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This descriptive study provided a synthesis of the form, structure, activity and relationship components utilized by online teacher induction programs designed to support novice teachers. Mentors involved in online teacher induction programs responded to an online questionnaire. The perceptions of 51 mentors involved in 36 online teacher induction programs in 16 states and one country in addition to the United States were examined to determine the effectiveness of components incorporated. A synthesis of the technological venues utilized was provided through a statistical analysis of the mentors’ responses. The mentors’ perceptions of the effectiveness of incorporated technological venues were statistically examined. Additionally, their perceptions of professional development, emotional support, reflection, and formative observation components in relation to the program’s characteristics were also examined through the analysis of their responses to the online questionnaire. Analysis of the mentors’ perceptions appeared to indicate the effective implementation of professional development and emotional support components via technological venues to support novice teachers. The professional development component was perceived as effective regardless of the school districts’ sizes, grade level taught or certification route of the novice teachers. To improve novice teachers’ pedagogical knowledge, it is suggested that online teacher induction programs employ video streaming, videotapes, and websites to deliver the professional development component. Additionally, it appeared that mentors perceived electronic mail as most effective for providing emotional support. However, telephones, bulletin boards, video conferences, and chats were also effectively utilized to support novice teachers emotionally.

In the state of Texas, instruction in the arts is required from Kindergarten through eighth grade. In many cases, the responsibility for teaching these subjects falls on the classroom elementary teacher despite limited knowledge, experience, and a low sense of self efficacy. This study examined how an online professional development program affected elementary teachers’ use of arts approaches, the attitudes and issues that have a bearing on the use of arts approaches, and teacher learning that occurred as a result of engaging in an online professional development program. An embedded mixed methods design was used that embedded a qualitative case study within a quantitative study in order to compare and corroborate the quantitative findings. Participants, employed at an elementary campus in South Texas, consisted of seven elementary generalist teachers who participated in an eight week online professional development program and six teachers who volunteered to complete a survey only. The central question, “how does an online job-embedded professional development program affect elementary teachers’ beliefs about and use of arts integrated approaches to learning,” guided the study. Seven sources of both quantitative and qualitative data were collected over a ten week period. Themes that emerged from the qualitative data analysis were student outcomes, teacher-efficacy, and external factors. Findings indicate that (1) online formats are a viable form of professional development, (2) a lack of time to plan most significantly impacts the use of arts approaches, and (3) improved access to rich, arts based lesson resources may increase the use of arts in the classroom. This study was significant because it provided insight into the quality of teacher learning and its impact on classroom practice as the result of online professional development.

The study investigated the motivational factors among Saudi teachers and supervisors in using online professional development OPD in the Makkah School District. The motivational factors are convenience, collaboration, and technology. Quantitative design, which includes descriptive and comparative approaches, was was utilized to address the research questions. The selection of the sample, 421 participants, was also discussed and a description of the sample with respect to the demographic variables, including gender, position, level of degree, and teaching experience were given. After collecting data, descriptive and comparative approaches, themes, and codes were used in order to get the results. The results indicate that convenience, collaboration, and technology highly motivate Saudi teachers and supervisors to use OPD. The results also show other motivational factors, which are administrative support, the quality of OPD programs, and social motivation. The findings show that gender and position have no impact on the participants’ responses. However, teaching experience does make an impact with respect to convenience on teachers and supervisors who have more than 26 years experience in the profession. In addition, the level of education does make an impact regarding technology on teachers and supervisors who hold a master’s degree or above. The results also indicate barriers to OPD, which are technical issues, administrative issues, and personal concerns. Most significantly, results show that most participants prefer OPD over face-to-face PD. Implications were made and suggestions offered in order to enhancing the use of OPD programs in the Saudi context. The study closes with suggestions for future research by those who might be interested in this topic.

abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences and opinions of Arizona music teachers related to interactions with peers in formal online professional development (OPD) courses approved for recertification of their teacher credential. The target population (N = 584) was current music teachers in K-12 schools who are members of the 2014 Arizona Music Educators Association. Ultimately 279 respondents completed a researcher-constructed online survey (response rate = 48%). The survey instrument explored four primary research questions; (1) Do music teachers in Arizona participate in formal OPD related to recertification of their teacher credential? (2) Do music teachers in Arizona who participate in OPD courses interact with their peers during OPD? (3) What is the nature of self-reported peer interactions among Arizona music teachers who participate in OPD courses? (4) What are Arizona music teachers' opinions regarding peer interaction in OPD courses? Almost half of the 279 respondents participated in OPD courses for their recertification. Some participated in music-specific OPD courses such as online music classes, webinars, or online degree programs. Many respondents considered OPD courses to be effective because of convenience, location, time savings, and flexibility. Most who took online classes participated in multiple OPD courses. Of the respondents who took OPD courses, nearly two-thirds indicated that they interacted with peers during those courses. Most of these respondents reported that required interactions were effective. Some benefits were sharing ideas and acquiring information from others. Participants preferred asynchronous interaction with peers to synchronous interaction. Factors that may have prevented these music teachers from interacting in OPD courses were superficial level message content in discussion boards or low participation from peers. Teachers also reported using informal online interactions in social networks not related to recertification hours. Findings from this study may help improve teacher interactions with peers in OPD courses. This study may serve to influence instructors in OPD courses, administrators, policy-makers, and online course developers to improve OPD by integrating peer interactions into online courses for music teachers. Additional research on many aspects of OPD for music teachers is needed to improve educational practice. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music Education 2015

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The larger research project seeks to examine the role of technology and factors that influence its overall use and efficacy in supporting a community of teachers engaged in professional development. This thesis examines factors that appear to influence teacher participation in the online community of practice engaging in an overarching research project conducted by Dr. Balcaen and a team from UBC O Faculty of Education and funded by the Southern Alberta Professional Development Consortium (SAPDC). The two groups are acting in partnership for supporting and sustaining communities of practice in social studies in southern Alberta. SAPDC is allowing teachers release time to engage in the project while TC² is providing professional development for the participant teachers to become proficient at embedding TC² critical thinking tools into their classroom practices. Various technologies are used during this study as part of the design of providing professional development for the participants including supporting an online community presence. The guiding question for this thesis is: In a blended approach of face-to-face and online supported professional development for embedding critical thinking into the new social studies curriculum, what significant factors appear to influence teacher participation in the online community of practice during the first year of the project? Overall results during the first year of this project show that various technologies used during the project are valuable and effective in nurturing this community of practice by enabling and promoting collaboration, communication, and the completion and delivery of products to be used in teaching the new curriculum. I also examine negative factors that appear to prevent some teachers’ technology use and online participation and collaboration during this project. Findings show that there are several significant factors that influence participation in the online community and while some participants are reluctant to engage or enter the online environment, others have emerged as leaders and play a significant role in building and sustaining the community of practice. These results provide critical information about implementing and integrating an online component and using technology to sustain communities of practice engaged in this form of teacher professional development.

The aim of this study was to investigate science teachers&rsquo / perceptions about the online teacher professional development (oTPD) program. The research study included two consecutive steps. The first step was related to the design of the oTPD program. With the help of related literature, examples of oTPD programs and expert opinions, an oTPD program was designed. In the second step, ten of the alumni of Bilkent University Graduate School of Education Biology Teacher Education Program participated in a ten week oTPD program. The program consisted of instructional activities such as reading case studies, self reflection, forum discussions, watching videos of a sample lesson, hands-on activity and WebQuest. The study was mainly a qualitative study. The case was a professional development program for in-service science teachers that was offered online via learning management systems (LMS). The data were collected through pre- and post- interviews, online questionnaire, observations and documentation that include weekly assignments, forum discussions, e-mail correspondence, weekly e-journals, detailed notes of phone calls and the researcher&rsquo / s journal. The data were analyzed according to qualitative data analysis techniques with the assistance of Weft QDA software. Data gathered from the participants demonstrated that they were not satisfied with professional development programs that they got before this oTPD program because of the problems about content, process and organization connected with them. They preferred oTPD program, because of its flexibility and versatility, sharing information among colleagues from different parts of the country, and self-paced learning. Some obstacles were also identified, such as technical problems, not having face-to-face sessions and the timing of the program.

The larger research project seeks to examine the role of technology and factors that influence its overall use and efficacy in supporting a community of teachers engaged in professional development. This thesis examines factors that appear to influence teacher participation in the online community of practice engaging in an overarching research project conducted by Dr. Balcaen and a team from UBC O Faculty of Education and funded by the Southern Alberta Professional Development Consortium (SAPDC). The two groups are acting in partnership for supporting and sustaining communities of practice in social studies in southern Alberta. SAPDC is allowing teachers release time to engage in the project while TC² is providing professional development for the participant teachers to become proficient at embedding TC² critical thinking tools into their classroom practices. Various technologies are used during this study as part of the design of providing professional development for the participants including supporting an online community presence. The guiding question for this thesis is: In a blended approach of face-to-face and online supported professional development for embedding critical thinking into the new social studies curriculum, what significant factors appear to influence teacher participation in the online community of practice during the first year of the project? Overall results during the first year of this project show that various technologies used during the project are valuable and effective in nurturing this community of practice by enabling and promoting collaboration, communication, and the completion and delivery of products to be used in teaching the new curriculum. I also examine negative factors that appear to prevent some teachers’ technology use and online participation and collaboration during this project. Findings show that there are several significant factors that influence participation in the online community and while some participants are reluctant to engage or enter the online environment, others have emerged as leaders and play a significant role in building and sustaining the community of practice. These results provide critical information about implementing and integrating an online component and using technology to sustain communities of practice engaged in this form of teacher professional development.

abstract: Online teacherpreneurs are current and former PreK-12 teachers who share their original classroom resources in online marketplaces where teachers download them for a small fee. Online teacherpreneurs’ resources are becoming prolific in classrooms today. Meanwhile, online teacherpreneurs stand to gain financially and professionally. This exploratory study drew on conceptual frameworks from entrepreneurship and teacher leadership to describe the practice of online teacherpreneurship in terms of the characteristics of the people who participate, the school environments in which they work, and the possible impacts they experience. An exploratory sequential mixed methods design was used. In phase one, 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted with online teacherpreneurs who ranked in the top 1% of sellers on TeachersPayTeachers.com for profits earned. In phase two, the results of the interviews were used to develop a quantitative survey, which was distributed to an international sample of 412 TeachersPayTeachers.com sellers with various levels of experience and sales success. Results from both phases were analyzed separately and together, indicating that online teacherpreneurs viewed themselves as helpful, hard-working, creative, and organized. While some online teacherpreneurs worked in supportive school environments, others worked in unsupportive or ambivalent schools. Most online teacherpreneurs kept their online business and classroom teaching separate. They reported that online teacherpreneurship involved a variety of practices including creating educational resources, collaborating with teachers, collaborating with fellow teacherpreneurs, and engaging in entrepreneurial endeavors such as marketing. They also believed they experienced impacts including improvements to teaching practice, teacher leadership opportunities, and some professional stressors. Implications for online teacherpreneurs and other stakeholders including teachers, school and district leaders, and teacher educators are considered. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Learning, Literacies and Technologies 2018