Generative AI Professional Development Needs for Teacher Educators

Abstract

This study presents findings from a professional development (PD) webinar aimed at sensitizing and gathering teacher educators’ knowledge of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI). The primary objective of the webinar was to deepen teacher educators’ understanding and applications of GAI within the context of teacher education in Ghana and to identify areas requiring additional development. Three hundred and seven participants from a diverse group, including teacher educators, administrators, and in-service teachers participated in the PD session. The session was conducted online via Zoom. The video and audio recordings were transcribed and analyzed thematically using MAXQDA version 2022.4. Findings indicate a diverse range of familiarity with GAI among participants. While some expressed knowledge of GAI tools, others were learning about GAI for the first time. Further, the findings showed an increasing curiosity among participants for the inspiring functions of GAI in education, such as automatic scoring, academic writing, assisting teachers with image generation for their classroom practices, etc. The participants demonstrated a willingness to include GAI in their classroom practices and support their students. However, they also identified infrastructural gaps, such as the expense of premium GAI tools, training on GAI promptings, and ethical issues such as transparency, as potential barriers to the successful implementation of GAI in teacher education. Therefore, the study suggests that institutional support should be provided to teacher educators. This support would expand their access to various GAI tools and features. The study further recommends integrating GAI, including explainable GAI and prompt engineering, as a core component of teacher education and continuous professional development programs. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of strengthening educators' skills in innovative assessment practices.