Professional Development of Code and Robotics Teachers Through Small Private Online Course (SPOC): Teacher Centrality and Pedagogical Strategies for Developing Computational Thinking of Students

Abstract

This study explored (1) pedagogical strategies in Educational Coding and Robotics (ECR) learning which can develop computational thinking of students and (2) the degree of teacher centrality in the ECR classroom. In addition, we investigated (3) the added value of the Small Private Online Course (SPOC) to teacher professional development (TPD). We analyzed reflections of 80 in-service teachers on TPD through the SPOC (1,091 statements) and conducted semi-structured interviews with 13 of them one year after completing the course and teaching ECR in the classroom (328 statements). The most prominent strategies immediately after the TPD were constructing learning experiences, tinkering & debugging, and interdisciplinary learning, while one year later, experiential learning and collaborative learning were more common. Regarding the degree of teacher centrality, a year after teaching ECR curriculum the teachers had a significantly higher percentage of statements reflecting their role as a guide-on-the-side and as a partner of students in the learning process. Regarding the contribution of the SPOC for TPD, teacher statements revealed significantly more benefits than challenges in both points of time. Interestingly, the same categories emerged bottom-up as benefits and challenges: a variety of control dimensions, independent learning, learning and knowledge management and collaboration. Implications for educational theory and ECR practice are discussed.