Project1

Evaluating Online Professional Development Courses

The objectives of this project are to conduct research on the variety of online professional development courses targeted at African teachers. The main purpose of the project is to ascertain the range of courses available and to evaluate the experience with these online courses. The final objective is to provide guidelines on what constitutes a good teacher professional development course and to inform policy on teacher professional development in Africa.

The research questions for this project include:

• What online professional development courses are available to African teachers?
• What has been the experience with African teacher involvement in these courses?
• What is the educational value of existing online professional development courses for African teachers?
• What guidelines can be developed to determine best practice in professional development of African teachers?
• What are the implications for professional development policy by national education ministries in Africa?

  The outputs of this project will include:

• A research report;
• A discussion forum on the research findings among the ATN;
• Guidelines for professional development best practice;
• Policy recommendations on professional development practice through the use of ICTs.

  It is proposed that the partners involved in this project with SNA will be OSISA and the Southern Africa Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE).