Needs assessment: Developing an effective online P-6 engineering professional development program

Abstract

This needs assessment study used a mixed methods approach to explore the needs and design principles of an online P-6 pioneering engineering education teacher professional development program. One hundred ten out of 296 teachers participated in the survey, and 20 of those were interviewed. Results showed that access to resources and teacher self-debriefing were the main features teachers preferred to have available to them. Trust building, videoconferencing, and reflective video cases were identified as the main design principles to promote the teachers' collegiality and collaboration in the online community.