Open AccessTeachers’ Perceptions of Engagement and Effectiveness of School Community Partnerships: NASA’s Online STEM Professional Development
Author(s) -
Matthew James Keil,
William H. Rupley,
Janet Nichols,
William Dee Nichols,
David D. Paige,
Timothy V. Rasinski
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of studies in education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2162-6952
DOI - 10.5296/jse.v6i2.9185
Subject(s) - general partnership , perception , professional development , medical education , psychology , space (punctuation) , mathematics education , pedagogy , medicine , political science , computer science , neuroscience , law , operating system
Data were collected from 32 teachers using mixed methods to investigate their perceptions of the value of online professional development (PD) offered through a school-community partnership with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The partnership between multiple school districts nationwide and NASA provided teachers with an online Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) PD course called MicroGX. Data from this study provide evidence that teachers perceived MicroGX as a positive PD experience. Teachers indicated that they would recommend this PD to other teachers, and overall were satisfied with interaction with others, resources, support, content, and content delivery. Effective PD components include building teachers’ content knowledge, impacting students’ learning, increasing teaching resources, and providing support for participation in PD.