The problems of teacher’s professional development in ICT context: An andragogical view

Abstract

This research provided an insight into alternative to the traditional process of teacher’s professional development (TPD) by exploring some features and issues in teachers’ usage of/participation in different professional development activities in online context. The research was aimed to explore teachers’ perceptions of some features and to identify potential issues related to usage/ participation in different professional development activities in information communication technology’s (ICT) context. The data for quantitative analyses were collected online, from August to October 2020, on the random sample of teachers (N=354) employed in several primary schools in the Republic of Serbia. The independent variables in this research are demographic variables and teachers’ preparedness for usage of different formats of online learning. The demographic variables included age, gender, length of tenure, and place of residence. A five–point modified Likert type scale with anchors ranging from 1 (“strongly disagree”) to 5 (“strongly agree”) was used for all measurement scales. The data were analyzed using a few relevant statistical techniques and procedures: percentage, means, standard deviations, intercorrelations, Cronbach’s alpha, Average Inter–Item Correlation, and Canonical Correlation Analysis. Findings suggest that TPD in ICT context has the potential to fulfill some gaps in traditional TPD, and to intensively engage teachers in the process of learning and development related to their professional practice. The extensive, transformative potential of online learning and the development of teachers is of importance to pedagogists, andragogists, psychologists and all other experts involved in the creation, design, organization, and realization of the TPD process. In terms of practical implications, online TPD drives teachers to self–directed learning activities and opens space for them to learn more, and not only about subjects they teach, about pupils, didactics, their roles, or methods. From an andragogical and didactics standpoint, those activities make room for teachers and moderators to develop, and to nurture learning needs related to the planning and designing activities, along with needs to improve their knowledge about information communication technology, about society and teachers’ from abroad, about the possible impact of new knowledge, and about themselves as adult learners. Also, online TPD has potential to provoke teachers to learn more about assertive communication in ICT context, about Internet security and protection. The main limitation of this research is methodological. Descriptive, quantitative design gave us insights into the problem. More complex approach that mix quantitative and qualitative design would lead researchers to a broader, deeper understanding of the complex problem of TPD in ICT context. Albeit this research contributes to the sum of knowledge about TPD in ICT context that arise in the previous decade, it opens several streams of research questions: a set related to the nature of online learning, and especially of TPD; a set about different aspects of transformative and self–directed learning of teachers; a set tied to methods of knowledge creation and dissemination in online context; a set of research questions about Internet security and protection during TPD process. More insights into these problems, from different standpoints, besides andragogical and didactics perspective – pedagogical, psychological, sociological – would contribute.