughout the study: • Phase 1: while participating in the TPDI and, • Phase 2: after transferring the knowledge and skills taught in the TPDI to teaching practice. The results demonstrated seven beneficial factors to include when designing technology curriculum for adult learners: relevant, learning, access, reactions, interactions, clear and easy, and instructor. While this study examined a specific TPDI, the instructional design incorporated factors rooted in constructivist design principles, making the implications of the findings relevant to the instructional design of technology learning environments for higher education and business environments

Examining the factors of a technology professional development intervention

In response to the ever increasing demand to compete in a global economy, the United States needs to prepare its students with the appropriate technical knowledge and communication skills to be competitive in the 21st century (Watson, 2007). Students must begin utilizing current technology tools during their K-12 educational experience and online learning can assist students with developing these skills. Teachers with online technology skills and equipped with effective pedagogical strategies for teaching in an online environment are the keys to achieving this goal. To ensure teachers are keeping pace with changing teaching and learning environments, and effectively utilizing new technologies, teacher technology professional development (PD) is a major initiative throughout K-12 education (Lawless & Pellegrino, 2007). In turn, it is the responsibility of school districts to prepare our nation\u27s teachers to model and teach the use of these tools. Funding initiatives and federal and state programs have been put in place to assist school districts with preparing their teachers to teach with new technologies. While there are government mandates requiring teachers to become knowledgeable in online teaching, many teachers and school districts are not meeting these mandates, and often barriers, such as lack of funding, time, and accessibility to experts, impact the quality of PD provided (Reeves & Pedulla, 2011). One way to gain more knowledge for providing quality PD is to examine the factors of a technology professional development intervention (TPDI) to establish best practices for designing quality technology PD for teachers. The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case research study was to examine secondary education teachers\u27 perceptions of a technology professional development intervention (TPDI). This study was designed to provide a deeper understanding of which factors teachers\u27 perceived to be beneficial to the quality of technology professional development (PD) they received. An extensive review of literature surrounding technology integration within K-12 educational settings, demonstrated important factors to be incorporated into a TPDI to increase its quality and effectiveness. These factors aligned with the TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) theoretical framework, so it was used to for designing, developing, and implementing the TPDI for this study. The instructional goal of the TPDI was to assist teachers in meeting two Entry-Level Standards for Michigan teachers related to designing and facilitating learning in the online environment. A learning technology by design approach (Koehler & Mishra, 2005; Mishra & Koehler, 2003) was the basis for the TPDI. This hands on approach exposed teachers to Google Applications while designing instruction and instructional materials to use in their teaching practice. The instructional design of the TPDI was evaluated by a panel of subject matter experts to increase content validity, and was modified based on feedback. The TPDI was implemented in an online learning environment. The quality of PD can be influenced by a variety of factors, but Guskey and Sparks (1996) suggest that the factors with the most direct influence can be grouped into content, processes, and contextual factors. To investigate the complex relationship between the TPDI factors and teacher practice, I used the first piece of the Guskey and Sparks (1996) Model of the Relationship between Professional Development and Improvements on Student Learning, as a conceptual framework for collecting and analyzing data to address the research questions. The data was analyzed using a content analysis methodology to examine the factors of the TPDI that the teachers perceived to be most beneficial for transferring the knowledge and skills taught during the TPDI to teaching practice. Studying teachers\u27 perceptions of these factors during the TPDI provided insight into which factors teachers believed were most beneficial to their learning. Comparing teachers\u27 perceptions of the same factors after they began applying the knowledge and skills from the TPDI with their students, provided insight about which factors were most beneficial for teacher practice. The results of this study demonstrated seven beneficial factors to narrow the transfer gap between technology PD and practice. These factors include: relevant, learning, access, reactions, interactions, clear and easy, and instructor. This suggest that instructional designers should incorporate relevant learning by doing activities that are structured to impact learners\u27 perceptions of how their knowledge can be expanded by creating their own learning path in a situated contextual environment. While this study examined a specific TPDI designed for secondary education teachers at a high school in Michigan, the design of the TPDI incorporated factors that are rooted in constructivist design principles, making the implications of the findings from this study relevant to instructional design. These recommendations could be used to guide instructional designers when designing environments for other technology training and adoption initiatives for employees

Low-Fee Private Schools in West Africa: Case Studies from Burkina Faso and Ghana

Every year billions of dollars are spent on development aid and training around the world. However, only 10% of this training results in the transfer of knowledge, skills, or behaviors learned in the training to the work place. Ideally, learning transfer produces effective and continued application by learners of the knowledge and skills they gained through their learning activities. Some studies suggest that technology usage can serve as an effective post-learning intervention to enhance the transfer of learning. Currently, there is a limited body of research examining the factors that hinder and promote learning transfer in professional development, particularly the professional development of school leaders in developing countries. This qualitative exploratory study sought to address the gap in the literature by examining 6 schools, 3 in Burkina Faso and 3 in Ghana, West Africa. This investigation explored: (a) if and how learning transfer took place after the leadership training; (b) what promoted and hindered learning transfer in both countries; and (c) if the use of a text message intervention after the training enhanced learning transfer. The sample consisted of 13 West African school leaders (6 in Burkina Faso and 7 in Ghana) who attended a 3-day leadership training workshop. Data collection included in-depth interviews, document analysis, post-training site visits, and text messages to ascertain whether this mobile technology intervention enhanced learning transfer. The findings demonstrate that learning transfer occurred in both countries in all six schools. Data indicate that most of the transfer of learning happened in areas not requiring mindset and behavioral changes. Data suggest that the facilities in which the trainings took place, the facilitators’ dispositions and knowledge as well as the adequacy of the materials and the follow-up of the mobile text messaging intervention assisted the participants in transferring knowledge to their schools following the training. Participants also indicated some inhibitors to the transfer of learning such as financial, cultural, and human behavior constraints. This study helps increase our understanding of what promotes and inhibits learning transfer in educational settings in developing countries and provides suggestions for trainers and teachers who facilitate trainings

Low-Fee Private Schools in West Africa: Case Studies from Burkina Faso and Ghana

Every year billions of dollars are spent on development aid and training around the world. However, only 10% of this training results in the transfer of knowledge, skills, or behaviors learned in the training to the work place. Ideally, learning transfer produces effective and continued application by learners of the knowledge and skills they gained through their learning activities. Some studies suggest that technology usage can serve as an effective post-learning intervention to enhance the transfer of learning. Currently, there is a limited body of research examining the factors that hinder and promote learning transfer in professional development, particularly the professional development of school leaders in developing countries. This qualitative exploratory study sought to address the gap in the literature by examining 6 schools, 3 in Burkina Faso and 3 in Ghana, West Africa. This investigation explored: (a) if and how learning transfer took place after the leadership training; (b) what promoted and hindered learning transfer in both countries; and (c) if the use of a text message intervention after the training enhanced learning transfer. The sample consisted of 13 West African school leaders (6 in Burkina Faso and 7 in Ghana) who attended a 3-day leadership training workshop. Data collection included in-depth interviews, document analysis, post-training site visits, and text messages to ascertain whether this mobile technology intervention enhanced learning transfer. The findings demonstrate that learning transfer occurred in both countries in all six schools. Data indicate that most of the transfer of learning happened in areas not requiring mindset and behavioral changes. Data suggest that the facilities in which the trainings took place, the facilitators’ dispositions and knowledge as well as the adequacy of the materials and the follow-up of the mobile text messaging intervention assisted the participants in transferring knowledge to their schools following the training. Participants also indicated some inhibitors to the transfer of learning such as financial, cultural, and human behavior constraints. This study helps increase our understanding of what promotes and inhibits learning transfer in educational settings in developing countries and provides suggestions for trainers and teachers who facilitate trainings

Learning Transfer: The Missing Link to Learning Among School Leaders in Burkina Faso and Ghana

Every year, billions of dollars are spent on development aid and training around the world. However, only 10% of this training results in the transfer of knowledge, skills, or behaviors learned in the training to the work place. Ideally, learning transfer produces effective and continued application by learners of the knowledge and skills they gained through their learning activities. Currently, there is a limited body of research examining the factors that hinder and promote learning transfer in professional development, particularly the professional development of school leaders in developing countries. This qualitative exploratory study sought to address the gap in the literature by examining six schools: three in Burkina Faso and three in Ghana, West Africa. This investigation explored what promoted and hindered learning transfer in both countries. The sample consisted of 13 West-African school leaders (6 in Burkina Faso and 7 in Ghana) who attended a 3-day leadership training workshop. Data collection included in-depth interviews, document analysis, post-training site visits, and text messages to ascertain whether this mobile technology intervention enhanced learning transfer. The findings demonstrated that learning transfer occurred in both countries in all six schools. Data indicated that most of the transfer of learning happened in areas not requiring mindset and behavioral changes. Data suggested that the facilities in which the trainings took place, the facilitators’ dispositions and knowledge, the adequacy of the materials as well as the testimonials and certificate of completions enhanced the transfer of learning. Participants also indicated some inhibitors to the transfer of learning, such as financial, cultural, and human behavior constraints. This study helps increase our understanding of what promotes and inhibits learning transfer in educational settings in Burkina Faso and Ghana and provides suggestions for trainers and teachers who facilitate trainings

Management consulting.

Including a lengthy, comprehensive introduction, this important collection brings together some of the most influential papers that have contributed to our understanding of management consultancy work. The two-volume set encompasses the breadth of conceptual and empirical perspectives and explores those key ideas that have helped to advance our knowledge of this intriguing area. The volumes are divided into a series of thematic sections, affording the reader easy access to a great resource of information. Professors Clark and Avakian have written an original introduction which provides a comprehensive overview of the literature

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

Effects of immersion in inquiry-based learning on student teachers’ educational beliefs

Professional development on inquiry-based learning (IBL) generally draws heavily on the principle of providing instruction in line with what teachers are expected to do in their classroom. So far, however, relatively little is known about how this impacts teachers' educational beliefs, even though these beliefs ultimately determine their classroom behavior. The present study therefore investigates how immersion in inquiry-based learning affects student teachers' beliefs about knowledge goals, in addition to their self-efficacy for inquiry. In total, 302 student history teachers participated in a 4-h long inquiry activity designed within the WISE learning environment, and completed a pre- and posttest right before and after the intervention. Multilevel analyses suggest that the intervention had a significant positive effect on the value that student teachers attributed to procedural knowledge goals, or learning how historical knowledge is constructed, and on student teachers' self-efficacy for conducting inquiries. Despite these general positive results, however, the results also show that the impact of the intervention differed significantly across students. In particular, it appears that immersion in IBL had little effect on a subgroup of 25 student-teachers, who held largely content-oriented beliefs. Based on these findings, the present study discusses a number of implications for professional development on IBL