Blended Learning

EVALUATION OF A BLENDED LEARNING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAM FOR MIDDLE-SCHOOL MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE TEACHERS

Ronald D. Owston
(rowston@edu.yorku.ca)
Margaret Sinclair
Herbert Wideman
Institute for Research on Learning Technologies
4700 Keele St., Toronto, Ontario
Canada M3J 1P3






Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco
April 9, 2006

Blended learning is a promising, yet so far seldom used model for supporting teacher professional development. The model combines the advantages of traditional face-to-face interaction with the flexibility of online learning. In this study, we examine two one-year professional development programs for middle school mathematics and science/technology teachers that employed this model. We use Guskey’s (2000) five level evaluation framework to assess the impact of the programs on teachers’ attitudes, knowledge, and classroom practices, and on student engagement and perceptions of the subjects. Overall, our results indicate that the program positively affected teacher attitudes and content knowledge in certain curricular areas and motivated many to transform their classroom practice to varying degrees. Despite this, student responses were mixed: students viewed mathematics less favorably by the end of the program, but became more positively inclined towards science/technology. The blended learning model proved to have many positive features, although sustaining teacher involvement in the online portion for the duration of the program was challenging.