An action research project By Nazima Ally

1. Effects of video conferencing on teachers’ motivation and participation in professional development: An action research project ByNazima Ally

2. Rationale • Teachers cannot implement updated and contemporary approaches to facilitate student learning unless they have the skills to do so (Shaw,2003). • There is increased focus on the incorporation of technology – both as pedagogical practice and in teacher training, particularly in distance education. • With new and emerging policies affecting what and how teachers teach, it is critical to examine the best ways to provide professional development that will support teacher growth.

3. What does the literature say?Pros: • Creates an online learning community by fostering and forging new relationships among educational practitioners around the world (Schlager and Fusco, 2004) • Web based teacher professional development provides the opportunity for extended learning with an ability to interact with educators from various geographic locales, enriching the learning process (Green and Cifuentes, 2008). . • Technology in PDs is a positive and practical way of modeling its incorporation into literacy instruction (Sanny & Teale, 2008).

4. Pros Contd. Web based PDs adopt and incorporate a constructivist approach to learning through interaction and delivery (Sanny & Teale, 2008; Stevens & Lonberger, 1998). Online professional development offers flexibility with regard to time and place and meet students’ needs for easier access to learning (Willis, Tucker, & Gunn, 2003; Kent, 2007). Online and technology based PDs contribute to participants feeling invigorated and empowered to serve their students and society in a better way (Williams, 2009). Since future generations of children would live in societies of multiple literacies, it is imperative that electronic media be an integral part of teacher preparation and development McPherson, Wang, Hsu, and Tsue, (2007) .

5. Cons • Online professional communities have the potential of alienating professional development focused on local practices, such as school districts and schools (Schlager and Fusco, 2004). • Online instruction produces distance among learners and instructors, contributing to a disadvantage of this process (Beard & Harper, 2002). • If the content web based instruction is consistent with face to face instruction, the result will be the same, even if the presentation or mode of delivery differed (Steinweg, Davis, and Thomson (2005).

6. Area of Focus Statement The purpose of this action research project is to examine the use of video conferencing as an effective tool for enhancing teacher motivation and involvement in professional development. The following questions would guide this research: • How does video conferencing differ from traditional professional development sessions? • What factors are critical to teachers’ motivation and participation in professional development? • To what extent does the method of delivery in professional development affect teachers’ motivation and participation?

7. Participants • Students in the Literacy program at Queens College participated in an online survey of ten questions. • Participants were teachers from various grade levels and content areas.

8. Survey Questions: How old are you? How long have you been teaching? What content area do you teach? What grade level do you teach? Approximately how many professional sessions do you attend each year? Where do most of your PDs take place? Approximately how much time do you spend traveling to and from Professional Development sessions? How motivated are you to attend Professional Development sessions? How involved are you in your Professional Development sessions? What would you like to change about the way Professional Development sessions are conducted?

9. Procedure • Information from the initial online survey was compiled and analyzed to develop an understanding of the factors that affect teachers’ motivation and involvement in professional development. Based on this evaluation, intervention plans would be developed to help increase teachers’ motivation and involvement in professional development via video conferencing.

10. Data Analysis Procedure Information that participants supplied for questions 1-7 and question 10 were correlated with participants’ responses to questions 8 and 9 on the survey, which asked participants to state their levels of motivation and involvement in PDs. Patterns that developed were used to form generalizations about factors that affect teachers’ motivation and involvement in PDs and would be used to develop intervention plans.

11. Results of Initial Survey 29.4% 9.7% 6% 8% 2% 30.6% 14.3% Figure 1: Teachers’ Participation in the Project by content area

12. Results Contd. Figure 2: Teachers’ Overall Rate of Motivation

13. Results Contd. Figure 3:Teachers’ Motivation by Grade Level

14. Results Contd. Figure 4: Location of PDs by Grade Levels

15. Discussion and Implications A strong correlation between location of PDs and teachers’ motivation and involvement is suggested; however, causality could not be established until other factors such as relevancy of content and delivery of PDs are considered. Teachers objected to new ideas being taught abstractedly in face to face PDs without concrete modeling and scaffolding from instructors Relevancy to classroom, population, and school needs was indicated as a dominant factor in teachers’ motivation and involvement in PDs, confirming Carreker et al (2005) and Varma, Husic, and Linn (2008) studies that indicated the importance of targeted approaches in PDs to meet teachers’ specific needs.

16. Implications Contd. Intervention would involve the use of video conferencing to enhance and scaffold teachers’ understanding of new and unfamiliar concepts. Intervention PDs using video conferencing must address the issue of relevance, choice, and convenience to teachers in order to be successful in enhancing teachers’ motivation and involvement in PDs.

17. Limitations Though 51 people responded to the initial survey, at least three of these responses had to be disregarded because they only responded to one question, started and not finished, or was repeated with the same information. This reduced the return rate and affected the general outcome. The quality of the questions used in the survey needed improvement. Looking back, the researcher suggests using questions that directly ask about the use of technology in PDs and noting participants’ response to such usage. A major concern for the researcher in this initial stage was that fourteen participants skipped question 10 on the survey, which was crucial to understanding teachers’ needs for further development and intervention. This research project is ongoing.

18. My Appreciation Thank you all for participating in our initial online survey.

19. Reflection I added this document to my portfolio because it demonstrates my ability to conduct research in the field and to interpret and present findings in an accurate, concise way that is also visually appealing. Conducting this research was a unique learning process for me because it required much more than hunting the library for other writers’ findings; I learned how to create a survey using technology and was amazed at how this technology made documenting the findings uncomplicated. This document is a stepping stone for my future research in the field of literacy.