Designing Online Continuing Professional Development for STEM Teacher Education

Bridging the realms of educational technology and teacher education, this book offers instructional design models, strategies, and tools for online delivery of continuing professional development (CPD) for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers. Acknowledging that successful STEM education demands strategies grounded in specific instructional design frameworks, this complex integration of pedagogical strategies with teaching and facilitation practices creates unique challenges for developing effective online learning environments.

In this volume, editors Heejung An and Woonhee Sung have invited STEM teacher educators to share feasible models, strategies, and research-proven practices to enhance instructors’ knowledge and practices and enable them to design, develop, and implement their own online CPD. To that end, chapters contextualize online STEM education course designs and teaching trends across degree-based continuing education, professional development, and teacher professional learning. The chapters focus on the most essential pedagogical components of STEM education CPD, including hands-on, real-world-based projects, learner practice and reflection, interaction with peers and instructors, as well as how to effectively design and deliver these elements. The practical applications in the various chapters demonstrate how online programs can use various technological tools to educate STEM teachers in online settings with a variety of STEM materials.

The book also provides concrete lesson plans that online faculty and CPD providers can apply in any teaching setting to strengthen STEM teacher educators’ capabilities. Ideal for instructors of CPD who design and teach STEM-related educational disciplines, this unique collection responds to the need to bring online and blended learning to the STEM education community while maintaining quality and standards-based content acquisition.

Heejung An is a Professor and Chair in the Department of Educational Leadership and Professional Studies in the College of Education at William Paterson University of New Jersey.

Woonhee Sung is an Assistant Professor of instructional technology in the School of Education at The University of Texas at Tyler.