Teachers' perceptions of a hybrid inservice delivery model: A qualitative study

• Main Author: Girelli, Alan Gil
• Language: ENG
• Published: ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst 2004
• Subjects: Rhetoric|Composition|Teacher education|Educational software
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3152700

This qualitative study evaluates design and delivery of technology-integration professional-development programming delivered through a hybrid distance-delivery model involving telecasts, online, and on-site instruction. The study analyzes perceptions of learning shared by ten veteran urban high school teachers who completed a graduate course delivered through the model. Research questions ask if teachers found gains achieved were commensurate with learning challenges, what factors of school and district affected the value of staff-development, whether perceptions changed over time, and what learning profiles were a best fit for the model. The study also examines the larger contexts of a Professional Development School technology-infusion initiative and a district-level technology-training program. Research methods include content analysis applied to data collected longitudinally through written program evaluations and interviews conducted over a four-year period. Analyses of email messaging and other electronic communications provide further triangulation of data. The study provides cross-case and case study treatments, the latter providing small-scale maximum variation sampling of learning profiles. The study reports teachers entered the program preferring informal, on-site workshop instruction to all other technology-training options, and that this preference proved durable. Teachers dismissed graduate coursework and district-level training, citing issues of trust and expressing themes regarding respect and lack of respect, and the value of local knowledge. Teachers differentially perceived the pace of the course and relationships with instructional staff, according to their self-assessed computing skill levels. Teachers' perceived video-based instruction as valuable but felt synchronous video was not valuable, and found web-based learning challenging and frustrating but believed educational resources on the web are bountiful. Overall, cohort members expressed satisfaction with the course, attributing their satisfaction primarily to participation in project work. Findings suggest characteristics of a design process for customizing instruction to needs of individuals and cohorts. The literature review addresses constructivist and adult learning theory and principles of instructional design. The researcher examines the role of the Professional Development School and the school district in technology training and addresses Cynthia Selfe's concerns regarding the digital divide and the “technology-literacy link,” advocating continued research on teachers' perceptions of technology-integration staff-development and positing new roles for teachers in program design.