Patterns of Engagement and Professional Growth in an Online Mentoring and Induction Program for Beginning Science and Math Teachers
4. Results
- Mentors tend to actively participate (read and post) in dialogues that focus on science or math content and pedagogical content knowledge according to maps of mentor participation constructed from the electronic record, content analyses of mentor dialogue, and mentors' self reports in surveys and interviews.
- Mentors grow in their knowledge of STEM content, pedagogical content knowledge, and their leadership and communication skills, according to content analysis of mentor posts, independent analysis of electronic portfolios provided by mentors to document their participation, and mentor survey and interview responses.
- Mentees tend to be more actively engaged in small-group discussions than in on-to-one or whole-group dialogues, according to our analyses of electronic site records, and mentees' survey and interview responses.
- Mentees tend to be more actively engaged in structured online discussion (inquiry modules) than in the semi-open or open discussions, except in private locations such as this program's our place. They also display a preference for pedagogical and school culture discussions. These results are evident from analyses of mentee reading-and-posting patterns, as well as their survey and interview responses.
- Mentees self-reported a growth in confidence in teaching STEM related topics, and a stratified random sample of mentees provided weekly survey data for a semester to document the locations on the eMSS site, and the processes of participation, through which the growth occurred.
- Improvement in dialogue quality was achieved over time by teachers who display high participation levels in online dialogue in both pedagogical and content driven discussions. We provide evidence for this claim based on content analysis of 400-800 individual posts and entire conversations conducted annually by the project evaluators, and longitudinal analyses (spanning 1-4 years) of dialogue in which case study teachers engaged.
- Improvement in the quality of online dialogue across the program was enhanced by an online curriculum based on modeling and metacognition. This claim is supported by dialogue analyses examining the content and quality of posts in facilitated, yet relatively open-ended discussion areas on the eMSS site, compared the dialogue in other areas providing a focused curriculum, modeling by facilitators, and an emphasis on teacher reflection.
- Faculty patterns of engagement changed progressively from a "consultant" phase in which the faculty member received questions from the teachers; to a "generator" phase in which he or she became the question or topic provider; to a "co-learner" phase in which faculty explored together with the teachers ways to teach challenging science content. These claims are based on longitudinal analysis of electronic dialogue in faculty-led content area discussions on science and mathematics topics, their posts in the eMSS facilitators' forum, and their descriptions of their roles during interviews.
