Transforming Chinese teachers' thinking, learning and understanding via e‐learning

Abstract

The Developing E‐learning for Teachers (DEfT) project, a collaborative venture between UK and Chinese universities, has produced e‐learning modules for master's level programmes for in‐service high school teachers in China. E‐learning offers Chinese teachers new and innovative forms of professional development and provides for transformative learning. The paper investigates teachers' online learning experiences and how e‐learning facilitates teacher transformation from three perspectives: the ‘learner‐centred perspective’, the ‘knowledge‐centred perspective’ and the ‘community‐centred perspective’. The paper concludes that e‐learning, while not without some caveats, is a feasible solution for the training needs of serving Chinese teachers.

Acknowledgements

The DEfT project was funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England and BNU. An earlier version of this paper was presented at CRIDALA 2005 (Conference on Research in Distance and Adult Learning in Asia), the Open University of Hong Kong, 20–22 June 2005. We gratefully acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Wang Yanping (BNU) and Yan Lan (University of Manchester) for their involvement in data collection, translation and interpretation. We would also like to thank Alejandro Armellini, Dave Hall and Olwen McNamara for their insightful suggestions for improving the paper.