Blended learning and e-learning support within the context of Cornerstone Maths - The changing culture of teachers' professional development

Abstract

This paper describes the outcomes of a strand of research within the Cornerstone Maths project in England that has focused on teachers’ participation in blended learning and e-learning support. Cornerstone Maths is a multi-year project that began in 2011 and adopts a design based research approach to scale the use of technology enhanced curriculum units on ‘hard to teach’ topics (linear functions, geometric similarity and algebraic patterns and expressions) within middle school mathematics (11-14 years). The project has developed from a set of pilots in the US and in England that have shown the efficacy of the curriculum units in a wide range of classroom contexts (Hoyles and Noss, 2013, Hegedus and Roschelle, 2013). A key element of the design of the ‘at scale’ professional development (PD) has been the blended approach that combines face-to-face meetings (in regional networks) with synchronous and asynchronous e-learning mediated by an online community and scheduled online webinars. We report findings from a cohort of secondary school mathematics teachers implementing the Cornerstone Maths unit on linear functions during the 2013-14 academic year.