Dynamic not static: Characteristics of effective teacher professional development in ICT

A recent small scale study was conducted in Queensland on behalf of a state professional association to inform its position statement on the professional development of teachers in ICT (ICT PD). Data for the study was drawn from a survey of teachers at the association’s 2004 state conference and semi-structured interviews with leaders from a cross-section of educational systems. The study was premised on an understanding of professional development as the interrelationship and reflexivity of theory and practice. It identified the models of ICT PD as being tertiary study, school-based programs, single events, online curriculum projects, serial courses in hybrid or face-to-face mode, professional communities, and action learning/research. As a measure of effectiveness, the impacts were identified as being direct and/or sustained impact on practice, personal knowledge, increased ICT skills, reflection on practice, professional status, professional networks, and peer collaboration. The study concluded that the characteristics of ICT PD were (1) Context, in terms of relevance and immediacy; (2) Time, as both a measure and a variable of need (timeliness); (3) Community, referring to professional collaborations; and (4) Personal Growth, both cognitive challenges and “corporate” knowledge. The study concluded that these characteristics are dynamic and interdependent and need to be considered in the design of effective ICT PD for teachers. In 2004, an Australian state-based teacher professional association concerned with ICT commissioned a small scale study to inform its development of a position statement on the professional development (PD) of teachers in the curricular use of ICT. The study comprised of (a) an environmental scan to determine what form professional development in ICT was taking in the state and elsewhere, (b) a literature review which focussed on local and national initiatives in professional development in ICT for teachers, and (c) a data collection drawn from a survey of the delegates to the association’s 2004 state conference and semi-structured interviews with leaders from a cross-section of educational systems. The full report of this study (Lloyd, Cochrane, & Beames, 2005) is available online at http://www.qsite.edu.au. The definition of professional development adopted by this study was one premised on the notion of professional development as being concerned with the interrelationship and reflexivity of theory and practice where ‘theory’ is broadly understood to incorporate personal philosophy, educational tenets and systemic policies and goals. This can be shown diagrammatically as a simple oval loop with theory and practice as diametric opposite joined by arcs marked with directional arrows (Figure 1). Figure 1: Simple model of professional development The dynamism of this model is evident in the literature where professional development is likened to a journey or a pathway. For example, McKenzie (2001) contended that professional development can be “experienced as a personal journey of growth and discovery that engages Practice Practice Theory Theory the learner on a daily and perhaps hourly basis” which “includes an emphasis upon selfdirection” (paragraph 33). Similarly, the national Department of Education, Science and Training report PD 2000 Australia also recommended that “teachers should be responsible for their own professional development, both in the design and choice of paths to follow” (DEST, 2004, p. 1). This could, on one level, be seen as a simple and iterative enactment of a constructivist approach to learning. Through the environmental scan and literature review, the study identified the models of ICT PD as being tertiary study, school-based programs, single events, online curriculum projects, serial courses in hybrid or face-to-face mode, professional communities, and action learning/research. As a measure of effectiveness, the impacts were identified as being direct and/or sustained impact on practice, personal knowledge, increased ICT skills, reflection on practice, professional status, professional networks, and peer collaboration. The survey instrument was based on these observations and findings were represented on an 8 x 8 matrix which graphically showed the impacts (for the sample population in the study) of the ICT models under review. It is cautiously contended that these findings are not generalisable across broader populations, but are valuable in determining the needs of a particular group. In this study, the models with the highest impact across the largest number of possible impacts were (a) professional communities, (b) online curriculum projects, and (c) action learning/research. The primacy of professional communities is not a surprising finding, as according to the influential national report Making Better Connections, professional learning communities are “powerful and supportive environments where teachers interact with each other” and achieve “mutual improvement of their professional practices” (Downes et al., 2002. p. 52). While there were multiple outcomes from this study including the development of validated survey instruments which has subsequently been adopted for other purposes, the main outcome (and operational aim) of the study was the development of the association’s position statement. The over-arching guidelines for effective professional development developed were that: 1. it must support teachers’ lifelong learning through reflection (practice to theory), 2. it must improve teaching practice through action (theory to practice); and, 3. it should foster active membership and collegiate relationships within professional communities. 4. it should consider the need for timeliness and reflection over time for practising teachers. The general guidelines for effective professional development emerging from the study described in this paper and from which the association developed their position statement are presented as Table 1. These guidelines are categorised according to the elements identified through the literature and supported by the findings of the study. These elements are (a) Context, in terms of relevance and immediacy; (b) Time, as both a measure and a variable of need (timeliness); (c) Community, referring to professional collaborations; and (d) Personal Growth, both cognitive challenges and “corporate” knowledge. It is important to note, that while these elements were drawn independently from the data of this study, they can be corroborated within the extant literature.