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Leading view papers – Days 1 to 7

‘Virtual coaching’: the cure to our professional development blues?

Ms Kay Cantwell
St Agatha’s School
Clayfield, Queensland, Australia

The rapid growth of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the expectation that teachers provide a seamless integration of technology into the classroom has resulted in the undeniable need for effective and relevant professional development, as both pedagogy and syllabi undergo radical change.

Teachers today are required to be not only confident with technology, but also able to create innovative pedagogical practices, rather than just ‘the same old thing, only electronically’ (Anderson, 2002). Unfortunately, temporal and structural obstacles, including finding time in teachers’ busy schedules, sourcing relevant and effective professional development and meeting the huge range of needs and levels of expertise that teachers as a group present are all very real hurdles that must be addressed.

Research has shown that characteristics of useful training include:

relevance to the classroom
opportunities for hands-on skill development
just-in-time support
time to work and share with other teachers.

(McCarney, 2004).

It is the proposal of this paper that online professional development, in the form of ‘virtual coaching’, can effectively meet all of these requirements, and that temporal and structural obstacles present in school life may be overcome by using technology as the intermediary, linking coach and ‘the coached’.

What is virtual coaching?

The role of the coach is to support participants in professional development, and ensure that they feel comfortable in the online environment. Virtual coaches engage participants in online environments and offer suggestions as to how to resolve ICT issues (Wiske, Perkins & Spicer 2006). Rather than having teachers go out to access external, isolated professional development, it is suggested that, by using online professional development, a far wider range of learning opportunities can be available for teachers to access, supported by the presence of a virtual coach who stimulates the construction of new understandings.

This could be achieved through many avenues. Pledger and Mitchell (2005) find that the term ‘E-PD’ could include any type of professional development that occurs within an electronic, web-based, online or virtual context. This could include online learning via forums, chat, discussion email lists, online tutorials or online communities of practice, among many other learning approaches in an ever-growing array of options. Examination of all of these models is beyond the scope of this paper, and so the author proposes in this paper that virtual coaching will consist of a combination of two online tools – the self-paced online tutorial, and the asynchronous forum.

How does virtual coaching work in a school setting?

The self-paced online tutorial presents a series of modules that teachers can access at any time. The modules can be designed by the ‘coach’ to support any aspect of teaching and learning desired, from basic ICT hints and tips to step-by-step tutorials for using programs such as PhotoStory. As the coach is most likely to be school-based, modules can be built in direct response to the needs of the school. The beauty of a self-paced online tutorial is that teachers can revisit topics as many times as needed, and the support information is always accessible.

Asynchronous forums are possible through many different online providers. In this paper, the Blackboard suite is the system that will be referred to. This system allows for both the development of entirely web-based courses, as well providing space for online community development, via asynchronous forums known as ‘discussion boards’. The moderator of these boards is the ‘coach’. In a school situation, this would most probably be the ICT coordinator or the teacher librarian. The coach is responsible for the enrolment of learners, and can also submit papers and other resources for participants to access. They monitor discussions, and provide input whenever it is required.

Senge argues that for schools to continue to offer education that will prepare students for an unknown future, they must redefine themselves as organisations that learn, with ‘learning’ being defined as ‘mastery of the way of self improvement’ (2000). The concept of virtual coaching being suggested in this paper embraces this definition, as it encourages a change from individuals being dependent upon an external professional development provider, to individuals sharing responsibility for their professional development. This may well require significant cultural change within a school, and it is acknowledged that this is neither a simple nor an easy thing to manage.

It is suggested that one of the keys to successful implementation of a virtual coaching model of professional development is a staff that feels personal mastery, a sense of ownership and shared vision towards the process. The advantage of online tutorials and asynchronous forums as tools for professional development is that they both allow individuals to access information and advice when, and where, they need it, thereby reducing the feeling that the learning has been ‘imposed’.

Possible obstacles to virtual coaching

The implementation of an online professional development model such as this would not be without its challenges. Firstly, the staff would need to be open to the model, and it is difficult to see how negative attitudes towards ICTs, born out of lack of knowledge, could be resolved by placing the knowledge within an ICT infrastructure. This challenge is an ongoing one, but Barrett suggests that teachers need to reach a stage of ‘readiness’ before they will embrace technology. By removing as many obstacles as possible, and by making the use of technology as routine as possible, such readiness may be encouraged (2002). Often, when teachers can directly see the technology impacting positively upon their students, they become more receptive to new ideas, and it is suggested that another role of the ‘coach’ is to provide these concrete examples within the school environment.

This leads us to a second issue – who within the school plays this vital role of ‘coach’. As mentioned earlier, an ICT coordinator can often undertake this role, as can a teacher librarian. Indeed, Johnson (2001) lists nine cogent arguments for the role of teacher librarian to encompass staff development in technology, including the fact that they are in a unique position to view the whole school, and that their training in both teaching and information management provides them with an effective skill combination for undertaking this role. Of course, the teacher librarian is often already overloaded with other tasks (Reilly, 2003). However, by taking on the role of ‘virtual coach’, the teacher librarian may indeed indirectly reduce some of their face-to-face issues, as teachers become more accustomed to searching for their own solutions to ICT problems via either a tutorial module or a question placed upon the forum.

One thing that this paper has assumed so far is that all teachers have reliable, easily accessible technology that is connected to the internet. This may not always be the case. However, as curriculum becomes increasingly ICT-focused, it may soon become a necessity, just as calculators, textbooks and photocopiers have become. It is also argued that the continued cost of sending teachers out to externally run professional development may far outweigh the initial outlay for the technology required for an online program, such as the one suggested. It is recognised that self-paced tutorials and online forums will not completely replace other sources of professional development. It is, however, suggested that the opportunity for teachers to share their learning and experiences with others, and to access a range of self-help guides when and where they wish, may result in additional professional development outcomes being more widely shared and possibly more effectively implemented.

Positive aspects of virtual coaching

The benefits of online professional development have already been made clear throughout this discussion. Virtual coaching can be seen as an opportunity to build a shared positive attitude towards ICTs, through the ownership of issues and challenges. Inter and intra-school discussions on forums shares out the load of professional development – the forum may become a repository for shared knowledge, and the resultant community may provide support to those who might normally have little access to such networks. Having the ability to source ‘just in time’ coaching ensures that issues are addressed quickly, encouraging teachers to become more adventurous with their programming. Inspiration can come from the sharing of ideas, and when an idea can be quickly developed into a concrete plan through the sharing of resources, curriculum development can become more innovative.

A suggested strategy for implementing virtual coaching

The positive and negative aspects of virtual coaching will vary greatly from school to school, depending upon many factors including staff attitudes, availability of resources, and support from the leadership and the educational system. However, it is possible for some aspects of the online professional development model that has been discussed to be implemented with a minimum of resources.

At St Agatha’s school, an intranet houses a simple self-paced tutorial page, which provides teachers with direct access to a number of websites that feature online tutorials, as well as a range of hints and tips for using ICTs. This was developed using FrontPage, which many schools have free access to through the Microsoft Office Suite. It has been found that since the introduction of this page to the intranet, the number of times that the ICT coordinator has been called to resolve a simple issue (such as inserting a table into a Word document, or cleaning a print head on a printer) has been dramatically reduced. From this experience, it could be concluded that the time saved from the reduction in service calls has more than outweighed the time spent in developing the modules.

Asynchronous forums are offered to staff at St Agatha’s through the use of the Blackboard program, which has been acquired by the Catholic Education Office. By setting up our school as a community, teachers have access to a range of features, the most useful being a forum where discussion strands can be posted, allowing teachers to cooperatively plan, or ask questions any time and anywhere, and for all to be able to share their input as to solutions. Although Blackboard has many utilities, a similar environment could be easily created using Yahoo groups or other online community providers, such as MySpace.

Conclusion

It can be seen that, while online professional development in the form of virtual coaching may not be a complete panacea, it does address many issues for busy teachers who need professional development that is both timely and relevant. Strategies for introducing this model require teachers to take on some responsibility for their own learning, and this sense of ownership and personal mastery is to be encouraged in a learning organisation. Access to a virtual coach, who in a school would most probably be the teacher librarian or ICT coordinator, provides teachers with a ‘guide on the side’ who is available to engage learners, and provide support and suggestions when needed. This model is one that can be introduced fairly simply at first, and then further developed as the need evolves. It may indeed be the way forward for those who are currently searching for ways to improve ICT access among their staff.

References

Anderson, Mary Alice, (2002). ‘The value of staff development’. In School library journal, viewed 2 September 2006 at: www.schoollibraryjournal.com
Barrett, T (2002). ‘How do you get teaching staff at your school to make greater use of the school intranet?’ In ACEC 2002 Proceedings, Australian Computers in Education conference, viewed 1 September 2006 at: www.pa.ash.org.au
Blackboard Inc. 2006. Blackboard, Washington USA. Viewed 9 September 2006 at: www.blackboard.com
Curriculum Corporation 2004, ‘Curriculum Communities English EdNet’, Curriculum Corporation, Carlton South, viewed 8 September 2006 at: www.curriculum.edu.au
English Teachers Association, 2001, ETA bulletin board, ETA Newtown NSW, viewed 7 September 2006 at: www.englishteacher.com.au
Holmes, A, Polhemus, L & Jennings, S (2005). ‘CATIE: A blended approach to situated professional development’. In Journal of educational computing research. Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 381-394.
Johnson, D (2001). ‘The why, what, how and who of staff development in technology: the growing importance of the teacher librarian’s role in helping create technology-savvy educators’. In New millennium, new horizons: information services in schools: 2000 online conference proceedings. Ed. Henri J, Hay L and Hanson K. Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Studies in Teacher Librarianship, Charles Sturt University, pp.88-97.
McCarney, John (2004). ‘Effective models of staff development in ICT’. In European journal of teacher education, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 61-72.
Microsoft Corporation, 2006, Microsoft Photo Story 3 for Windows, Microsoft Australia, viewed 7 September 2006 at: www.microsoft.com
MySpace, 2006, MySpaceAustralia, viewed 8 September 2006 at: www.myspace.com
Pledger, P & Mitchell, P (2005). ‘E-pd: professional development online’. In Access. Vol.19, no.2, pp.11-13.
Reilly, R, (2003). ‘A ‘librarian’ by any other name … probably means more work!’ In Multimedia schools. Vol. 10, Issue 3, pp. 61-63.
Senge, Peter (2000). Schools that learn. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
Wiske, Martha Stone, Perkins, David & Spicer, David Eddy (2006). ‘Piaget Goes Digital’. In Online professional development for teachers. edited by Chris Dede, Cambridge: Harvard Education, pp. 49-68.
Yahoo! Inc, 2006, Yahoo Groups, viewed 8 September 2006: groups.yahoo.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ms Kay Cantwell is Assistant Principal of St Agatha’s School, in Clayfield, Queensland, Australia.

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