Research References
Anderson, R. K., Boaler, J., & Dieckman, J. A. (2018).
Achieving elusive teacher change through challenging myths
about learning: A blended approach.
Education Sciences, 8(98), 1–33.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1200069
From the ERIC abstract: “The idea that success in
mathematics is only available to those born as "mathematics
people" has been challenged in recent years by neuroscience,
showing that mathematics pathways develop in the brain through
learning and practice. This paper reports on a blended
professional learning model of online and in-person meetings
during which 40 teachers in 8 school districts in the US
learned about the new brain science, challenging the ‘math
person’ myth, as well as effective mathematics teaching
methods. We refer to the combination as a Mathematical Mindset
Approach. Using mixed methods, we conducted a one-year study
to investigate teacher and student learning in a Mathematical
Mindset network. We collected data on teacher and student
beliefs, teacher instructional practice, and student learning
gains on state achievement tests. The results from our
quantitative analyses found statistically significant positive
improvements in student beliefs, teacher’s instructional
practice, and on students’ math test scores. The mindset
approach particularly raised the achievement of girls, English
learners, and economically disadvantaged students. Based on
our qualitative analysis, we propose that the success of the
intervention rests upon two central factors: (1) The different
forms of PD served to eradicate the learning myths that had
held up teachers and learners; and that (2) Teachers had space
for identity work as mathematical learners.”
Azukas, M. E. (2019). Cultivating a blended community of
practice to promote personalized learning.
Journal of Online Learning Research, 5(3), 275–309.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1241727
From the ERIC abstract: “The purpose of this
mixed-methods case study was to examine the effectiveness of a
blended learning community of practice model in providing
professional development to improve K-12 teacher’s
self-efficacy in the implementation of personalized learning.
Eighteen teachers participated in a nine-month professional
development program focused on personalized learning.
Participants took pre and post self-efficacy tests based on
nine personalized learning constructs. Qualitative data was
collected from feedback surveys, online postings, and
individual interviews. Teachers demonstrated greater levels of
self-efficacy with regard to the implementation of
personalized learning after their participation in the
professional development community. They reported increased
confidence with regard to personalized learning in the areas
of planning, risk-taking, implementation, continuous
improvement, and sharing their knowledge with others. Teachers
developed additional competencies such as an increased
knowledge of their students and skills related to technology,
design, problem-solving, and facilitation. Teachers developed
new dispositions such as flexibility and open-mindedness.
Teachers found that elements of personalized learning could be
implemented without technology, but recommended the
integration of technology to effectively implement
personalized learning across all nine constructs. The online
components of the blended design, enhanced the teachers’ sense
of community and helped to facilitate collaborative,
interdisciplinary work.”
Blitz, C. L. (2013).
Can online learning communities achieve the goals of
traditional professional learning communities? What the
literature says
(REL 2013-003). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education,
Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education
Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational
Laboratory Mid-Atlantic.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED544210
From the ERIC abstract: “For more than a decade
practitioners have promoted professional learning communities
(PLCs) as an effective structure for providing teachers with
professional development (Chappuis, Chappuis, & Stiggins,
2009; DuFour, Eaker, & DuFour, 2005). These collaborative
networks are believed to be effective because they expose
teachers to new ideas and practices and improve teaching by
promoting critical reflection (Hord, 1997; Wood, 2007).
Underpinning this argument is the theory of situated learning
in communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991), which
contends that teachers who learn within a self-directed and
problem-centered community of learners are more likely to find
value in their learning and to apply it in their classrooms.
When teachers disseminate this knowledge to other teachers and
invite feedback, their school becomes more learning-oriented
and results-focused. Ultimately, the expectation is that by
cultivating PLCs, schools can improve student achievement by
making teaching and classroom practices more effective. One
way to facilitate PLCs is to move them online or partially
online (Beach, 2012). Online PLCs are loosely defined as teams
of educators who use digital and mobile communication
technologies, at least part of the time, to communicate and
collaborate on learning, joint lesson planning, and problem
solving. Partially online (hybrid) PLCs combine online and
face-to-face interactions. This review of the scientific
literature on online PLCs responds to a request from district
and school administrators in the Regional Educational
Laboratory Mid-Atlantic Region to learn more about the
potential of online PLCs to engage teachers in professional
development inside and outside school and their routine school
day. It is confined to peer-reviewed journal articles and
government-sponsored research studies published during 2000-12
as they relate to two questions: (1) What are the advantages
and challenges of online and hybrid models of PLCs compared
with traditional (exclusively face-to-face) PLCs?; and (2)
What, if any, are some emerging best practices in designing
and organizing online and hybrid PLCs? Before examining these
two questions, the report describes common characteristics of
PLCs and the logic model used in the analysis.”
Carey, R., Kleiman, G., Russell, M., Venable, J. D., & Louie,
J. (2008) Online courses for math teachers: Comparing
self-paced and facilitated cohort approaches.
Journal of Technology, Learning, and Assessment, 7(3), 1–36.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ838629
From the ERIC abstract: “This study investigated
whether two different versions of an online professional
development course produced different impacts on the intended
outcomes of the course. Variations of an online course for
middle school algebra teachers were created for two
experimental conditions. One was an actively facilitated
course with asynchronous peer interactions among participants.
The second was a self-paced condition, in which neither active
facilitation nor peer interactions were available. Both
conditions showed significant impact on teachers’ mathematical
understanding, pedagogical beliefs, and instructional
practices. Surprisingly, the positive outcomes were comparable
for both conditions. Further research is needed to determine
whether this finding is limited to self-selected teachers, the
specifics of this online course, or other factors that limit
generalizability.”
Collins, L., & Liang, X. (2014). Task relevance in the design
of online professional development for teachers of ELLs: A Q
methodology study.
Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 15(3),
268–281.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1043660
From the ERIC abstract: “Online professional
development (oPD) for teachers should focus on designing
web-based learning opportunities that help practicing
educators solve the tough problems of practice when working in
their schools. Technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge can
be integrated in the design of online professional development
modules to enhance task relevance for maximum learning and
transformation. The purpose of this study was to learn which
tasks in an online professional development module were ranked
by in-service educators as relevant to their work with English
language learners (ELLs). Using Q methodology, the researcher
asked participants to rank the relevancy of 36 online tasks
from an online professional development module designed and
developed at an American university. Participants used a -5 to
5 forced distribution to rank online activities from ‘Least
relevant to my work with ELLs’ to ‘Most relevant to my work
with ELLs’ followed by a semi-structured interview to explain
their decisions. After data analysis, two factors emerged,
indicating that participants’ perceptions on task relevance
differed by professional roles and educational settings. The
participants also favored didactic online tasks over
interactive tasks. The findings from the oPD participants’
responses have the potential to serve as the basis for future
online professional development design and for planning other
relevant activities to be applied to the e-learning
environment.”
Dash, S., de Kramer, R. M., O’Dwyer, L. M., Masters, J., &
Russell, M. (2012). Impact of online professional development
on teacher quality and student achievement in fifth grade
mathematics.
Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 45(1), 1–26.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ991837
From the ERIC abstract: “Despite the ever-increasing
number of online professional development (OPD) programs,
relatively few studies have been conducted to examine the
efficacy of such programs for teachers and students. This
manuscript presents findings from an impact study of OPD
courses in fractions, algebraic thinking, and measurement on
79 fifth grade teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and
pedagogical practices as well as their students’ mathematics
achievement. The OPD courses were offered one course per
semester for three semesters, and each course comprised 1 week
of orientation and 6 weeks of course content. Overall,
teachers participated in more than approximately 70 hours of
OPD. The research findings showed that teachers who had been
randomly assigned to the experimental group had significantly
greater gains in scores for pedagogical content knowledge and
pedagogical practices than teachers in the control group.
Nevertheless, the positive changes in teacher outcomes did not
translate to any meaningful differences in students’
mathematics achievement.”
Durr, T., Kampmann, J., Hales, P., & Browning, L. (2020).
Lessons learned from online PLCs of rural STEM teachers.
Rural Educator, 41(1), 20–26.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1251481
From the ERIC abstract: “This article details a Title
II grant funded professional development project for rural
STEM teachers. For this project teachers were grouped in
online professional learning communities (PLCs). Participants
shared teaching videos and received feedback from their group
members and university faculty. In a face-to-face workshop,
participants were trained on how to effectively record and
share videos with their PLC group. After the workshop, all
communication was conducted through digital means. During this
project we learned that the frequency of video posting, the
type of videos posted, and the style of reflection questions,
were critical aspects to the engagement of participating
teachers. Additionally, teachers showed an increase in teacher
efficacy as a result of being part of the online PLCs and they
indicated strong enjoyment and value in participation of the
program.”
Gosselin, D. C., Thomas, J., Redmond, A., Larson-Miller, C.,
Yendra, S., Bonnstetter, R. J., et al. (2010). Laboratory
Earth: A model of online K-12 teacher coursework.
Journal of Geoscience Education, 58(4), 203–213.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1164615
From the ERIC abstract: “Laboratory Earth, a series of
three NASA-Sponsored, on-line graduate courses for K-8
teachers, was designed to meet a variety of learning styles
and appeal to teachers’ motivation to learn the content and
improve their teaching. This is especially important to
teachers as they seek to demonstrate ‘highly qualified’ status
to meet No Child Left Behind standards. These graduate-level
courses consist of four modules of two to four lessons each.
Pre- and post-course surveys indicated significant increases
in teachers’ (n = 51) content knowledge, science teaching
efficacy beliefs (STEBIA), sense of community within the
course (LEO) and science teaching enjoyment (STES).
Qualitative data indicated teachers valued the cohort system,
content aligned to teaching needs, and the instructor’s
response to requested feedback. Results indicated that online
courses can provide valuable professional development
opportunities for K-12 science teachers to deepen their
knowledge, sharpen their skills, and maintain their knowledge
of science developments. Because teachers play an important
role in the development of their students’ attitudes towards
science, it is extremely important that science and education
communities collaborate to create courses that use
contemporary pedagogy to address the content-knowledge needs
of teachers required by National Science Standards criteria.”
Holmes, A., Signer, B., & MacLeod, A. (2011). Professional
development at a distance: A mixed-method study exploring
inservice teachers’ views on presence online.
Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, 27(2), 76–85.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ907004
From the ERIC abstract: “This paper uses a mixed-method
approach to examine the efficacy of a 5-week distance learning
model that offered 2-credit courses for K-12 inservice
teachers as a form of professional development. This study
examined the experiences of the inservice teachers across
online professional development courses and analyzed
participant surveys from this population to gain a better
sense of satisfaction, learning, and quality of interactions
related to the online professional development. The findings
speak to the value of establishing a sense of ‘presence’
online, the impact of online teacher professional development
on the active classroom, and features that contribute to the
enhancement of professional development online.”
Kowalski, S., Busey, A., Goldsmith, L., Bates, M., Beilstein,
S., & Perry, M. (2017).
Emerging design principles for online and blended teacher
professional development in K-12 STEM.
Waltham, MA: Community for Advancing Discovery Research in
Education. (CADRE), Education Development Center, Inc.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED590556
From the ERIC abstract: “Online modes of teacher
professional development (PD) have gained prominence in recent
years for their potential to transform and expand access to
high-quality resources and experiences that positively impact
teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, instructional practices, and
ultimately, student learning. However, with the increasing
demand for and availability of online offerings, there is
still much to be learned about the effectiveness of these
programs and the factors that contribute to their success. The
National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Discovery Research PreK-12
(DRK-12) program, which ‘seeks to significantly enhance the
learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering,
mathematics and computer science (STEM) by preK-12 students
and teachers, through research and development of STEM
education innovations and approaches,’ is poised to contribute
in this area (NSF, 2017, p. 1). In fall 2016, Community for
Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE) (the
resource network for NSF's DRK-12 program) identified 26
active projects in the DRK-12 portfolio that were researching
and/or developing online or blended teacher PD programs.
Between February and September 2017, awardees representing 11
projects participated in a series of activities designed to
elicit and form consensus around emerging design principles
for online and blended teacher PD programs in K-12 STEM
education. The resulting principles are organized and
presented around three themes: (1) Motivating and Sustaining
Engagement that Builds Knowledge and Advances Professional
Goals; (2) Creating Opportunities for Teachers to Collaborate
as Learners; and (3) Supporting Reflection on Content and
Practice. Participating awardees also described opportunities
and challenges associated with each theme in online and
blended settings. They highlighted opportunities for further
research that could enhance the design principles presented in
this report, inform the development of new principles, and
address challenges that are common across projects. As these
projects and other research efforts continue to generate
empirical evidence around design approaches—including the
contexts in which and the audiences for whom they are
effective, and their impacts on instruction and student
learning—the design principles presented in this report are
intended to serve as guidance for the ongoing and future work
of (1) researchers and developers of teacher PD programs and
(2) administrators and teacher leaders who plan, implement,
and facilitate online offerings for PD programming in their
schools and districts. The emerging principles in this report
were generated based on experience and initial evidence from
across DRK-12 projects.”
Marquez, B., Vincent, C., Marquez, J., Pennefeather, J.,
Smolkowski, K., & Sprague, J. (2016) Opportunities and
challenges in training elementary school teachers in classroom
management: Initial results from Classroom Management in
Action, an online professional development program.
Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 24(1),
87–109.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1092428
From the ERIC abstract: “Classroom management remains a
challenge for many teachers. The approach and delivery of
professional development (PD) in classroom management may
determine how well teachers are able to apply evidence-based
approaches in their classrooms. We use existing literature to
identify the key features that make in-service PD effective
and present them as the defining features of a recently
developed PD program, ‘Classroom Management in Action,’ which
blends online technology, evidence-based practice in positive
behavior support, video modeling, self-paced/step-by-step
activities, and tools for aiding and measuring fidelity and
behavioral outcomes. We report results from studies
documenting the program’s social validity, the psychometrics
of its online behavioral assessment tool, and its
effectiveness based on an initial pilot test using a
randomized controlled field trial involving 101 classrooms. We
offer recommendations for future research on PD in classroom
management and implications for policy and practice.”
Reeves, T. D., & Pedulla, J. J. (2013). Bolstering the impact
of online professional development for teachers.
Journal of Educational Research & Policy Studies, 1(1), 50–65.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED545314
From the ERIC abstract: “Online professional
development (OPD) for teachers is an increasingly popular and
viable alternative to face-to-face professional development.
While OPD can be effective, little is known about OPD’s design
and implementation features that maximize its impact. Using
data from a large-scale OPD initiative, this correlational
study (N = 1231) investigates antecedents of self-reported
changes in teacher knowledge, classroom practice, and student
achievement. Three regression analyses replicate the
importance of several factors in effective professional
development, or online learning more generally, and also
identify additional predictors of OPD’s impact(s). The paper
also discusses an applied framework for conceptualizing and
modeling the effects of OPD’s features on its successive
outcomes. Implications for the design, implementation and
evaluation of OPD, directions for future research, and study
limitations are discussed.”
Shaha, S. H., Glassett, K., & Copas, A. (2015). Sustaining
student gains from online on-demand professional development.
Journal of International Education Research, 11(3),
163–172.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1070777
From the ERIC abstract: “A multi-state,
quasi-experimental study was conducted as a longitudinal,
two-year follow-up of participation in an online, on-demand
professional development (PD) program. The purpose was to
ascertain whether student gains were sustained in a second
year of PD participation. Data verified gains in Year 1 versus
Pre-PD baseline, with continued gains in Year 2 atop those
achieved in year 1 of PD participation, reflecting a positive
trend and continued advantage over non-PD schools in the same
districts. Results showed that student in PD schools gained
7.7% (p<0.01) more in Math in year 2 atop 18.9%
(p<0.001) gains from year 1, versus gains of 0.5% (ns) and
4.2% (p<0.01) for non-PD schools in the same districts.
Similarly, students in the PD schools gained 10.2% (p<0.01)
more in Reading in year 2 atop 18.9% (p<0.001) gains from
year 1, versus gains of 0.5% (ns) and 4.2% (p<0.01) for
non-PD schools in the same districts. Total gains from
baseline for PD schools were 28.1% (p<0.001) in Math for PD
schools versus 4.7% (p<0.01) for the same districts
collectively, and 30.2% (p<0.001) in Reading for PD schools
versus 6.0% (p<0.01) for the same districts collectively.
Findings support the high-participation use of Internet-based,
on-demand professional learning for improving teacher
effectiveness and sustained impacts on student performance.”
Stevenson, M., Stevenson, C., & Cooner, D. (2015) Improving
teacher quality for Colorado science teachers in high need
schools. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(3),
42–50.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1083814
From the ERIC abstract: “This article describes the
evaluation of an online professional development program
funded by the State of Colorado to address the need for highly
qualified science teachers in high need and/or rural school
districts. Recruitment and the retention of highly qualified
educators in high need and/or rural school districts is a
critical factor affecting the education and the possible
career trajectory of students enrolled in science, technology,
engineering and math (STEM) related courses. The program
describes the participants’ experiences with the online
format, the educational courses offered, and the overall
effect of the program. The results of the evaluation provided
positive results for participants experience and valuable
information regarding improvements to such programs.”
Vavasseur, C. B., & MacGregor, S. K. (2008). Extending
content-focused professional development through online
communities of practice.
Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 40(4), 517–536.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ826089
From the ERIC abstract: “This mixed method case study
provides insights about how the professional development of
middle school teachers is facilitated through their
participation in content-focused online communities of
practice. A key finding from this research reveals that the
online community provided teachers with enhanced opportunities
to share ideas, to discuss issues, and to make new connections
with colleagues as well as with their principal. In addition,
teachers gained curriculum-based knowledge, developed enhanced
self-efficacy with respect to implementing technology, and
collaborated on the development of interdisciplinary
curriculum units.”
Yoo, J. H. (2016). The effect of professional development on
teacher efficacy and teachers’ self-analysis of their efficacy
change.
Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 18(1), 84–94.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1112457
From the ERIC abstract: “The current study examined the
effect of an online professional development learning
experience on teachers’ self-efficacy through 148 (Male = 22;
Female = 126) K-12 teachers and school educators. The
Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) developed by
Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy (2001) was administered twice
with a five-week gap. Additionally, all participants’
descriptive self-analysis of their own score change was
examined to analyze teachers’ attributions of their
self-efficacy change. Both quantitative and qualitative
methodologies were used to analyze the data. The findings
indicated that teacher efficacy increased as a result of their
online professional development experience. Participants’
self-analysis of their efficacy change provided some possible
explanations for mixed reports for the influence of experience
on teacher efficacy.”
