Professional Sharing : Professional Sharing :

Dr. Barley MakDr. Barley Mak

DirectorDirector

Centre of Enhancing English Learning and TeachingCentre of Enhancing English Learning and TeachingThe Chinese University of Hong KongThe Chinese University of Hong Kong

Some thoughts on building an online professional development community

• The Knowledge Sharing Community (KSC) Project –online professional development (Mak

2005)• Impact of online teacher professional

development community---Fusco, J., Gehlbach, H., and Schlager, M. (2000)

• Stephen et al. 2008 ---Presence pedagogy (based on social constructivist theory)

The Knowledge Sharing Community (KSC) Project –online professional development (Mak 2005)

• A study on the ESL teachers’ experiences of and needs for professional development (PD)

• A total of 56 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents (primary and secondary English as a second language teachers in Hong Kong) by mail

The Knowledge Sharing Community (KSC) Project –online professional development (Mak 2005)

The most common PD activities taken in the last 12 months (% of respondents)

Perceived to be useful (% of respondents)

• Making peer lesson observation (94.4%) 54.5%

• Participating in lesson planning and team teaching with other colleagues within my school (90.8%)

52.7%

• Sharing of good teaching practices with colleagues on school staff development day (81.9%)

57.7%

• Participating in professional sharing with teaches of other schools through school visits, workshops, study circles, etc. (61.1%)

51.1%

The Knowledge Sharing Community (KSC) Project –online professional development (Mak 2005)

PD activities needed in the next two years:

• Improving teaching and learning (90.9%)• Motivating under-aspiring students (81.8%)• Fostering student creativity (79.2%)• Teaching thinking skills (76.4%)• Curriculum design (71.2%)

The Knowledge Sharing Community (KSC) Project –online professional development (Mak 2005)

PD activities not urgently required in the next two years:

• Doing action research (66.6%)• Classroom behaviour management (54.6%)• Using ICT in teaching (52.1%)• Departmental leadership training (52.0%)

It appears that the concept of using ICT in teaching is not embraced by over half of the respondents.

Impact of online teacher professional development community---by Fusco, J., Gehlbach, H., and Schlager, M. (2000)

•851 educational professionals as respondents

•Correlation between how often a member logs in and impact of TAPPED IN

Impact of TAPPED IN R N

Reducing professional isolation .47 789 Professional Relationships .48 789 Participation in professional discourse with other educators .49 786 Changes in how I teach .37 782 Changes in what I teach .32 786 Knowledge of new subject matter .37 784 Use of technology in my teaching .35 779 Ability to find web resources .31 793

Source: Fusco, J., Gehlbach, H., and Schlager, M. 2000. Assessing the impact of a large-scale online teacher professional development community. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference for the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education, pp. 2178–2183.

Impact of online teacher professional development community---by Fusco, J., Gehlbach, H., and Schlager, M. (2000)

Notes:

1. TAPPED IN™ is an online community that supports teachers’ professional growth through both formal education and professional development programs provided by a coalition of partner organizations and informal activities that occur year-round.

2. The scale for the independent variable of how often have you logged into TAPPED IN was: 1=Never, 2=Once or Twice, 3= Less than one a month, 4=At least once a month, 5=At least once a week, 6=More than once per week.

3. The scale for the dependent variables of impact of TAPPED IN was: 1=Very negative, 2=Somewhat negative, 3=No impact, 4=Somewhat positive, 5=Very positive.

4. R denotes Spearman’s Rho correlation.

5. Higher values of R indicate a stronger relationship between the time spent online and the positive impact that members report from TAPPED IN.

Stephen et al. 2008 ---Presence pedagogy, based on social constructivist theory

• participants engaged in a presence pedagogy learning environment become members of a broader community of practice

• everyone in the community is a potential instructor, peer, expert, and novice—all of whom learn with and from one another

My observation about this initiative

• Paradigm shift in teaching and learning in the 21st century

• E-learning• Online community

Paradigm shift in learning and teaching in the 21st century

• This platform provides curriculum-based materials with concise pedagogical advice

• Not another old HKEdCity project• EDB does not do all the lesson plans• It is a chance for teachers to practise their professional

judgment to choose materials that suit the learning needs of their students

• Teachers have to design their school-based curriculum from the generic curriculum provided

E-learning• This platform is only a milestone of e-learning.• The resources are not content-based.

Teachers can create their own materials in their own context to suit their needs.

• Teachers can judge when and how to use technology to enhance language learning.

Online community• Exchange views and provide comments on the

resources after trials• A good avenue to share your experiences and

materials among a group of professionals and ultimately form an online community