| The main purpose of this research was to develop a case study of an exemplary online teacher professional development (oTPD) program from the designers' perspective. The primary expectation was that the findings on pedagogy, technical design, and teacher learning in a particular oTPD program would make a useful contribution to the field of oTPD design---particularly in light of the reform efforts toward developing teaching as a profession. The secondary purpose of this work was to test the utility of an analytic matrix developed in a pilot study done in preparation for this research. The matrix was tested and refined in other oTPD contexts before it was used as the main analytical lens for this work.; The WIDE World Online Teacher Professional Development Program was chosen for analysis in this study for several reasons. It is a research-based program, and its overarching goals of improving teacher practice, supporting teacher change and professional growth are important goals of most reform initiatives. WIDE has created some innovative practices (coaches for small groups, applying new knowledge in one's own learning contexts during the course and working in teams) that are important for this research because of the insights these offer on how teachers learn.; While acknowledging the many positive features of WIDE World, the analysis of WIDE World through the lens of the TPD DEL and the stories of the designers point to three challenges for future consideration. The first challenge is to develop 'distributed' pedagogical strategies that effectively support the second challenge of managing a distributed learning environment across distance, that in turn are supported by innovative technical design. Thoughtfully designing an array of pedagogical strategies that are interwoven for strength and clarity of purpose means that learners may be better served in ways that enhance their teaching practice and have a direct impact on improving student outcomes. The lessons learned here from the TPD DEL analysis may prove useful as other educational researchers in the oTPD field work to develop ever stronger empirical research methods and models for scaling up and improving online teacher professional development. |
