About this Research Topic
It is generally agreed that teachers play a fundamental role in successful education and bringing about educational reform. To this end, the preparation of teachers to teach is a complex and multitudinous undertaking. Consequently, teacher education has become a central issue in education literature. These days, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, online classrooms have offered many opportunities for teachers in online teacher training courses. Given this, technology-enhanced professional development might mediate, in a deliberate way, to bring about change and even improvement in teachers' practices around the world. For instance, mobile-assisted online classes can foster refinement of practice and teacher change and they can enable teachers to learn in anytime and anywhere.
In spite of the significance of Teacher Professional Development (TPD), there are some shortcomings with regard to traditional TPD programs. Teachers' busy schedules, lack of powerful resources which are available locally to teachers, and lack of work-embedded support in different traditional teacher education programs are some telling examples. The dynamic nature of technology-enhanced and online teacher professional development programs is a way out of the problem. However, this field is rather broad and is still in its infancy warranting further investigations. Thus, exploring issues including interventions implemented in technology-enhanced TPD courses, different technological tools in such course, and the effects of these interventions on different facets of teaching and learning process is quite essential.
This Research Topics aims at providing a forum for discussions on how technology-enhanced teacher professional development in teacher education courses will increase different facets of teachers' professional development. Researchers from a variety of disciplines including Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), media pedagogy, media education and media didactics are invited to submit their papers. Investigations on media-supported TPD applications, innovative engagements with these applications, and teachers' perceptions regarding technology-enhanced TPD courses are interesting for the editors. That is, articles range from submissions on issues of technology-enhanced TPD in any content area or discipline. Qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods research studies are welcome.
We would encourage manuscripts on:
• Designing technology-enhanced TPD
• Evaluation of the outcomes and impacts of technology-enhanced TPD programs
• Technology-enhanced TPD and teacher change
• Delivery environments for technology-enhanced TPD
• Online collaboration, communication, and community in TPD programs
• Sustainability of teacher development.
In spite of the significance of Teacher Professional Development (TPD), there are some shortcomings with regard to traditional TPD programs. Teachers' busy schedules, lack of powerful resources which are available locally to teachers, and lack of work-embedded support in different traditional teacher education programs are some telling examples. The dynamic nature of technology-enhanced and online teacher professional development programs is a way out of the problem. However, this field is rather broad and is still in its infancy warranting further investigations. Thus, exploring issues including interventions implemented in technology-enhanced TPD courses, different technological tools in such course, and the effects of these interventions on different facets of teaching and learning process is quite essential.
This Research Topics aims at providing a forum for discussions on how technology-enhanced teacher professional development in teacher education courses will increase different facets of teachers' professional development. Researchers from a variety of disciplines including Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), media pedagogy, media education and media didactics are invited to submit their papers. Investigations on media-supported TPD applications, innovative engagements with these applications, and teachers' perceptions regarding technology-enhanced TPD courses are interesting for the editors. That is, articles range from submissions on issues of technology-enhanced TPD in any content area or discipline. Qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods research studies are welcome.
We would encourage manuscripts on:
• Designing technology-enhanced TPD
• Evaluation of the outcomes and impacts of technology-enhanced TPD programs
• Technology-enhanced TPD and teacher change
• Delivery environments for technology-enhanced TPD
• Online collaboration, communication, and community in TPD programs
• Sustainability of teacher development.
Keywords: professionalism, teacher education, technology-enhanced professional development, teacher change, distance learning
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
