Online vs Face-To-Face Engagement of Computing Teachers for their Professional Development Needs

摘要

After a period of intense activity in preparation for the transition, Computing has been implemented in the curriculum in England for all children from ages 5-16. In this paper we investigate the aspects of professional development that Computing teachers are utilising. We conducted a survey of over 900 Computing teachers in England and use the results to reflect on the benefits of face-to-face vs online communities to support teachers. Our results show that teachers find the face-to-face events and training to be useful, and that teachers in our community are participating in many hours of professional development in order to address their needs in content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in Computing. Furthermore an online community is valuable in supporting teachers who require resources, access to expertise and guidance on curriculum issues in addition to face-to-face training, networking and support.