Formal and Informal On-line Communities to Support Continuing Professional Development for

TeachersChris Daw

Cambridge International Examinations

Phil RidingInteractive Technologies in Assessment and Learning (ITAL) Unit

Overview

Who we are

Our interest in Continuing Professional Development

Technology - ‘VLE-lite’

Formal teacher development

Informal teacher development

Context University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate

OCR

CIE

ITAL

ESOL

Continuing Professional Development

Traditionally delivered at face to face INSET Some benefits of f2f

Allows teachers to share best practice Encourages peer support and networking

Some shortcomings of f2f Divorced from practice Lacking in follow up Expensive (time and money) Discriminatory

What makes good CPD for teachers?

It should aim to: Be ongoing Be school-based and rooted in the knowledge base of teaching Be flexible and fit in with the natural rhythms of teaching Be collaborative and allow teachers to interact with peers Include opportunities for reflection and group enquiry into practice Be accessible and inclusive

On-line Communities could be the answer…

Using technology to support effective CPD - CommunicationEmail-based discussion groups

Asynchronous ‘Push’ Text-based Archived

Enables/encourages Real time problem solving Collaboration Making implicit knowledge explicit Greater/wider participation

Online communities - software

Using technology to support effective CPD - Sharing

Web-based document, URL and FAQ facility• Distribute/Share documents (tasks, worksheets, etc.)• Collect and publish Frequently Asked Questions• Provide a ‘one-stop’ site for community• Easy to manage by tutor or listowner

Online communities - software

Online communities - software

Online communities - software

Formal/Institutional

Informal/deinstitutionalised

The CPD spectrum

Curriculum-based No curriculum

Structured Unstructured

Specified learning outcomes No specified learning outcomes

Time constrained Open ended

Tutored Untutored

Certificated Uncertificated

4 types of learning community

1 3

Formal Informal

Teacher

E-tutor 2

1 - formal teacher development

6 week course Structured

Assignments E-tivities

Certificate of participation Using ‘VLE-lite’ Migration from formal to informal communities 397 teachers have attended courses so far, in 19 subjects, from

over 40 countries on all continents

2 - formal e-tutor training and development

Why train the e-tutors? Facilitation of on-line learning and communities demands new skills

and roles Not all good face-to-face tutors make good on-line tutors

Therefore we needed to devise a course that converted good face-to-face teachers into good e-tutors.

Formal E-tutor training and development - first

iteration

A one-day face-to-face training session

Followed by

E-mail based discussion list

Issues arising from the first iteration

Participants all said that the best preparation was ‘doing it’ - we needed to offer them more ‘experience’

More focus was needed on helping e-tutors to promote on-line reflective discussion

More input/discussion on ‘virtual classroom’ management needed The need for us to develop our skills in creating and supporting a

community of e-tutors A better method of sharing tasks, resources and ‘artefacts’ was needed

Iteration 2

100% on-line Guided observation on existing courses (6 weeks)

‘As students’, ‘as tutors’ Facilitated discussion (2 weeks) - loose agenda covering the social,

pedagogical, managerial and technical roles of an e-tutor We invited existing tutors to be part of discussion group (‘elders’) Use of a website to share resources and artefacts arising from the

communities

Outcomes/issues

The facilitated discussion was not a success (most discussion occurred during the observation period)

Our ‘structure’ got in the way. Better to allow tutors to raise issues as they arose (move to more informality).

We are still learning about e-tutoring. E-tutor community.

3 - informal teacher development

UK and worldwide teacher ‘communities’ OCR/CIE syllabus focussed No ‘course’ Community-defined content ‘Rolling membership’ No certification No ‘tutor’ - everyone is a potential tutor!

Membership (UK communities)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

No. of m

em

bers

PsychologyMedia Studies

ContributionsAverage number of messages per month

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

2000 2001 2002

Year

Mess

ag

es

per

mon

th

Media Studies

Psychology

How do teachers use the communities?

Share resources and ideas Ask about the examination Talk about professional issues Advertise things and jobs Make contacts Just listen - ‘lurking’ is OK! ‘Vicarious learning’ Not argue, or talk about computers

Share resources and ideas

‘Can anyone help me find some interesting places to take a large group of psychology students (around 100) whilst on a day trip to London?’

‘I am teaching psychology for first time this year. I am on my own with 26 keen students and I' m very keen to share ideas with anyone out there. My plan is […]),

I am writing to let others know that I took a large group of AS students to the Science Museum just before Christmas and it was a great success. There is plenty to look at in the new gallery...

During this year, my students prepared the Core Advanced and the following modules: {…}. I would like to share their experience during the assessments. [followed by detailed analysis of her students’ and her own experiences]

I think it is a good idea to share exercises. The following is an example for Data Analysis, Standard Level I used with my class. It is very similar to an example from the Tutor Pack, but my students needed more information than what was provided in the example.

Ask about the examination

Clarification (New OCR teacher) I have just received practical investigation folders. Are there rules

about when the students fill them in, what the content should be, how much help I can give etc.?

I forgot to ask another question about business chart module. I would like to know what to

cover in order to prepare them for "extracting data from a large set". Debate

I am not convinced […] that this syllabus represents a more applied, practical, or inventive way in which to teach the discipline. I find many of the core studies are far too complex for a pre-A-level course, not to mention tedious!.[…]

I could not agree less with what xxx has said. I made the switch to OCR in 1994 and have never looked back. It provides a wonderful opportunity to be inventive in your teaching...far more than AEB/AQA does. Try re-enacting some of the studies as a starter!! […]

Advertise jobs/things

We need a Psychology teacher after Christmas. It could be full or part time. Needless to say we have a lovely department and do OCR A level only.

Have a look at my website for more teaching ideas… Here is a list of all the INSET courses that we are offering this term…

Make Contacts

I teach at Bushey Meads. I did not know there was a fellow OCR colleague so close…

Anyone fancy getting together to thrash out a unit on crime psychology?

I teach in Karachi too! How about we get together one weekend?

Just listen

•‘Although I have never contributed to it I have found it to be an excellent resource and have very much enjoyed reading people's views, comments etc’.

•‘I'm enjoying the experience of being part of the 'net group'. One reason for not contributing earlier is because other people have asked questions I was considering.’

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

None 1 to 20 >20

Number of contributions made

What are the success factors?

Push technology Focus No compulsion to contribute The subject area? Moderation/tutoring?

‘Tutor’ contributions

'Tutor' contributions (percent of messages)

0

5

10

15

20

25

2000 2001 2002

Year

Perc

en

tag

e o

f m

ess

ag

es

from

't

uto

r' Media Studies

Psychology

What kinds of messages do the tutors send?

Giving information

44%

Facilitating5%

responding/clarifying

51%

Future research and development

Develop the informal community of e-tutors Develop ‘VLE-lite’ to incorporate a management system

Legitimation - how to assess it (Slashdot type tracking?) Cultural issues To what extent do we have ‘communities’? Who’s been learning here and who’s been teaching?

E-conference on teacher training and staff development (EDEN/OU/UCLES sponsored)

http://www.eden.bme.hu/contents/computerconf.html

This presentation will be available at

http://ital.ucles-red.cam.ac.uk/