ABSTRACT
Online learning represents an important new turn for education, and particularly for teacher education and teacher professional development. Researchers have argued the need for emerging technologies for active and interactive learning in the field of teacher professional development (Beavers, 2001; Sparks and Hirsh, 1997). Although there are some limiting factors and potential problems (e.g. having a good Internet connection), there are a number of benefits that even face-to-face workshops fail to provide. Those advantages include extensive resources, opportunities for achieving specific goals, convenience, flexibility, a larger learning community and the ability to interact with emerging technologies (Yoder, 2002). Additional benefits, such as convenience of location or the reduction of time constraints, make educational opportunities more affordable and practical (Sujo de Montes and Gonzales, 2000). Teachers are also becoming increasingly engaged with online learning, suggesting that new technologies may fundamentally change their own professional development (RAND, 1995).
