Abstract:

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the instructional formats and outcome measures within a professional development course for university instructors.
Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial with university instructors taking part in a professional development course. Instructors were randomized to small groups and were exposed to three different instructional formats such as face to face, mixed with face to face and DVD, and fully online format. University teachers were randomly allocated to three groups where each group received training in a different instructional format to train them to teach students with different learning styles. A knowledge test to teach students with different learning styles were developed and were provided to instructors at pre and post test level. This knowledge test served as outcome measure to determine the effect of each instructional format on the professional development of instructors.
Results: Results of the study showed that none of the instructional format significantly improved instructors, knowledge base across all outcome measures. However, the results of the mixed method showed some differences in the knowledge base of the instructors who have been trained using mixed method both with face to face and with DVD format. This group scored higher than other two groups trained using either the face to face or fully online method.
Conclusions: The instructional format does not appear to significantly improve knowledge base of teachers when provided training to teach students with different learning styles. However, the group who were trained using the mixed method showed higher score. The educators should research carefully about the instructional format and consider the factors such as subject area, learner style, cognitive load, and learner experience when designing new instructional formats for professional development of university instructors.

Keywords:

Education, instructional design, professional development, training, randomized trial.