Using user-centered design to improve distance education for rural teachers’ professional development
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URL
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Perustieteiden korkeakoulu |
Master's thesis
Authors
Date
2022-01-26
Department
Major/Subject
International Design Business Management
Mcode
SCI3062
Degree programme
Master’s Degree Programme in International Design Business Management (IDBM)
Language
en
Pages
55+9
Series
Abstract
Rural children make up approximately 70% of China school-aged population, and without quality education, it is difficult for rural students to succeed in the current society. Teacher quality is the most important factor that determines students performance. Researches found that teachers professional development training could help improve teacher ability and then boost students’ achievement. However, rural teachers in China have difficulty in participating offline training due to the limited time, budgets and busy schedules. The need for professional development that can fit with teachers’ busy schedules, provide ongoing support has stimulated the creation of online teacher professional development programs. In the process of adopting distance education for professional development, some researchers have realized the importance of changing from supply-driven to demand-initiated (Bernadette, 2008). However, there is little research about how to focus on teachers’ demands. ‘User-centered design’ (UCD) is one of approaches which could help end users access digital information more effectively. It is a general term to describe design processes in which end-users are involved in the design of computerized systems (Lowdermilk, 2013). The main research question in this paper would be: how to improve distance education of rural teachers professional development through user-centered design. In this study, a prototype is designed for improving access and communication of the online e-learning platform by adopting the user-centered design approach. The rest of this work is organized as follows. First, the background of distance education for professional development is further described from various aspects. Then, the main methodology adopted from user-centered design is presented, followed by the practical investigation and the prototype. Finally, conclusions are drawn in the last section.Description
Supervisor
Nieminen, MarkoThesis advisor
Nieminen, MarkoKeywords
distance eductaion, user-centered design, teacher professional development, rural education