University Teacher Professional Development in the Digital World

Abstract

These are changing times in education systems around the world. With the start of the new millennium, many societies are engaging in serious educational reforms. One of the key elements in most of these reforms is the professional development of teachers. As universities become more autonomous, with open learning environments, university teachers assume greater responsibility for the content, organisation and monitoring of the learning process, as well as for their own personal career-long professional development. Systems of education and training for teachers need to provide them with the necessary opportunities. All this makes the field of teacher professional development a growing and challenging area, and one that has received major attention during the past few years. This is actual for high educational institutions in Russia as they are both eager and required to become a part of European educational system. This is why we should investigate the issue of professional development: what kind of instruments we can use for increasing the effectiveness of university teacher professional development.