The rapid expansion of online teacher training raises a number of questions: How should we model student-centered, communicative teaching, incorporate a teaching practicum, and best accommodate students in a diverse, international context? This year-long critical analysis of a university-based TEFL certificate program offers insights and recommendations for teachers and administrators.

1. Best Practices in Online
Teacher Training
Angel Steadman, Teacher Training Coordinator
Linda Chu, Global Programs Development
Officer
Jeremy Lee, Student Activities Coordinator
TESOL International Conference
Portland, Oregon, USA
Friday, March 28, 2014

2. Before we get started…
• What this is about:
• Conducting online teacher education and
development – applicable to TEFL certificate,
MA TESOL, and other programs aimed at
training/educating teachers online
• What this is not about:
• CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning)
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3. What We’ll Cover
• Background
• At CESL
• Regular Programs
• Customized Programs
• Recent Trends
• A New Field
• Challenges:
• Learner-Centered Teaching
• The Teaching Practicum
• Proposed solutions
• Directions for the future
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4. Background
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5. CESL’s Teacher Training Program
• TEFL Certificate Programs
• F2F 100-Hour TEFL certificate program
• 50-Hour TEFL Basic certificate online
• 50-Hour TEFL Advanced certificate online
• 20- and 40-Hour Teaching Practicum
• Online professional development classes:
• Classroom Assessment
• Pedagogical Grammar
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6. CESL’s Customized Online Programs
• Why customize?
• Course timing
• Course additions
• Special groups
• Pros and Cons
• Cost/discounts
• Homogeneous group
• Timing
• Number of participants
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7. Sample Customized Programs
Chungnam, South Korea
fully online
Hermosillo, Mexico
hybrid, site visit and online
China and Brazil
hybrid, F2F and online
Colombia
hybrid, F2F and online with English classes
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8. CESL’s Customized Online Programs
• Trends
• Internationalization
• Teacher Training and Professional Development
• Content Area Teacher Training
• Future Course Design
• Online Design for online or Face-to-Face Delivery
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9. Recent Trends
• Exploding interest in online courses
• Online course enrollment in the US at an all-time high
• Enrollment at CESL has doubled in past year
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10. New Field
• Very little research on Online Language Teacher
Education (OLTE) (Murray 2013, 26-27)
• TESOL Quarterly published 23 articles on teacher education
from 2002-2011
• Only two were related to technology, both about MA-TESOL
courses
• Sharp contrast to literature on CALL
• Rapidly changing technology and functionality
• Affects the pedagogical approach – socio-constructivist
approach only available with many-to-many
communication; earlier online courses were more
behaviorist/connectivist in approach
• Global discrepancies in access to technology
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11. Online Teacher Education Today
Benefits:
1. Ability to have truly global classes with students living in
many different countries
2. Greater access for teachers living abroad, in rural areas, or
with scheduling restrictions
Challenges:
1. Online courses tend to be less learner-centered
and more heavily focused on content knowledge
2. The teaching practicum – how to provide an
authentic teaching and mentoring experience
without face-to-face interaction?
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12. Challenges
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13. Challenge #1: Less Learner-Centered
• Student feedback:
• “Make the course more interactive. It felt like I was not in a class but learning
by myself.”
• “In case of on-line course, there is a limitation that interaction between the
teacher and students are very weak. I hope that there would be some
changes on this.”
• “Ask us more questions. Make us talk even more.”
• “The only thing I would try to figure out how to manage in order to
encourage more students to participate, is the Chat Sessions, since we were
always the same ones participating.”
• “Discussion "forums" were too programmed, felt stiff, lacked genuine feel of
a proper discussion, May just be the nature of "virtual" online settings.”
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14. Challenge #1: Learner-Centered Curriculum
• Online lectures (PowerPoint, video, audio, etc.)
• Selected readings
• Discussion fora
• Quizzes and exams
• Videos
• Synchronous chats with instructor and peers
Common
components:
• Informal peer and student-teacher interaction
• Group work
• Student input and synchronous discussion of content
• Ability to ask questions freely and receive responses
quickly
• Real-world application of theory
What’s often
missing:
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15. Discussion
• How does peer-to-peer communication differ in an online
environment?
• What elements of online teaching have helped you create a
more learner-centered classroom?
• How should content courses like the TEFL certificate program
provide content in an immediately applicable way?
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16. Challenge #2: The Teaching Practicum
• Students regularly cite the practicum as the most useful part
of their education (Faez & Valeo 2012; Stoynoff 1999)
• “…the most exciting and daunting aspect of teaching is moving from
the thinking to the doing”
• “This practice allowed me to find and gauge my strengths and
weaknesses as a teacher”
• “I…changed my teaching philosophy to emphasize the importance of
making deliberate classroom choices that are catered to the
goals, interests, and needs of the students.”
• …and often cite the more theoretical aspects of class as being
the least useful (Faez & Valeo 2012)
• “…less emphasis on theory and more emphasis on how to teach
English. Save the heavy duty theory for master’s level learners.”
• “…more real-world application practice…”
• “…more real life situations with students…”
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17. Challenge #2: The Teaching Practicum
•Requires student to travel to Tucson, pay for lodging, transportation, etc.
•Visa issues can be a problem for international studentsOnsite
•Requires student to find a suitable institution with MA- or PhD-educated
mentor willing to follow CESL’s mentoring guidelines without pay
•Problems authenticating documents and comparing practicum experiences
Offsite
•Requires technology that many students do not have access to or are very
unfamiliar with
•Uses videos in lieu of in-person classroom observations
Online
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18. Discussion
• Describe your own practicum experiences, either
as a student or a mentor. How would you have
done things differently?
• What is being done in your school (or schools
that you are familiar with) to allow distance
students to complete the teaching practicum?
• How successful are non-F2F practica? How are
they different?
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19. Proposed Solutions
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20. Striving for Solutions
Rethink the role of the practicum – how is it situated
within the overall course, and how can it be changed
Review the curriculum for ways to be more learner-
centered
Investigate new methods and technologies for
delivering courses online
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21. The Practicum
• Most challenging aspect
• Currently offered F2F only after several failed
attempts at online and offsite options
• Essential in training/education/development, even for
in-service and experienced teachers
• Changes to curriculum help to begin filling this void:
• More practical and directly applicable assignments
• More videos of classes for observation available
• Greater emphasis on lesson planning and course creation
• Directed work with group members, including current
teachers
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22. Curriculum Review
Old Curriculum
• Readings, quizzes, activities,
discussion questions
• Final exam
• No required group work
New Curriculum
• Final portfolio project
• Quizzes and discussion questions
given less weight
• Group work
• More opportunities for sharing
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23. New Methods and Technologies
• More use of audio and video, both by instructor
and students
• Greater attention to networking and “opening
up” the class
• Facebook pages and private groups
• YouTube channel with videos of classes, interviews,
etc., now available publicly
• Maintaining contact with graduates
• Better use of the graduate listserv for marketing,
feedback, etc.
• Professional development classes aimed toward our
graduates who are now teaching
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24. Directions for the
Future
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25. Teaching Presence
Interaction
w/Instructors
Cognitive
Presence
Interaction
w/Content
Social Presence
Interaction w/Peers
Interface
Learning Community
LEARNING
Supporting
Discourse
Establishing
Environment
Selecting
Content
Adapted from Rourke, et al.’s (2001) Community of Inquiry Model and Swan’s (2006) Relationships
between Interactions and Learning in Online Environments. 25

26. Directions for the Future
• Continually adapting methods and curriculum
• Expanding connections with teachers via more
social networking options
• More dedicated community of practice
• Global, made up of new and experienced teachers
• Non-evaluative virtual meeting space for seeking
advice, establishing/maintaining connections, informal
peer mentoring, etc.
• Monitored by program coordinator but run by
participants
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27. Back to you…
• In what ways are you “opening” your classroom?
• What are some new methods or forms of
technology that have worked in your situations?
• What are some other challenges you are working
to overcome in online teacher education?
QUESTIONS?
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28. References
• Allen, I.E., & Seaman, J. (2014). Grade Change: Tracking
Online Education in the United States. Babson Survey
Research Group.
• Faez, F. & Valeo, A. (2012). TESOL Teacher Education:
Novice Teaches’ Perceptions of Their Preparedness and
Efficacy in the Classroom. TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 46, No. 3.
pp. 450-471.
• Murray, D.E. (2013) A Case for Online English Language
Teacher Education. Monterey, CA: The International
Research Foundation for English Language Education.
• Stoynoff, S. (1999). The TESOL Practicum: An Integrated
Model in the U.S. TESOL Quarterly, Vol 33. No. 1. pp. 145-
151.
• Trentin, G. (2010). Networked collaborative learning: Social
interaction and active learning. Oxford, UK: Chandos
Publishing.
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29. Thank you!
Contact:
Angel Steadman
Teacher Training Coordinator
amiller2@email.arizona.edu
Jeremy Joseph Lee
Student Activities Coordinator
jeremyjlee@email.arizona.edu
Linda Chu
Global Programs Development Officer
chul@email.arizona.edu
View this presentation:
(Slideshare link to come)
Stay in touch:
https://www.facebook.com/ceslteachertraining
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