Changes in advanced educators’ conceptualization of and concerns about global education as a result of participation in formal professional development

Date

2019-08

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Abstract

The purpose of this convergent parallel mixed methods research study was to examine the concerns and perceptions of advanced educators as they participated in formal professional development while mentoring multiple teachers who were institutionalizing Global Collaborative STEM Education (GCSE) across a grade-level or department. Within this study, 15 students within the Texas Tech University's Global PRiSE Doctoral program were examined using the concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) as the framework. This study was a part of a larger, longitudinal study that examined advanced educators as they shifted from mentoring one teacher who was implementing GCSE projects to mentoring multiple teachers across a department as a part of their formal professional development (PD). The research questions focused on the concerns of the advanced educators as they participated in formal PD, the progression that occurred according to the CBAM model, the specific perceptions and descriptions of these concerns, and the relationship between the advanced educators' concerns and explanations of GCSE.

Quantitative and qualitative data were collected before and after the advanced educators participated in the formal PD. The CBAM Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) and an open-ended survey were used regarding their concerns and descriptions about GCSE. Pre- and post-quantitative data were analyzed using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test to examine the survey responses. Results showed a significant difference z = 2.31, p < .021, r = 0.60. Additionally, there was some evidence of individual progression from the lower stages on the CBAM to the higher concern stages. Moreover, five themes emerged from the open-ended essays revealing the advanced educator’s perceptions of GCSE. The top two were that GCSE promotes college, career, and life skills, global partnerships and collaboration, or glolaboration. Furthermore, mentoring teachers, support, and PD was a theme that was described as being necessary for the institutionalization of GCSE practices. This study may inform higher education institutions and K–12 schools and districts regarding PD practices for institutionalizing innovative practices. Moreover, this study is important for improving educators’ skills through PD practices and in turn improving the education of students.

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Restricted until 2020-09.

Keywords

Global collaboration, Professional development, Mentoring, 21st century skills, Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), Concerns-based adoption model (CBAM), Stages of concern (SoC), Doctoral students

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