Online Teacher Professional Development in Canada: A Review of the Research

This paper presents findings from a systematic review of 11 studies examining online teacher professional development (oTPD) in Canada between 2000-2020. A thematic content analysis of the articles led to four main themes associated with research on oTPD: 1. knowledge exchange; 2. reflective practice; 3. multifaceted learning opportunities; and 4. just-in-time support. The study contexts, research methods, and other relevant study characteristics are also reviewed and discussed. The results shed light on the current research trends on oTPD in Canada and highlight the need for continued research in this area. Data from diverse research methods across Canada’s geographical regions can contribute to greater insight into the types of oTPD occurring in Canada and how various platforms and professional development opportunities can best support teachers’ professional learning.

EFL teachers’ online teacher professional development experiences amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: Practices and perceptions

This research investigates the EFL teachers’ practices and perceptions of online teacher professional development (OTPD) experiences to improve their competencies for teaching online language learning amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. 42 EFL teachers voluntarily became the participants through invitation. All participants were requested to give responses on a questionnaire. Eight participants were then invited for an individual semi-structured interview. Descriptive statistics were employed to analyze the questionnaire data, whilst qualitative coding was used to analyse the interview data. The results reveal many important findings regarding EFL teachers’ practices and perceptions of experiencing OTPD amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings are beneficial to help OTPD designers and providers, policy makers, and school leaders provide OTPD which best fits EFL teachers’ needs, preferences, and teaching contexts.

Design Features of Online Teacher Professional Development: A Design Case for Re-Developing the EdHub Library to Improve Usability and Alignment of Content with Teacher Standards

The EdHub Library is an online teacher professional development platform that serves 250 school districts as part of the Network for Educator Effectiveness in Missouri. It has a collection of more than 300 online activities. This design case describes the efforts of re-developing EdHub due to technical and usability issues of the first generation of the content management platform. The second generation of EdHub was the product of two prototypes and two user testing sessions between January 2018–April 2018. A literature review of information-seeking habits of K-12 teachers and web design and usability standards guided the development of the second generation of EdHub to support teachers’ browsing and searching behaviors. Five design decisions support the second generation of EdHub in terms of (1) priority of visual elements, (2) ease of navigation, (3) content alignment with Missouri teacher standards, (4) organization of results in the search engine, and (5) unifying learning objectives, activities, reflection, and external resources.

What’s in Your Gifted Education Online Teacher Professional Development? Incorporating Theory- and Practice-Based Elements of Instructional Learning Design

This article examined six theory- and practice-based elements of instructional learning design in online teacher professional development (oTPD), how these elements were implemented into Edinger’s PACKaGE model of gifted education oTPD, and how teachers evaluated each element. Elements were based on Berge’s (1995) instructor roles model theory and gifted education research. Each element was evaluated by teachers ( N = 184) who completed oTPD designed from the PACKaGE model. Self-report survey findings suggest that teachers considered most elements, such as asynchronous discussion board and article review assignments, to be useful to a great extent to their gifted education learning and pedagogy. However, teachers reported less usefulness for the online group project element. This finding directly contrasts with researchers’ suggestions for oTPD. These findings may encourage teachers to choose theory- and research-based oTPD. PD designers can investigate and implement oTPD elements that satisfy instructional design model needs for optimal teacher learning and gifted education pedagogy.