Designing teacher professional development programs to support a rapid shift to digital
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Designing teacher professional development programs to support a rapid shift to digital Tania Heap1 · Ruthanne Thompson1 · Adam Fein1 Accepted: 27 October 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract From a design perspective, this paper offers a response to the impact, value, and application of a manuscript published by Philipsen et al. (Improving teacher professional development for online and blended learning: A systematic meta-aggregative review. Educational Technology and Research Development, 67, 1145–1174. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s11423-019-09645-8, 2019). Philipsen et al. (2019) reviewed what constitutes an effective teacher professional development program (TPD) for online and blended learning (OBL), with our response focusing on its value and application in light of an emergency shift to digital to address a global pandemic. This paper also proceeds to examine limitations in previous research into the subject and future research opportunities to investigate important components that inform the design of a resilient and scalable TPD for OBL. Keywords Faculty professional development · Online teaching · Blended teaching
Impact/value The paper presents the findings of a meta-aggregated analysis of 15 peer-reviewed articles focused on teacher professional development (TPD) programs for online and blended learning (OBL). Results from this analysis led to identification of synthesized findings on the most valuable elements of a TPD for OBL. In “shifting to digital”, Philipsen et al.’s (2019) findings offer insights into the design and development of curricula that help teachers become successful in online environments. Among the categories identified by the authors that most impact a shift to digital are support and feedback from learning technologists, financial sustainability, program goals and procedures, changes in teachers’ skills and attitudes, relevance and evaluation of the TPD program, and support among institutional leadership. While the authors note the importance of careful planning in creating successful TPD for OBL, the rapid shift to digital in the spring of 2020 due to campus closures did not allow for extensive resource planning (Zhu and Liu 2020). The rush to online created by COVID-19 meant that many of the best practices for online learning and training on * Tania Heap [email protected] 1
Division of Digital Strategy and Innovation (DSI), University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA
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learning technologies were set aside in favor of emergency training on the basics of online course delivery (Buckley 2020). Despite the challenges brought by a pandemic, Philipsen et al.’s (2019) meta-aggregated analysis offers a conceptual framework of key components and categories of an effective TPD for OBL that can be used as a lens for teacher professional developers to create and build upon new TPB initiatives. Indeed, in their paper, Philipsen and colleagues encourage their audience to expand on their research in order to refine the TPD framework.
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