Running head: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS

Effective Professional Development Practices for Teachers

A Review of the Literature

Samantha Niehaus

Eastern Michigan University

January 20, 2018

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Abstract

Teacher professional development is a dreaded phrase for many educators today. Many

educators view professional development as forced, boring, and irrelevant. Studies show how

important it is for educators to stay up to date on the latest research based tools and procedures

with the help of professional development opportunities. There are some key points to consider

when planning effective professional development for teachers. Many teachers need more than

just an hour of sit and get lectures. In this literature review, I will review several studies that

show correlation between teacher input, time, mentoring, and feedback and effective teacher

professional development. Teachers can learn from each other as experts in the classroom but

need to time to do so as a professional learning network of connected educators. This is

especially important as technology increasingly is infused in K-12 education.

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Professional Development, otherwise known as PD is an essential part of a teacherś

career. In the state of Michigan, teachers are required to have professional development hours

inside their school district and outside of their school district each year. In order to renew a

provisional or professional teaching certificate, a Michigan educator is required to show proof of

150 hours of education related professional learning. When you say the words ¨professional

development¨ at my current school, many teachers roll their eyes and moan and groan. The idea

of our school or district provided PD makes many of us cringe. Why? Most people would say

because the learning experiences provided do not appear or feel relevant to our roles as

classroom teachers. This year alone, my school has spent two full days of professional learning

with the same trainers learning and renewing the same topic: CPI. CPI is the Crisis Prevention

Institute which teaches us educators about behavior management, specifically for students who

experience trauma. While it is important for us to remember that our students do have traumatic

lives and behavior management is certainly important, the training almost appears repetitive and

makes educators feel like the trainers treat us as though we are stupid. Many teachers feel that

they do not have a say in the professional learning opportunities offered by the district. With the

way technology is transforming education today though, it is important and vital for all educators

to continue seeking and practicing professional development opportunities in the area of

educational technology. Educational Technology can be referred to as Edtech. According to

Borthwick and Pierson (page 11), there has to be teacher buy in. Teachers have to believe that

the instructional technology they are learning about is actually going to increase student learning.

¨The National Staff Development Council (NSDC) recommends that 25% of professional

development time be devoted to learning and collaborating with colleagues¨ (Borthwick and
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Pierson, Page 11). So, how do we increase teacher buy in? How do we make professional

development opportunities that teachers believe in and want to attend? In any profession,

continuous learning is to be expected, but in education, it could be said that we cannot expect to

improve teaching and learning without teachers who are interested in improving their own skills.

Teacher´s voices are the most important part of deciding professional development because they

are the ones participating. It has also been proven that many teacher preparation programs are not

actually preparing teachers for the jobs that they will be performing. This makes teacher

professional development even more important for the quality of education our kids are

receiving. (Bayar, 2014) According to Birman, Desimone, Garet and Porter, they have identified

three structural features to set the context for professional development. They are form, duration

and participation. This leads to questions like, what type of structure is the pd? How many hours

do participants spend learning? And Who is participating and how many people? In addition to

those three structures, they also identified three core features that organize what happens during

a teacherś professional development experience. The three core features are content focus, active

learning, and coherence. (Birman et al., 2000). Bayar describes two main types of professional

development as traditional and non-traditional. Short workshops and conferences are considered

traditional whereas mentoring, coaching and observation can be considered non-traditional.

Bayar also says that the duration of a professional development program is important and can

decide if an opportunity should be considered traditional or non-traditional. (Bayar, 2014) The

idea of coherence in professional development is mentioned in both Bayar, 2014 and Birman et

al., 2000. The idea that the professional learning encouraged the participants to continue

collaborating with others over time and after the learning took place is important for professional
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development to be considered effective. ¨If professional development programs are to improve

learning for teachers, and consequently for students, they must be effectively designed and

implemented¨ (Anfara, Danin, Dilner, and Melvin, 2000). Teaching and learning cannot change

and reform as needed if the development of staff is not a priority to be high quality, relevant and

sustainable. One day workshops come and go, and seem to be a hit of miss for educators. If there

is no follow up, coherence or collective participation, there will not be as much of a teacher buy

in and therefore, change will not happen. Anfara et al., also lists principles for effective

professional development. Their ideas are similarly connected to those presented by Birman et

al. but also different. Anfara et al states that professional development experiences must have

students and their learning a the core, the content must come from both inside and outside the

learner and from research and practice, principles that guide the improvements of student

learning should also guide professional learning for teachers, and develop the knowledge base of

teachers through their professional development learning experiences. It is also mentioned that

professional development must align with the support system based changes that promote student

learning.

Technology and education are both fast changing ideas. Both are ever changing and go

through more changes than they stay the same. As technology and education change together,

professional learning for educators is increasingly important to be effective and relevant. ¨Not

only does technology offer a variety of instructional options to teachers, it additionally motivates

students who are accustomed to electronic devices in their everyday lives¨ (Borthwick and

Pierson, 2008) Yet, there is still a survey that reports only 7% of schools having teachers who

can integrate technology into their lessons effectively. The same study says that an alarming 65%
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of schools provide little to no professional development for their teachers in the area of

technology. (Borthwick and Pierson, 2008) In a 2018 survey of 33 K-12 teachers, a common

similarity among educators when talking about PD was that there is not enough follow up after

the learning, not enough money, not enough time, and they felt that many professional learning

that is offered is forced, and not relevant to individual needs. This seems to coincide with the

research stating how important time and relevance are to having effective professional

development opportunities. ¨ The effectiveness of professional development increases when it

combines theory, practical application, feedback and cognitive peer coaching with follow-up¨

(Zepeda and Bengston, 2014). The research shows that teachers are not wrong about what they

expect in professional development, and that in order for it to be effective and increase student

learning, follow-up and feedback are essential. ¨Getting teacher buy in is important when

technology is involved, especially for those who are not convinced technology is worth the time

and effort. The first step of any sound professional development program is to develop a belief

about technology professional development that includes the idea that the curriculum drives the

use of technology, not vice-versa, and that empowered teachers will find appropriate ways to

include technology with their ongoing instruction rather than view it as an activity unconnected

to the district's content standards” (Barnett, 2003). In 2001, a study was done in Georgia

Elementary schools which determined that although a school district had spent almost a million

dollars on technology upgrades, the majority of the teachers did not feel they were adequately

prepared to use those new tools in their instruction practices. They also determined that the

technology was not being used effectively. (Smith and Shoffner, 2001) While it is unfortunate

that so much money be spent on technology that is not being used, I think this is a reality that
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many school districts, even in 2018 still face. This is why technology professional development

and learning is so important in order for teachers to be expected to use technology effectively.

The same Georgia school district conducted professional development with pre and post surveys

that showed significant growth in teacherś technology skills. They made the following

recommendations for effective professional development: Offer an on-site menu that includes

more choices and less mandated sessions for staff members, offer options for large group

training, small group classes and one-on-one mentoring to better meet the various learning styles

of the staff, and improve and increase follow up training to ensure successful implementation of

the professional development initiative. (Smith and Shoffner, 2001) While this goes well with

what the other research has mentioned, this also proves that professional development such as

the EdCamp model is beneficial and helpful to educators. The EdCamp model allows teachers to

all be their own experts, pick what ideas and topics they want to discuss and learn about, and

allows participants to vote with their feet, so that if a topic interests them initially but not after

learning more, they can get up and leave that session to learn about something that could be

beneficial to them. Many EdCamps are offered throughout the year that revolve around many

different topics and themes. One of the best things about EdCamps besides the model of

professional development is that they are free to attend. This helps in another area of concern

regarding professional development; cost.

¨Engineering at the K-12 level has tremendous potential for contributing to the vitality of

the schools. In a world infused with technology, it is becoming increasingly important that

students know something about the role of engineering in creating the technologies that they use¨

(Custer and Daugherty, 2009). Even in the STEM field, professional development needs to be
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effective for teachers in order for student learning to increase. The use of student work in the

professional development experience is an effective approach to professional development. It has

also been shown that research based professional development needs to be looked at with a clear

understanding of the outcomes. (Custer and Daugherty, 2009) According to Ji and Cao, The

MOOC system in China is an important tool because it takes into account, teacher’s

characteristics, teacher's needs, and the cost. (Ji and Cao, 2016) While it is still new, and more

experiments are needed, MOOC has demonstrated its potential in teacher professional

development. MOOC stands for Massive open online course. The idea of MOOC being effective

for teacher professional development comes from the idea that teachers would not have to travel,

they can choose what they wish to learn about based on their needs and characteristics and they

can work at their own pace. It doesn’t necessarily solve any issues with teacher buy in, or

feedback and follow up.

Barnett (2003) says that, “technology professional development programs are successful

when they focus on the teacher’s stage of use. A teacher afraid of technology or a beginning user

would be lost in a class for power users”. He uses Mandinach’s four stages of technology use

from 1992, Survival, mastery, impact and innovation. Barnett also says that even with

professional development, and coaching, it could take up to 5 years for a teacher to reach the

mastery and impact stages. Some solutions for offering effective professional development

include offering it at applicable times, coaching, offering mini grants for teachers who attend,

summer institutes, and distance learning. Distance Learning coincides with the idea of MOOCS

being effective. It has been said that several things can work, but there are also proven things that

do not work for effective professional development. Some things that are dangerous include not
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including teacher input, no involvement from principles, not offering a follow up, not preparing

or planning, and little time for hands-on experiences. (Barnett, 2003) It is also important to

remember that feedback is always good. If you aren’t able to get feedback from your students,

how will you know if what you are doing is effective, and if in turn your PD was effective?

Zepeda, Parylo, and Bengston (2014) focus a lot on principal professional development, but I

think that some of their research is applicable to effective teacher PD. They mention that

mentoring is one of the most common forms of professional development, as are peer sharing

and peer support. I think it is important to recognize that even principals benefit from the idea of

a professional learning network of people to connect with, share ideas and stories, and to discuss

the subjects of things they have learned. Both principals and teachers alike benefit from using the

internet for online professional development, but with a principal’s busy schedule and inability to

leave the building during the school year, online learning might be more beneficial. “The

effectiveness of professional development increases when it combines theory, practical

application, feedback, and cognitive peer coaching with follow-up” (Zepeda, Parylo, and

Bengston, 2014).

Conclusion

Professional development can be considered a form of adult learning which has five

characteristics; self-directed, motivated, problem-centered, relevancy oriented and goal oriented.

In order for technology professional development for educators to be considered effective, there

needs to be several aspects involved. Teachers need to be able to participate in hands on learning

during the professional learning experience, need to have mentoring or coaching available

afterwards with feedback and follow-up, need to be able to communicate with other educators
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teaching similar subjects or grade levels with specific classroom examples provided, and need to

have valued teacher input on what is important and needed. Teachers also need to know where

they stand in terms of technology education, and what their goals are as they continue to develop

their own 21st century learning skills.

References

Anfara, V. A., Danin, S. T., Melvin, K., & Dillner, H. (2000). Traveling road show or effective

professional development? A professional development science project on wheels. ().

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Barnett, H. (2003). Technology professional development: Successful strategies for teacher

change. ERIC digest ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology, Syracuse

University, 621 Skytop Rd., Suite 160, Syracuse, NY 13244-5290. Tel: 315-443-3640;

Tel: 800-464-9107 (Toll Free); Fax: 315-443-5448; e-mail: eric@ericit.org; Web site:

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Bayar, A. (2014). The components of effective professional development activities in terms of

teachers' perspective. International Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 6(2),

319-327. Retrieved from

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Bennison, A., & Goos, M. (2010). Learning to teach mathematics with technology: A survey of

professional development needs, experiences and impacts. Mathematics Education

Research Journal, 22(1), 31-56. Retrieved from

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ountid=10650

Borthwick, A., & Pierson, M. (2008). Transforming classroom practice: professional

development strategies in educational technology. Eugene, OR: International Society for

Technology in Education.

Custer, R. L., & Daugherty, J. L. (2009). The nature and status of STEM professional

development: Effective practices for secondary level engineering education. research in

engineering and technology education. ().National Center for Engineering and

Technology Education. c/o Department of Engineering Education Utah State University,

4160 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322. Retrieved from

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Ji, Z., & Cao, Y. (2016). A prospective study on the application of MOOC in teacher

professional development in china. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 4(9),

2061-2067. Retrieved from

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Smith, G. G., & Shoffner, M. B. (2001). Facilitating technology integration through effective

professional development: A local school model. (). Retrieved from

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Zepeda, S. J., Parylo, O., & Bengtson, E. (2014). Analyzing principal professional development

practices through the lens of adult learning theory. Professional Development in

Education, 40(2), 295-315. Retrieved from

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