Professional development in the context of a higher education curriculum innovation

The University of Twente has recently reformed its bachelor programs using principles of project- based-education. Each bachelor year has been divided into four modules each consisting of a central project and various supporting courses. The Twente Educational Model (TEM) brings a lot of changes for the teaching staff. Teachers now have to work together in multidisciplinary teams to develop the new modules, get familiarized with the principles of project-based-education, become tutors for student groups, implement new ways of assessment, make use of activating teaching methods and develop TPACK-skills. To ensure a successful implementation of TEM, the university needs to facilitate and support the professional development of its teaching staff. To evaluate how teacher professional development during a curriculum innovation can best be facilitated, a systematic review study has been carried out. Scopus, Web of Science, PsycInfo and ERIC have been searched for relevant articles. All relevant articles were categorised using various dimensions such as type of professional development activity, subject of the activity, research type, research methods, experience level of participants, teaching domain and context of the study. The results indicate a research gap for just-in-time professional development methods in higher education, as most research focuses on the more traditional types of professional development interventions such as workshops and training programs. Furthermore, only few report on the professional development of teachers in the context of a curriculum innovation in higher education.