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Eric.ed.gov – Comparing Self-Paced and Cohort-Based Online Courses for Teachers

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The study investigated whether online professional development courses with different levels of support have different impacts on teacher outcomes. Variations of an online course for middle school algebra teachers were created for four experimental conditions. One was a highly supported condition, with a math education instructor, an online facilitator, and asynchronous peer interactions among participants available as participants worked through the course together. Another was a self-paced condition, in which none of the supports were available. The other two conditions provided intermediate levels of support. All conditions showed significant impact on teachers’ mathematical understanding, pedagogical beliefs, and instructional practices. Surprisingly, the positive outcomes were comparable across all four conditions. Further research is needed to determine whether this fending is limited to self-selected teachers, the specifics of this… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Title I Schools: The Student-Based Impact of Online, On-Demand Professional Development on Educators

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Title I students remain among the most challenging population for achieving significant gains in academic performance and standardized test scores. This multi-state, quasi-experimental, pre-versus-post study reflects the comparative Title I gains for math and reading scores for teachers participating in an online, on-demand professional development program school-wide versus non-participating Title I in their respective districts as benchmarks. Average Title I gains in reading were 4.8% (p<0.001) versus 0.1% (ns) in the non-participating Title I schools. For math scores, non-participating Title I schools in the districts saw a decline of 5.9% (p<0.001), while Title I schools participating in the professional development experienced a gain of 7.3% (p<0.001). Conclusions are that significant advantages for Title I students are achieved when teachers participate actively in such a high impact, high… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Facilitation Strategies for Enhancing the Learning and Engagement of Online Students

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The opening up of online education in the Australian tertiary sector has made higher education accessible for a wide range of students, including those living in rural and regional areas. While student numbers continue to grow as a result of this opportunity, there are increasing concerns regarding low student retention and progression rates for online students in comparison with on-campus students. Reasons for this vary, however, online students report a sense of isolation and disconnection with their studies highlighting the need for educators to utilise effective facilitation to enhance student connections to an online community. In this paper, we investigated facilitation strategies using two case studies. This illustrated how two online instructors used design-based research to evaluate the impact of facilitation strategies on instructor presence, instructor connection,… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – The Ready to Teach Program: A Federal Initiative in Support of Online Courses for Teachers

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The report, “The Ready to Teach Program: A Federal Initiative in Support of Online Courses for Teachers”, describes the history of the Ready to Teach Program and its role as one of the solutions to the national need to increase the performance of teachers through professional development. The report describes selected findings from the Eisenhower Professional Development Program and through it, the evolution of findings on effective professional development for teachers. These major efforts to improve teacher professional development by the U.S. Department of Education were supplemented by smaller efforts like the optional use of up to 10% of Title I monies for professional development, as determined by the principal of a Title I school or by the District, depending on the State Plan at that time.… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Architecture and Impact of an Open, Online, Remixable, and Multimedia-Rich Algebra 1 Course

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Less than half of the students in the United States graduate from high school and are ready to take college-level math courses. Many years and varieties of remedial math programs have failed to dramatically improve outcomes, especially at scale. The question we face is whether technology in general, and open educational resources in particular, might offer some solutions for improving math scores across the nation. Herein, we describe the work of the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education, and specifically the design and early evidence of impact of their multimedia Algebra and Developmental Math resources. We believe that the structure and function of these open educational resources can effectively meet the diverse needs of the nation’s math teachers and learners, perhaps paving the way to more personalized… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Increasing Expertise in Earth Science Education through Master’s Education

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The processes of developing and the results of testing a master’s degree program designed to increase the number and quality of secondary-level earth science teachers are described in this paper. The master’s program is intended to serve practicing secondary-level science and math teachers who lack subject-area endorsement in earth science. There is need for programs such as this because there is a nationwide shortage of qualified earth science teachers. By targeting teachers who are already trained and certified in science or math, the program can focus solely on earth science content and pedagogical content knowledge. The program can be completed in 2 y via online academic-year instruction and on-campus or field-based training during summers. Completion of the master’s program satisfies teachers’ need for ongoing professional development. A… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Middle School Science and Mathematics Teachers’ Conceptions of the Nature of Science: A One-Year Study on the Effects of Explicit and Reflective Online Instruction

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education has become one of the main priorities in the United States. Science education communities and researchers advocate for integration of STEM disciplines throughout the teaching curriculum. This requires teacher knowledge in STEM disciplines, as well as competence in scientific literacy. Since nature of science (NOS) is a critical component of scientific literacy, this study examined teachers’ conceptions NOS over a one-year period. Participants included 21 middle school science and mathematics teachers who integrated science and mathematics in their classrooms. We employed two NOS instruments to collect data on participants’ NOS conceptions “before” and “after” a one-year online graduate program. This study examined changes in NOS understanding for the group as a whole, between science and mathematics teachers, and whether beginning… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – An Exploratory Study of Effective Online Learning: Assessing Satisfaction Levels of Graduate Students of Mathematics Education Associated with Human and Design Factors of an Online Course

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This exploratory research project investigated graduate students’ satisfaction levels with online learning associated with human (professor/instructor and instructional associate) and design factors (course structure and technical aspects) using a survey study. A total of 81 graduate students (master’s students who majored in math and science education) enrolled in an online math methods course (Conceptual Geometry) participated in this study. According to the results of this study, student satisfaction level is closely associated with clear guidelines on assignment, rubrics, and constructive feedback. In addition, student satisfaction level is related to professor’s (or course instructor’s) knowledge of materials. Link til kilde

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Eric.ed.gov – Synchronous Online Collaborative Professional Development for Elementary Mathematics Teachers

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Math is often taught poorly emphasizing rote, procedural methods rather than creativity and problem solving. Alberta Education developed a new mathematics curriculum to transform mathematics teaching to inquiry driven methods. This revised curriculum provides a new vision for mathematics and creates opportunities and requirements for professional learning by teachers. Conventional offsite, after school, or weekend professional development is typically “sit and listen, maybe try on Monday”. Professional development that is embedded, responsive, and personalized is known to be more effective at changing teaching practice. Alberta teachers are geographically dispersed making online professional learning a desirable alternative to on-site workshops. As access to and use of the Internet gains momentum in schools across the country, opportunities for collaborative, online professional development become more viable. The online professional development… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Experimental Methods and Results in a Study of PBS TeacherLine Math Courses

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) sought to build on the strengths of high quality professional development through an online venture funded under the U.S. Department of Education’s Ready To Teach (RTT) program. PBS TeacherLine was designed to provide high-quality, facilitated online professional development for K-12 teachers nationwide. Through PBS TeacherLine, more than 20,000 educators have participated in 90 online, facilitated courses in reading, mathematics, science, instructional strategies, instructional technology, and curriculum mapping. To what extent has PBS TeacherLine been successful in creating an online model of teacher professional development that gets to the heart of education needs–impacting teacher beliefs, classroom instruction, and student learning? This paper presents the results from one component of the comprehensive external evaluation of PBS TeacherLine: an experimental study that unfolded in the… Continue Reading