Stakeholders' views on professional development and supplementing face-to-face teacher education with internet based teacher education
Date of Award
8-1-2002
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Education (M. Ed.)
Department
Institute for Educational Development, Karachi
Abstract
Professional development of teachers takes many forms, all aiming at a long lasting qualitative and considerable change in teachers' approaches to educate themselves. Internet Based Teacher Education (IBTE) is one of the ways of professional development that teachers can use in search of better ways of being informed teachers. IBTE courses might help teachers to take an account of their growth and development at any time, any place. The study sets out to understand the perceived needs of stakeholders on the professional development of teachers and further the role of supplementing face to face teacher education with Internet based teacher education. The objective was to ascertain if IBTE could serve teacher education in an NGO run school in the Pakistani context. Furthermore, I wanted to identify the existing skills of teachers, infrastructure and support mechanism required for IBTE in schools. In addition to this, what is needed further in terms of logistics, and what motivates teachers participation was also a part of the research. In this study, eight principals, thirty-seven teachers, one CEO and one Program Manager (PM) of an NGO participated and shared their views on professional development and supplementation of face-to-face (f-to-f) teacher education with Internet based teacher education. The study was conducted in both the qualitative and quantitative paradigms. The tools for data collection were, a survey questionnaire, observations and an interview followed up with an informal chat with the research participants. From the data five major themes on professional development needs and supplementation of f-to-f with IBTE emerged. First, teachers are aware of the need of professional development for themselves. Second, teachers consider f-to-f courses as beneficial however; they face a lot of challenges during those courses. Third, teachers think that there is a need to introduce a new mode of teacher education. They mainly emphasized on the need of school based or station based teacher education programs. Fourth, IBTE would enable them to face the challenges of the modern era, enhance and help their learning process, which will affect their students' classroom learning. Finally, teachers are aware of the needs of skills, logistics and support mechanism required and needed. In terms of what they have and what else is needed. In addition to these key findings, the study has also discovered some important contextual concerns, that seem to inhibit the teachers pursue of professional development activities. Some recommendations and implications have been drawn from the study. For example, sessions of professional development should be station based, particularly in this context so that the teachers could participate easily. This will fulfill both the teachers and management's requirements.
Recommended Citation
Hussain, S. (2002). Stakeholders' views on professional development and supplementing face-to-face teacher education with internet based teacher education (Unpublished master's dissertation). Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.