Professional Development for Online and Mobile Learning: Promoting Teachers’ Pedagogical Inquiry

Abstract

Teachers' successful transformation to online and mobile teaching requires a reexamination of their traditional pedagogies, the content they teach, the student profiles, and the context of learning. Professional development that promotes teachers' pedagogical inquiry is a key to such transformation. Creating online and mobile spaces to enhance professional learning, recent models implement situated, on-demand, anytime, and customized learning opportunities for teachers. This chapter examines how professional development can be delivered effectively by looking at strategies to support teachers' effective online and mobile teaching. The following models are illustrated in this chapter with their focus on teacher transformation and teacher change in professional development programs for online and mobile learning: Mentoring, professional learning communities, and design-based learning. Several recommendations are presented to enhance teacher professional development programs for mobile and online learning.