Can teachers be trained online?
Type
Conference proceeding
Journal Title
Book title
EDEN Fifth Open Classroom Conference: Teachers’ professional development: Addressing e-learning, innovation and quality in schooling (Poitiers, 2005)
Publication Date
2005
Volume
Issue
Start page
93
End page
96
Publication Number of pages
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Abstract
This paper describes the establishment and delivery of a Blended Learning Higher Diploma in Education, being a professional qualification for Primary School teachers in Ireland. This innovative course represents a major departure from the traditional mode of delivery of teaching training in Ireland. A careful analysis of student feedback and examination scores is therefore of crucial importance to inform further development of the course and to contribute to innovation in teacher training both in Ireland and internationally.
The two primary modes of course delivery, that is an Entirely Online mode and a Blended Learning mode, were compared in terms of qualitative feedback from the students themselves and quantitative results from the formal assessment procedures. Across a range of questions that covered perceived workload, satisfaction with objectives and learning outcomes and perceived career benefit, the mode of delivery had no effect on student levels of satisfaction with the course. There was a small but significant grade improvement for Blended Learning courses over Entirely Online courses. However, alternative hypotheses make it difficult to attribute this grade increase to the mode of course delivery.
The mode of delivery of course content does not affect student satisfaction or the ability of students to perform well in formal assessment. It is therefore concluded that a blended learning educational system that includes online education is a highly appropriate mode for the training of primary school teachers.
Keywords
online teaching and learning, blended learning, primary school teachers