Presentation to Network 16 at EERA-ECER 2014 Reports research demonstrating that teachers prefer more challenging content on cognition to simply downloading lesson plans

1. Evaluating a resource for online teacher
professional development across four continents:
the MESH Guide to Spelling
Colin Harrison, University of Nottingham
Marilyn Leask, University of Bedfordshire
Richard Proctor, University of Bedfordshire
Sarah Younie, De Montfort University

2. The MESH Guide to
Teaching Spelling
What is it?
Who uses it?
When?
How?
… and Why?

3. The MESH Guide to
Teaching Spelling
Who uses it?
… and Why?
“Online teacher professional
development has increased
exponentially, [but] evidence of
the effectiveness of such
self-directed learning is often
anecdotal and based on
immediate rather than long-term
impact” (Dede, 2009).

4. The MESH Guide to
Teaching Spelling
“Online teacher professional
development has increased
exponentially, [but] evidence of
the effectiveness of such self-directed
learning is often
anecdotal and based on
immediate rather than long-term
impact” (Dede, 2009).
Self-directed
learning

5. The MESH Guide to
Teaching Spelling
“Online teacher professional
development has increased
exponentially, [but] evidence of
the effectiveness of such self-directed
learning is often
anecdotal and based on
immediate rather than long-term
impact” (Dede, 2009).

6. Plan A Plan B Plan C
Plan D

7. Plan A Plan B Plan C
Plan D
Plan E

8. Plan A Plan B Plan C
Plan D
Plan E

9. Plan E

10. Plan E

15. What is MESH??

16. What is MESH?

17. What is MESH?
•Mapping Educational Specialist knowHow
•A global partnership
•A quality assured 'wikipedia' of professional
knowledge for teaching
•http://www.meshguides.org/
•All resources are free

18. What is the MESH Guide to Teaching Spelling?
•“A quality assured 'wikipedia' of professional
knowledge for teaching spelling” (My Dad,
personal communication, 2014)
•http://www.richprocter.co.uk/cgi-bin/pathways/spelling.

22. • Site visit data - Google Analytics: How many?

23. Who is using the MESH Guide to Teaching Spelling?
•Questionnaire - Google Docs
•Site visit data - Google Analytics

24. • Questionnaire - Google Docs

25. • Site visit data - Google Analytics: From where?

26. • Site visit data - Google Analytics: Country
OECD?

27. • Google Analytics: How is the site being used?

28. • Google Analytics: How is the site being used?
• Which pages are popular? Theory or Resources?

29. • Google Analytics: How is the site being used?
• Which pages are popular? Theory or Resources?
Plan E

30. 1 23 January- 18 Aug
N = 1,570 site visits

31. 2 1

32. 2 1 3

33. 2 1 3 4

34. 2 1 3 4
5

35. 2 1 3 4
5
Plan E

36. 2 1 3 4
5
Plan E

37. What does accommodation involve?
• It is multifactorial:
• New theories of how
children learn
• New discourse tools
• New schemata for
pedagogy
• It involves restructuring
cognitive architecture
• It requires criticality
• It implies provisionality
and uncertainty

38. What is the take-home message from this data?
1,221 teachers
from 50 nations want
well-informed theory
to develop their
practice more than
they want resources

39. Evaluating a resource for online teacher
professional development across four continents:
the MESH Guide to Spelling
Colin Harrison, University of Nottingham
Marilyn Leask, University of Bedfordshire
Richard Proctor, University of Bedfordshire
Sarah Younie, De Montfort University