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深人们对在线专业发展环境如何促进教学、课堂实践的变化以及与面对面专业发展相比学生学习的变化的理解。利用中学教师学习使用以改革为导向的环境科学课程（观察环境- LATE），教师小组将被随机分配到三个条件中的一个。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)由调解人指导的在线专业发展，结构为“短期课程”。专业发展的内容在这三种情况下保持不变，在线方面是基于以前的研究和开发活动（Web上的知识网络- KNOW）。评估影响的方法多种多样，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；(5)基于课程材料的学生学习测量。

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.