Teachers' technological readiness for online professional development: evidence from the US e-Learning for Educators initiative

摘要

Although online professional development (OPD) is recognised as a viable alternative to face-to-face professional development, there are some obstacles to the delivery of effective OPD. This study examines one such obstacle, teachers' technological readiness for OPD participation. In particular, this study examines six research questions regarding the technological readiness of US elementary and secondary educators who participate in OPD. The data source was ‘e-Learning for Educators', a large-scale OPD initiative implemented between 2006 and 2011 in the US. The data show that this population of teachers, in general, report that they believe online professional development is as effective as face-to-face professional development; have easy access to the required technology; possess the required computer/technical skills; and perceive some of these skills to improve with course participation. Though these findings are largely favourable from the perspective of OPD stakeholders, this study also finds some variability among teachers that might warrant possible mitigation strategies.View full textDownload full textKeywordsonline professional development, teacher professional development, technological readiness, teachers, ordinal regressionRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2012.707921