
Examining the Roles of the Facilitator in Online and Face-to-Face Professional Development Contexts
ARTICLE
Gina Park, The University of Michigan, United States ; Heather Johnson, Vanderbilt University, United States ; Richard Vath, The University of Michigan, United States ; Beth Kubitskey, Eastern Michigan University, United States ; Barry Fishman, The University of Michigan, United States
Journal of Technology and Teacher Education Volume 21, Number 2, ISSN 1059-7069 Publisher: Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education, Waynesville, NC USA
Abstract
Online teacher professional development has become an alternative to face-to-face professional development. Such a shift from face-to-face to online professional development, however, brings new challenges for professional development facilitators, whose roles are crucial in orchestrating teacher learning. This paper is motivated by the need to address the current gap in our understanding of what is entailed in the roles of facilitators, and how those roles might vary by context (i.e., face-to-face or asynchronous online). We drew on Anderson et al.’s (2001) “teaching presence” framework to lay the groundwork for characterizing the role of online and face-to-face facilitators. Qualitative analysis revealed that although professional development facilitators attended to similar issues irrespective of the context, the actions they engaged in to attend to these issues varied by context. Further exploration and synthesis of the findings suggests that shifting from traditional face-to-face to online professional development presents several design and instructional tensions that can impact how facilitators carry out their roles to support teacher learning. We conclude by using the findings from this study to present potential design tensions or pedagogical challenges that might arise when facilitators shift from face-to-face to online professional development contexts.
Citation
Park, G., Johnson, H., Vath, R., Kubitskey, B. & Fishman, B. (2013). Examining the Roles of the Facilitator in Online and Face-to-Face Professional Development Contexts. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 21(2), 225-245. Waynesville, NC USA: Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education. Retrieved May 29, 2023 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/41513/.
© 2013 Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education
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