The effect of an online active learning-based course on approaches to teaching

Abstract

The quality of teacher training research postgraduate (RPg) students receive is highly likely to determine the quality of teaching and learning they will provide when they are given teaching duties. Designing and developing such a teaching development course is considerably challenging, particularly if it is fully online. Owing to its focus on student learning, we integrated group learning, case-based learning and technology-enhanced learning approaches of active learning into an online Professional Development (PD) course at a university in Hong Kong. The course intended to enhance RPg students’ student-focused teaching approaches which, in turn, would help their students demonstrate high academic performance and achieve learning objectives. We relied on the concept of teaching approaches to build the theoretical foundation of this study and used Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI) to test the effectiveness of the PD course in improving the RPg students’ teaching quality. The quantitative analysis of the survey conducted showed that there was a significant increase in both Conceptual Change/Student Focused (CCSF) and Information Transmission/Teacher Focused approaches to teaching among the RPg students. The results provided opportunities to make informed decisions for further enhancement of the course design and start a new potential dialogue in studies of teaching approaches.