Teachers’ Self-directed Professional Development: Science and Mathematics teachers’ adoption of ICT as a professional development strategy

Abstract

This paper is part of a larger study that was carried out to investigate the use of information communication technology (ICT) in the self-directed professional development (SDPD) of mathematics and science teachers in Zimbabwe. The educational context provides an example of how teachers compensated for lack of structured government initiatives to support teachers' professional development. This paper focuses on the ways in which these teachers were using ICT resources to further their professional development. The study is based on 259 questionnaire responses from A-level Science and Mathematics teachers in Zimbabwe. Doyle and Ponder's Practicality Ethic and Loucks-Horsley et al.'s ConcernsBased Adoption Model provided the theoretical framework for analysing teachers' decision making and led to the development of a model for teacher empowerment with respect to the use of ICT. The study results showed that around 60% of teachers experienced difficulties in accessing ICT for their professional development. About half of the non-users did not access ICT even when it was available at their schools. Some of those who did access ICT used innovative methods to ensure access, including using their own resources, and pooling resources. The findings also show that teachers have three main drivers for using ICT for SDPD, including word processing for generating instructional materials; accessing and downloading web-based learning materials; and emailing for networking with peers and professional organisations. The results of this study demonstrate the great potential that ICT has for teachers' SDPD.

The Use of the Internet for English Language Teachers’ Professional Development in Arab Countries

“…This finding confirms the positive attitudes of English language teachers towards the use of the Internet for professional development, an issue that has been pointed out by previous studies (e.g., Schrum, 1995;Herrington & Herrington, 2006;Charalambous & Ioannou, 2008;Demir, 2010;Mushayikwa, 2013;Rolando, Salvador, & Luz, 2013). This finding here encourages policy-makers in Arab countries to consider the Internet as a pivotal aspect of language educators lives.…”

“…In Brazil, Rolando, Salvador, and Luz (2013) found that biology teachers made limited use of the Internet and ICTs for educational purposes, with a rare use of the Internet for didactics purposes. In Zimbabwe, Mushayikwa (2013) recently investigated the use of ICTs for self-directed professional development by mathematics and science teachers and pointed out that the majority of Zimbabwean teachers had difficulties in accessing the Internet which had its impact on their use of ICTs for professional development.…”

Validity and Reliability of Self-Initiated Professional Development (SI-PD) Instrument: A Rasch Measurement Model approach for Pilot Study

“…Self-Initiated Professional Development (SI-PD) is a professional development that arises from teacher's own initiative which to develop their intellect, experience as well as attitude and internally motivated (Mushayikwa, 2013). It is a new approach of professional development in Malaysia and most of the teachers still unfamiliar with it, thus they still need supports because sometimes teachers do not always recognize what they do not know (Riddle, 2018;Louws et al, 2017;Noorriati et al, 2016).…”

Systems approaches to professional and decisional mathematics capital

“…Many of these techniques, however, rely on self-directed motivated teachers to enhance their own practice. The dangers of this self-directed PD are that teachers either do not have access to the proper equipment such as computers or simply use the PD time to access new resources without enhancing their own practice (Mushayikwa, 2013)…”