Design Principles of an Authentic Online Professional Development Program for Multicultural Faculty

Abstract

Autenttista ammatillista oppimista monikulttuurisille korkeakouluopettajille

Tutkimuksen tavoite oli muodostaa suunnitteluperiaatteet kokonaan verkossa toteutettavalle täydennyskoulutukselle, joka soveltuu monikulttuurisille korkeakouluopettajille. Tutkimuksen kohteena oli Arabiemiraateissa toteutettu täydennyskoulutus. Tutkimuksessa todettiin että ns. autenttisen verkko-oppimisen malli soveltuu erinomaisesti tähän tarkoitukseen, mutta sen tehokas käyttö edellyttää hyvää suunnittelua. Autenttinen verkko-oppiminen painottaa yhteisöllistä oppimista ja työelämään kiinteästi sitoutuvia oppimissisältöjä ja -tehtäviä.

Tässä tutkimuksessa todettiin, että autenttisen oppimisen periaatteiden mukainen verkko-oppiminen voi johtaa syvälliseen ammatilliseen kasvuun, reflektiotaitojen kehittymiseen, sekä kulttuuriseen ymmärrykseen ja vuorovaikutustaitoihin. Toisaalta, se on menetelmänä hyvin erilainen kuin perinteinen akateeminen oppiminen, joten se voi myös olla osallistujille vaativaa. Jotta toivotut tulokset saavutettaisiin, oppimisen fasilitointiin ja tukemiseen on kiinnitettävä erityistä huomiota, oppimisympäristön on tuettava itsesäätelytaitojen kehittymistä, ja suunnittelussa on aktiivisesti vältettävä sekä opettajajohtoista yksityiskohtaista ohjeistamista, että liiallista rakenteen puutetta ja sekavuutta.

Tutkimustulokset lisäävät ymmärrystä autenttisen verkko-oppimisen mukaisen opettajien täydennyskoulutuksen tasapainoisesta suunnittelusta, sekä autenttisen verkko-oppimisen hyödyntämisestä ammatillisen kasvun tukena.

The aim of this study was to form design principles for an online professional development program for teachers in a multicultural, 21st century higher education context. The study was conducted using an educational design research approach and it involved piloting an online postgraduate certificate program for teaching in higher education in the United Arab Emirates. The learning design of the pilot program was guided by the pedagogical framework of authentic e-learning. This formed a hypothesis to be tested: how useful a design framework for an extensive online teacher professional development program does authentic e-learning provide? Four studies investigated the successfulness of the learning design, the adequacy of redesign, as well as issues contributing to the collaborative online learner experience. The first study (Article 1) sought to find out whether the implementation of the authentic e-learning design had been adequate in the first module of the professional development program. The aim was to determine whether the intended learning design had been attained as well as identify elements that required adjusting. The findings indicated that the authentic e-learning design was very successful in parts, but also several difficulties and areas for improvement were identified. The study revealed that the open-ended and ill-defined nature of authentic learning might cause confusion for learners who are accustomed to a more didactic delivery. The identified redesign challenges all related to finding balanced ways of scaffolding authentic learning without oversimplifying the design and sacrificing the authenticity. The aim of the second study (Article 2) was to describe the redesign measures undertaken as a result of the findings of the first study, as well as to evaluate the adequacy of the redesign. Extreme scenarios were identified for the areas in the learning design where balance needed to be sought. These areas included site design, facilitator’s role and learning task design. The findings of the study indicated that all the redesigned areas had improved, although not equally. The study emphasized the crucial role the facilitator plays in the authentic e-learning process. A central finding of the study indicated that being aware of the extremes in the learning design is helpful for finding the balance in the authentic learning design: authentic e-learning may be challenging for participants, and there is the danger of addressing learner feedback by taking the design to the other extreme. The third study (Article 3) examined the implications of a multicultural learning context on the authentic learning process. Moreover, it investigated the impact of the authentic e-learning model on the development of the learning culture of the diverse group of learners. The study concluded that learning culture is an essential consideration with regard to multicultural, diverse groups of learners. While attempting to cater for different preferences and familiarities was deemed unfruitful if not impossible, the findings of the study suggested developing learning designs that promote dialogue, reflection and collaboration, thus forming a basis for the group to collaboratively create a learning culture that appreciates diversity. The goal of the fourth study (Article 4) was to investigate the learning experiences of the participants in order to find out how they experienced the collaborative online learning process and how they perceived the impact of the program on their professional growth. The findings illustrated how each individual learner experiences a shared learning situation in a different way, at the same time affecting the experience of others. Nevertheless, all participants had felt they had benefited from the program. The ones who experienced great challenges had also experienced a clear conceptual change. This, however, required well-developed self-regulation skills, and therefore a learning design that promotes the development of these skills was recommended. The study concluded that fully accommodating to learning preferences will keep learners in their comfort zones instead of encouraging them to cross boundaries and grow professionally and personally. Together these four studies indicate that authentic e-learning is a highly useful framework for online professional development for teachers in higher education that can potentially lead to profound professional growth and conceptual change, development of reflective practice, and cultural inclusivity. However, there are prerequisites for this potential to be unleashed. Scaffolding and coaching must be emphasized and improved, the design must support the development of self-regulation skills, and the balance between the familiar and the new and challenging must be found, which means that the two extremes must also be recognized and actively avoided. The findings of the study offer insight into conducting balanced authentic e-learning designs that can be leveraged to achieve effective, transformational professional learning.