In search of time: Higher education teachers' experience of an online professional development course

Abstract

This article investigates teachers' lived experiences of an online professional development (OPD) course in Denmark – that is, Teknosofikum – through a hermeneutic phenomenological perspective, and it relies on the interpretive analysis of 15 semi-structured interviews. The article's contribution focuses on the theme of ‘time’ and highlights it as a multifaceted construct that plays a relevant role in learning. By relying on the ideas of temporal structuring and multiple temporalities, the article shows that OPD courses and HE teachers' engagement nest themselves into pre-existing and complex nexus of commitments and duties, each of which has its own temporality and rhythm, along with longer-term aspirations for pedagogical development. As time emerged as a relevant aspect characterizing OPD course design and HE teachers' experiences, the article provides simple recommendations for ‘time-aware’ OPD courses.