VARIABILITY IN THE ORGANIZATION OF TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ON ELECTRONIC AND DISTANCE LEARNING

In Russia, as in many other countries, there are legal documents that state the teachers’ professional development. For example, Federal Law “On Education in the Russian Federation” stipulates the right for teachers to receive an additional professional education in the field of pedagogy at least once every three years, the teacher’s contract in our university has a paragraph where the teacher undertakes that he will improve his qualification by attending professional development courses on regular basis. The development of the information environment and the changing situation in the education dictate this commitment. The teacher today should know and use both innovative pedagogical (blended learning, collaborations, personalized training, etc.) and information technologies (MOOC platforms, learning management systems (LMS), systems for web conferencing or online broadcasting, audio and video hosting services, authoring tools for developing interactive e-learning resources).

Therefore one of the most asked-for areas for the teachers’ professional development is electronic and distance learning technologies. To make the training more comfortable for teachers Institute of Open and Distance Education of South Ural State University has established a system of professional development that takes into account both the different interests of teachers and the different levels of their knowledge and skills. Institute’s staff conduct courses that teach teachers how to interact with the electronic environment, how to create courses for students in it, how to conduct surveys on the network and organize students' joint work on projects, etc. The emphasis in the courses is shifted to the practical component. Participants of these courses perform specific tasks, that help to develop the necessary skills. As a result of professional development training, the participant collects a portfolio of materials and methods that he applies to his students after finishing the training.

This paper is about the methods and techniques used in teaching teachers. The authors describe the basic principles of teaching teachers: modularity, short-term education, variability. The proposed approaches to the organization of teacher’s training can meet the needs of different teachers and, as a result, improve the quality of students’ education.