Teacher Usability and Utility Needs for a Professional Development Passport

Abstract

Policy makers and educators have increasingly recognized the importance of K-12 teacher professional development (PD) in computer science (CS) to foster student growth and academic achievement. In this exploratory mixed-methods study (focus groups n=23, survey n=661), we addressed two research questions: (1) What features and data do teachers think will enhance the usefulness of an application designed to keep track of their PD-related data?and (2) Which demographic factors are most predictive of teacher ratings? Based on a survey, teachers identified several features and data-related elements that would make the platform useful and usable and add value to their experiences. Notably, the most highly requested data-related items focused on the content and professional credits associated with past CS PD that they have taken (i.e., subjects/grade levels targeted by PD, training hours/continuing education units earned). The most highly rated feature was a catalog of searchable upcoming PD offerings. Further, we noted statistically significant differences in teachers’ ratings across various demographic subgroups (i.e., race/ethnicity, teaching experience, disability, gender, and locale) for all potential platform features and data items. This indicates the importance of considering the perspectives of various subgroups when developing a platform that meets the needs of all teachers.