Can you detect the effect of professional development interventions by examining teacher learning journals? I and my two co-authors attempted to find this out by applying content analysis to the learning journals we asked participants to keep during the Prof E Sus course on Developing a Sustainable Mindset.
We used the Leximancer content analysis software to generate intriguing visual representations of what was in the diaries such as the one below that shows the main themes of the diaries.
The abstract is below and you can read the full text by accessing this link.
Having developed and piloted a professional development blended learning course for teachers of home economics with the purpose of promoting a sustainable mindset in their students, we used the written learning journals by the teachers during the 15-week course to detect various aspects of a sustainable mindset, which could be attributed to the course. We assumed that the learning journals of 19 participants might reveal reflections on sustainability, the pedagogy of sustainability, a positive association between sustainability and the pedagogy of sustainability, and the development of a sustainable mindset over the period of the course. The analysis confirmed that the participants reflected a great deal on learning and sustainability as the course progressed; revealing that a positive link between teaching practice and sustainability can be observed. However, the analysis also indicated some important concepts that might have been underemphasised in the course.
