The Impact of Online Professional Development: An Experimental Study of Professional Development Modalities Linked to Curriculum

这个为期五年的研究项目旨在加强了解在线专业发展环境如何有助于教学学习，课堂实践的变化和学生学习的变化，而不是面对面的专业发展。 利用中学教师学习使用改革为导向的环境科学课程（看环境-晚），教师组将被随机分配到三个条件之一。 这些是：（1）传统的面对面研讨会，（2）自我指导的在线专业发展，或（3）由主持人指导并以“短期课程”形式组织的在线专业发展。“专业发展的内容在三个条件下保持不变，在线方面以以前的研究和发展活动为基础（网上知识网络- KNOW）。 各种措施被用来评估影响，包括：（1）教师背景和信念调查，（2）教师概念知识的书面测试，（3）专业后发展访谈，（4）教师制定课程的课堂观察和（5）学生学习的措施，根据课程材料。

This five-year research project is designed to enhance understanding of how online professional development environments contribute to teach learning, changes in classroom practice and changes in student learning in comparison to face-to-face professional development. Using secondary school teachers learning to use a reformed-oriented environmental science curriculum (Looking at the Environment - LATE), groups of teachers will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions. These are: (1)a traditional face-to-face workshop, (2)self-guided online professional development, or (3)online professional development guided by a facilitator and structured as a "short course." The content of the professional development is held constant over the three conditions and the online aspect is based on previous research and development activities (Knowledge Networks On the Web - KNOW). Various measures are used to assess impact including: (1) teacher backgrounds and beliefs surveys, (2)written tests of teacher concept knowledge, (3)post-professional development interviews, (4)classroom observations of teachers enacting the curriculum and (5)student learning measures based on the curriculum materials.