Current trends, tensions and unresolved issues in research on teacher professional learning

Untersuchung der Effekte spezifischer Designelemente in Online-Fortbildungen: Am Beispiel von Systematisierungsvideos für die Entwicklung fachdidaktischen Wissens

“…Online PD courses Research reviews focusing online PD courses for teachers revealed that design principles identified for effective face-to-face PD also apply to online PD courses: long duration, content focus, active learning, interaction between peers, and proximity to relevant teaching practices (Aldon et al 2019;Capparozza et al 2023;Engelbrecht et al 2020;Quinn et al 2019). Online PD courses have additional affordances in their higher flexibility and accessibility for teachers with difficulties in reaching face-to-face PD courses (Hennessy et al 2022;Koellner et al 2023). These affordances were key to the quick increase of online PD courses during the pandemic closures (Engelbrecht et al 2020) that also reached the German context.…”

“…These affordances were key to the quick increase of online PD courses during the pandemic closures (Engelbrecht et al 2020) that also reached the German context. However, very few studies have investigated online PD courses in the German context (Capparozza et al 2023;Lipowsky and Rzejak 2021), and like for all massive open online courses across subjects (Bozkurt et al 2017), there is a need to investigate in more depth the effects of particular design elements (Aldon et al 2019;Asterhan and Lefstein 2024;Capparozza et al 2023;Hennessy et al 2022;Koellner et al 2023).…”

“…"While more research is needed to ascertain the effectiveness and impact of various forms of online PD, it is clear they offer a valuable option for large numbers of teachers" (Koellner et al 2023, p. 554). The state of research suggests that online PD courses are promising, and thereby of high interest for more research: on the first evaluation level of teachers' emotional and motivational reactions, but also on the second level of teachers' growth of knowledge (Capparozza et al 2023), and not only in the overall effects, but for particular design elements (Asterhan and Lefstein 2024;Koellner et al 2023).…”

“…However, efficacy studies on PD online courses have been limited (Hennessy et al 2022;Koellner et al 2023), in particular in Germany (Lipowsky and Rzejak 2021), the country of the current study. In a recent survey, Capparozza et al (2023) found only 16 studies investigating effects of online PD across all subjects; only three of them investigated the effects of the online PD course on changes in teachers' knowledge (rather than emotional reactions to the PD or changes in teachers' orientations).…”

“…In a recent survey, Capparozza et al (2023) found only 16 studies investigating effects of online PD across all subjects; only three of them investigated the effects of the online PD course on changes in teachers' knowledge (rather than emotional reactions to the PD or changes in teachers' orientations). As most of these studies holistically investigated the effects of complete courses (Capparozza et al 2023;Means et al 2013), a persistent need was articulated for conceptually disentangling the underlying elements and principles of instructional design and for separately studying their effects (Aldon et al 2019;Asterhan and Lefstein 2024;Desimone and Pak 2017;Koellner et al 2023).…”