This document summarizes Professor Mark Brown's perspectives on effective teacher professional development in the context of new digital technologies. It discusses 10 principles of effective teacher professional development, including recognizing teachers as learners, contextualizing learning activities, and promoting deep and sustainable changes to teaching practices. It also examines different definitions and dimensions of blending learning, and argues for an approach of embedded challenge-based teacher professional learning to transform mindsets and promote new actions.

1. Professor Mark Brown
Dublin City University
28th June 2022
@mbrownz

3. Interactive Technology and Smart Education, 14 (3), pp.230-
245.
Butler, D., Leahy, M., Hallissy,
M., & Brown, M.
(2020). MOOCs, teacher
professional learning and deep
learning conversations. In A.
Tatall (ed.), Section, Teachers
and IT, S. Counder
(ed.), Encyclopedia of
Education and Information
Technologies. Switzerland
AG: Springer. https://doi.org/10.
1007/978-3-030-10576-1
Bulter, D., Leahy, M., Hallissy,
M., & Brown, M. (2017).
Different strokes for different
folks: Scaling a blended
learning model of teacher
professional
learning. Interactive Technology
and Smart Education, 14
(3), pp.230-245. Available
from https://doi.org/10.1108/ITS
E-01-2017-0011

4. 2019

5. 2021

7. Outline….
1. Principles of effective teacher
professional development
2. Better understanding the
different dimensions of blending
3. Designing impactful blended
professional learning for
teachers

9. @mbrownz

10. 1. Recognise teachers as learners
2. Contextualise learning activities
3. Value teachers’ existing knowledge
4. Engage teachers in critical self-reflection
5. Challenge pre-existing pedagogical beliefs
Effective teacher professional development in the context of
new digital technologies needs to:
(Brown, 2018)

11. Developing innovative mindsets is
absolutely crucial

12. 6. Recognise important discipline differences
7. Foster strong professional communities of
practice
8. Support multi-faceted approaches to meet
differing needs
9. Embed new digital technologies in authentic and
meaningful contexts
Effective teacher professional development in the context of
new digital technologies needs to:
(Brown, 2018)

13. 10. Promote deep and sustainable changes to
educational practices which enhance
outcomes for learners
Effective teacher professional development in the context of
new digital technologies needs to:
Darling-Hammond et al. (2017) make the point that
effective professional learning results in changes to
teacher knowledge and practices and leads to
improvements in student learning outcomes.
(Brown, 2018)

15. https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/digcompedu_en

16. Teachers do not just ‘deliver’ the curriculum

18. @mbrownz

21. What do we mean?

22. 46 different definitions!

23. “What used to be a simple binary of
face-to-face or online has now become
so extremely complex that our ability to
understand each other is impaired”
(Irvine, 2020, p. 42).
Irvine, V. (2020). The landscape of merging modalities.
EDUCAUSE Review, 4, 40-48.

24. Out of School
Out of Class
Formal
Informal
At School
out of Class
Physical Virtual
Digital
Leakage
Digital
Learning
Ecology
Out of School
in Class
At School
in Class

25. Professional Development
Professional Learning
On-Site,
Sustained,
Contextualised
Physical Virtual
Spaces
for Teachers’
Learning
Digital
Learning
Ecology
Off-Site,
One-Off,
One-Size-Fits All
On-Site,
One-Off,
One-Size-Fits All
Off-Site,
Sustained,
Contextualised

26. Hybrid

27. 2021

28. Learning by sharing
(Connectivist)
“Learning by listening”
(Instructionist)
Learning by doing
(Constructivist)
Learning by making
(Constructionist)
Pedagogical
Compass

29. History Repeats!

30. 2012

31. Taming or Reimagining?

33. @mbrownz

35. ABC Learning Design Framework

38. Using existing MOOCs…
…with a synchronous f2f and/or online dimension
• Whole school teaching teams
• Cohorts of teachers across schools
• Clusters of teachers across of countries
• Groups of teachers with specific interests
• Communities of teachers in professional bodies

39. (Bulter, et al., 2017)

40. But raises questions…
…whether this leads to impactful professional learning!
• Why would teachers sign up?
• Who will provide the facilitation?
• What recognition will teachers receive?
• Will teachers be released to participate?
• How will this enhance outcomes for learners?

41. The risk is that
MOOCs merely reinforce the old
pump, pump, DUMP
model of teacher
professional development

42. Flipping our thinking…
• Audience or Author?
• Deliver or Co-construct?
• Taming or Transformative?

43. Embedded Challenge-based Teacher Professional Learning

44. Challenging Mindsets,
Developing Public Intellectuals
and Promoting New Actions
Embedded Challenge-based Teacher Professional Learning

45. @mbrownz

46. @mbrownz
A conclusion is the place
where you got tired of thinking
(or ran out of time)

47. [ Blended | On-line | Digital ]
B O L D

48. Go raibh maith
agaibh!
Thank you