Libyan in-service teachers of English with poor [in service education of teachers] INSET provision and low-resourced school environments stand to gain a great deal from Internet-based Continuing Professional Development (I-CPD). The aim of this exploratory and descriptive study was threefold: first, to understand current practices and conditions pertaining to CPD provision for Libyan teachers; second, to explore the potential of Internet-based CPD for Libyan teachers through a bottom-up informal approach; and third, to develop an I-CPD model appropriate for the Libyan context.
The fact finding phase revealed an overall intermediate level in Internet skills and encouraging attitudes towards I-CPD. A more organised petroleum sector emerged, where professional development was assigned higher priority than in the public or private sectors. The case study data showed moderate teacher participation in blended learning while task responses reflected minimum engagement with tasks, and little critical reflection. The low response in the extended case study phase prompted attention to the possible causes of low online participation.
In addition to generic barriers to asynchronous online learning, such as lurking and the lack of time, underlying context-specific causes have emerged which point to what is termed intellectual-error phobia (ie-phobia) within unbonded groups: while teachers readily participated in low-level tasks, when faced with high-order group-based tasks, they admitted fear of posting trivial responses that were archived and perhaps criticised by other teachers. To minimise ie-phobia and encourage online interaction, a blended multi-dimensional support model is proposed in which [face to face] f2f orientation and social cohesion precede Internet-based learning that adopts progressive online activities, thus gradually fostering teacher independence and promoting sustainable I-CPD that is holistic and optimised.
Excerpts from published abstract.
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