No Lecturer Left Behind: An In-Service Professional Development Programme for Enhancing the Teaching and Assessment Skills of Instructors at a Public University in China
Keywords:
in-service teacher training; higher education; programme refinement; student-centred learning; teacher professional developmentAbstract
In higher education, professional development is widely valued, but limited attention has been given to how selective professional learning can be converted into a local programme that supports wider lecturer participation and later classroom readiness. At Yan’an University, a public university in China, earlier high-value professional learning opportunities, including overseas training, reached only a small group of teachers. This study addressed this access gap by developing and refining a local In-Service Teacher Training Programme (ISTTP) for a broader group of lecturers. Guided by Design and Development Research, the study examined how the ISTTP was designed, how its practicality was reflected in teacher feedback, and how that feedback informed refinement. Thirty-six instructors, selected from 18 faculties with two teachers from each faculty, completed a questionnaire after the two-day programme. Six randomly selected participants later joined semi-structured follow-up interviews approximately three months after the training. The questionnaire examined five practicality dimensions: classroom relevance, connection to prior teaching experience, clarity of examples, usefulness of activities, and potential for use in participants’ own teaching. Findings showed that the ISTTP was generally perceived as relevant and practical, while Collaborative Learning, Assessment Strategies, and Self-Assessment and Reflection required stronger support for classroom use. Semi-structured follow-up interviews explained these patterns through challenges related to facilitation, time pressure, disciplinary differences, and institutional conditions. The evidence informed refinements including clearer guidance, structured activities, adaptation support, and discipline-sensitive examples. The study contributes a DDR-based model for transforming selective professional learning into an evidence-informed, locally usable teacher development programme.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.25.7.6
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