PHYSICAL EDUCATORS‘ PERSPECTIVES ON INSTRUCTIONAL METHODOLOGY OF SYNCHRONOUS DISTANCE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Teachers‘ continuing professional development, that is an essential part of their
professional career, is the subject of constant demand of them and of each educational
reform interest. The rapid growth of technology and the choices of teaching and
learning that it provides give possibilities for synchronous and asynchronous methods
of distance continuing training which get over the problems traditional face to face
methods create. A synchronous e-learning software provide virtual environment of
teaching in which the possibility for enhance interactive and collaborative learning is
given.
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the perspectives of physical
educators for the synchronous online teaching method process. The participants were
15 in-service teachers of elementary physical education who took part in a training
program which was conducted with the synchronous Centra software. The results
show the participants‘ satisfaction from the particular instructive method and their
conviction that it allows the active presence and the collaborative learning, without
influences by the lack of physical presence in the same space of instructor and
learners.