Choosing relevant internet-assisted approaches for professional development courses
Online teaching and learning for the professional development of workers in service is ever pervasive and continually growing. Yet, studies of learning with technology are mostly conducted in K-12, pre-service, or higher education settings resulting in a lack of attention given to the professional development. In addition, most studies are investigating learners instead of instructors, even though the latter are reportedly struggling in conducting online teaching. One of the struggles instructor faces includes choosing effective technologically enhanced pedagogy that are in line with the learning contents and intents. This study aims to alleviate the issue by investigating online learning in a professional development context, particularly one in a government institution such as the Financial Education and Training Agency (FETA) under the Indonesian Ministry of Finance. By analyzing curriculum documents known as program syllabi of 148 online courses conducted by FETA, informed by a prevailing theory of adopting educational technology known as the Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (SAMR) model, the study found the majority of courses were under Substitution category for uses of technology, followed by Modification and Augmentation categories. Redefinition category had the least number of courses. Characteristics of each use of technology are explained in the Findings and Discussion section. It is hoped that the uses of technology explicated in this study will be useful for guiding the practice of crafting a defensible curriculum for online learning in professional development contexts.