Award Date
8-1-2018
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Teaching and Learning
First Committee Member
Jori Beck
Second Committee Member
Emily Lin
Third Committee Member
Steven Bickmore
Fourth Committee Member
David Vallett
Fifth Committee Member
Lisa Bendixen
Number of Pages
189
Abstract
Teachers, who are deemed the greatest in-school factor of student success, are often invited or mandated to engage in some form of professional development (PD) to continue in improving their practice. However, an empirical understanding of how teachers learn from PD offerings remains elusive and incomplete. Often teachers report not learning from the models where they have little autonomy. While there is small body of research on teacher-driven models, there is a lack of sufficient evidence on whether these models enhance teacher learning and ultimately their practice. Therefore, this study employed grounded theory methods coupled with a descriptive research approach in order to explore the process of a teacher-driven professional development approach and to describe the teachers’ practices during this process. Teachers were found to self-direct their own PD in an iterative cycle where they would set professional learning goals, decide on learning activities, apply their learning to their practice, reflect on the process, and re-engage in the process if needed. Teachers also reported encountering barriers while engaged in this process. The teachers in this study showed higher mean scores in aspects of their practice from the beginning of the study to the end. The study has implications for using self-directed PD as an alternative approach to teacher professional learning. This study also highlights implications for professional development practice, policy, and future research.
Keywords
in-service professional development; self-directed learning; teacher education
Disciplines
Teacher Education and Professional Development
File Format
Degree Grantor
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Language
English
Repository Citation
Riddle, Derek R., "A Descriptive Exploration of a Self-Directed Professional Development Approach" (2018). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 3378.
http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/14139903
Rights
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