Online Professional Development for Mathematics Teachers
Brooke Evans & Patricia McKenna & Don Gilmore & James LoatsUsing collaborative problem solving to develop a “learning community” among mathematics teachers is an established approach to professional development within the field (Lachance & Confrey, 2003; Ryve, 2007). However, the question of whether an online environment adequately facilitates the development of a learning community among teacher-learners remains unanswered (Kim & Bonk, 2006). Any answer to that question will be partial and temporary for two reasons. First, teacher-educators can currently choose from an array of web-based conferencing software of variable quality and capabilities. Second, the rapid pace of innovation of educational technology creates both opportunities and challenges for teacher educators: what some technologies constrain today, other technologies enable tomorrow. Despite these conditions, this roundtable discussion will focus on how one online approach to professional development used by the faculty of Metropolitan State College of Denver (Metro) both promoted and impeded community building and collaborative problem-solving among a group of elementary mathematics teachers in rural Colorado and how other schools may be working through these issues. The growth of online mathematics education and the need for teachers in rural schools to obtain certification in mathematics suggest that mathematics teacher-educators can use Metro’s study and the discussions at this roundtable to structure and conduct online professional development courses in ways that conform to the principles of reform-based instruction.