Training language teachers online: a study of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) teacher training inIndonesia

Despite some encouragement by the government of Indonesia and the university administrators to conduct online education, the implementation of online teacher training in an Islamic university has not been seriously addressed. There, some potential assets for the implementation of online teacher training, such as appropriate ICT hardware and positive beliefs held by all university members, have not been encouraged much. As a result the effort of online teacher training on the university has not been run optimally. This study aimed to investigate the possible implementation of online teacher training (OTT) programs for English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in Indonesia working with computer-assisted language learning (CALL). The study identified possible factors affecting online teacher training and explored ways of improving the existing 'online' teacher training activities especially in CALL. It employed a design-based research approach which is characterized by a direct iterative intervention into an existing educational practice. The study was conducted in a teacher training college in the Islamic university providing OTT facilities. Participants in the study were student teachers/instructors, administrators, and ICT administrators. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, observations, document reviews and online questionnaires. During the DBR study possible factors affecting the implementation of online teacher training were identified and used as consideration when developing the online CALL teacher training (OCTT) prototypes. The OCTT prototypes were then tried out in two cycles. The results of the implementation of the OCTT prototypes resulted in three outcomes that a DBR study should bring about: generated principles, research artefact, and professional development and learning experience (Herrington, Reeves, & Oliver, 2010). The three were realized in the form of eight generated online teacher training principles. As a result of the study, an online CALL teacher training syllabus, materials and a course were produced, and the first fully online teacher professional development experience was created by the student teachers, as well as professional collaborative work was engaged in with the local instructors and other staff on the research site.