An investigation of educator professional development delivery preferences

Keywords

Computer assisted instruction, Distance education

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to: (a) determine the professional development preferences of educators in a selected school district, (b) discover to what extent and under what circumstances these educators desired the use of Web-based distance education for professional development purposes, and (c) discover the obstacles to implementation of Web-based instruction professional development within the school district. In addition, demographic and informational data thought to be pertinent were solicited. A survey instrument developed for this study was administered to 1,843 site-based educators; 1,455 (78.95%) surveys from all (N=39) of the targeted schools were returned. Analyses of the data provided by respondents indicated the following major findings: (a) 90.2% preferred to use district-provided in services for recertification training; (b) 64% reported a high computer and Internet comfort level; (c) 74% preferred learning with peers over solitary training; (d) 44.5% favored traditional in service delivery over Web-based instruction; (e) appropriate subject matter was deemed the most important element in the selection of training, followed by training when needed, stipends, training location, and training with peers, respectively; (f) 61% indicated an interest in utilizing Web-based instruction for recertification purposes and 61.3% for required subjects; (g) 65.1% would use Web-based instruction if a menu of practical topics were offered; and (h) 62.7% would use Web-based instruction if training was provided. Inadequate marketing of online courses and user fear of insufficient instructor assistance (26.7%) were found to be barriers to implementation. No statistical significance was found between chosen demographic data (age, gender, grade level, and job category) and desire for Web-based instruction. Training in the use of technology and Web-based instruction was deemed desirable prior to the implementation of online delivery.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2002

Advisor

Bozeman, William C.

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

College

College of Education

Department

Educational Research, Technology and Leadership

Format

Print

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Identifier

DP0020824

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Education; Education -- Dissertations, Academic

Accessibility Status

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