Professional Development for Online and Mobile Learning: Promoting Teachers’ Pedagogical Inquiry

Integrating Design-Based Learning and Mentoring Strategies into a Professional Development Program for Distance Education Instructors

“…Hung and Yeh (2013) stated that there is a paradigm shift in instructors' learning. Accordingly, the PD programs should consider the instructors' needs and integrate student-centered pedagogies to let them reexamine their pedagogy and content knowledge in student and learning contexts (Baran, 2018;Ng, 2015;van As, 2018). Therefore, investigating the different PD strategies that can contribute to the instructors' effective online teaching practices is critical.…”

“…Therefore, the In addition to the DBL strategy, the mentoring program is also an effective strategy to support the instructors' PD. In mentoring programs, mentors provide customized and contextual support to the mentees' needs (Baran, 2018), and this could be conducted online or face to face (Gabriel & Kaufield, 2008). Several mentoring models have been adopted in higher education to support the instructors' PD.…”

“…These benefits are a deep understanding of technology integration in education, increased confidence in using technology, professional growth, and improved teaching practices (Chuang et al, 2003;Gabriel & Kaufield, 2008;Kram & Isabella, 1985). Although the mentoring strategy provides more customized and contextual support (Baran, 2018) for instructors, it has similar contributions to the instructors as in the DBL strategy. Hence, there is a potential that the mentoring strategy can encourage instructors to put the activities learned in the DBL strategy into the actual practices and subsequently facilitate their adaptations to distance education.…”

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DBL strategy can be used in PD programs to examine learners' needs, solve authentic problems, and learn new technologies for effective online teaching (Baran, 2018).

Howdid the design-based learning strategy implemented in the professional development program contribute to distance education instructors?

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“…DBL strategy can be used in PD programs to examine learners' needs, solve authentic problems, and learn new technologies for effective online teaching (Baran, 2018).…”