engleski

Primary school teachers’ readiness for online professional development

According to Hewett and Ehmann (2004), online teaching and learning encompass the formal and informal delivery of learning and professional development activities, processes, and associations through any electronic methods. A growing number of universities currently conduct academic courses through an online environment and a significant number of online courses are part of the preservice and in- service teacher training programs (Moore- Adams, Jones & Cohen, 2016). This study investigates primary school teachers' readiness for online learning. The survey was administered to 350 primary school teachers from two municipalities in the southern part of Croatia. The selection process was random and the sample of participants represented 32% of the primary school teacher population in the two municipalities. The research study results are situated in the context of current literature on teacher professional development and use of online learning in teacher education. In the reviewed literature, there are a number of research studies focusing on teachers’ readiness for professional development (Beara & Okanović, 2010 ; Baltusite & Katane, 2014). Furthermore, several recent studies investigate teachers’ readiness to pursue professional development in the online environment (Reeves & Li, 2012) or by the use of technology (Kopcha, 2012). As reported by Reeves & Li (2012), teachers participating in online professional development believe online professional development is as effective as face-to-face professional development, but also recognize the impact of technology and actual computer literacy level on overall experiences. For the purpose of this study, we used two validated scales: learner readiness for online learning scale (LROL) (Hung, Chou, Chen & Own 2010) and readiness for professional development of teachers (RPDT) scale (Beara & Okanović, 2010). LROL situates survey items in an online environment and estimates a person’s attitude toward self-directed learning, motivation for learning, computer/Internet self-efficacy, learner control, and online communication self- efficacy. RPDT focuses on the external motivation for professional development, the importance of training for the teaching profession, the impact of professional development on teaching quality, the importance of continuous professional development and teachers’ initiative in professional development. The scales were translated into Croatian and revised through both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The results of the statistical correlation indicate a relationship between primary school teachers’ readiness for online learning and their overall readiness for professional development.

primary school teachers, teachers’ professional development, readiness for online learning

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