Patterns, Concerns, and Opportunities in K-12 Teacher Professional Development for Online and Blended Learning – A Research Panel and Conversation

Introduction

Patterns, concerns, and opportunities arise in current literature and research on K-12 teacher training and professional development for online and blended teaching (Kennedy & Achambault, 2012; Jackson, 2018; Whiteside, 2017). Specifically, Jackson (2018) stresses the need to explore and personalize education in regard to professional development calling for “additional teacher education and professional development on the types of characteristics apparent in K-12 online students, as well as the skills necessary for meeting the needs of these students” (p. 126). Training and professional development for current online teachers varies greatly depending on the individual teacher, school, district, or organization. Pre-service teacher training in most cases does not incorporate training and preparation to teach in an online learning environment. However, multiple sources cite the importance of targeted training for K-12 teachers (Abrami, Bernard, Bures, Borokhovski, & Tamin, 2011; Basham, Smith, Greer, & Marino, 2013; Garrett Dikkers & Whiteside, 2017; Garrett Dikkers, Whiteside, & Lewis, 2013; Oliver, Kellogg, Townsend, & Brady, 2010; Rice, 2009). Additionally, many other researchers assert the importance of professional development in K–12 and higher education to adjust to “seismic shifts” and help the faculty to better serve their students (Aycock, Garnham, & Kaleta, 2002; Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 1995; Dziuban, Hartman, Moskal, Sorg, & Truman, 2003; Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, & Yoon, 2001; Guskey & Yoon, 2009; Hellmig, 2008; Humbert & Vignare, 2005; Kaleta, Skibba, & Joosten, 2007; King, 2002; Otte, 2005).

Importance of the Topic

As more and more schools and districts incorporate blended and online learning for their students and with the growth of completely online K12 school options, there is an increased awareness of the need to prepare teachers for the shifts in their teaching that come with moving from face-to-face to blended or online instruction. Additionally, more higher education teacher training programs are realizing their graduates need to develop skills to teach in different modalities upon graduation and licensure. The members of this panel see a need for researchers and practitioners to engage in new strategies for engagement and development of teaching professionals for these blended and online teaching opportunities. 

Audience Engagement Strategies

This panel brings together researchers exploring different aspects of K12 teacher professional development and preparation to teach in a blended or online environment. The session starts with the facilitator posing essential questions for the audience, who will share their responses digitally to help guide the conversation.

Essential Question 1.What do we know? Major concerns and understandings regarding preparation of K12 teachers to teach in online and blended learning environments

Essential Question 2.Where are we moving? Innovation and models of K12 teacher preparation for blended and online instruction 

Essential Question 3.What would you like to see? Dream big

Next, each presenter will share the foundations of his/her research-based work. The facilitator will make connections back to the essential questions and audience responses. The panel concludes with an interactive discussion with a question and answer period, where audience and panel collectively engage and propose next steps for the field of K12 teacher training and professional development for online and blended teaching.

Paper One: Design and delivery of K12 professional development for online and blended teaching – Are K12 and higher education really that different?

The first paper on the panel situates the audience in the current state of K12 professional development for online and blended teaching, juxtaposing K12 practice against their higher education counterparts. While researchers in the fields of K12 education and higher education faculty professional development note a considerable need for professional development for online and blended learning (Kebritchi, Lipschuetz & Santiague, 2017; McCallister & Graham, 2016), research shows a paucity of this type of training. A 2012 survey by Kennedy and Archambault concluded that less than 1.3% of teacher education programs included elements of online or blended learning, while Jackson (in press) argues that higher education faculty still cite a lack of support and training as a major hindrance to their participation in online and blended learning. Further, while programs to educate potential online and blended instructors are sparse, the ways in which these distinct yet similar groups of educators are trained in this field are very unique. Programs lack uniformity in duration, rigor, as well as overall content, both within their respective areas as well as when K12 and higher education faculty training are compared to one another. As the need for this type of professional development persists, research into how we address these two distinct groups of educators can inform our own practice in developing future programs. This panelist will provide an overview of how these programs are being implemented in the two fields (K12 & Higher Education faculty training), highlighting similarities and differences to the approaches, as well as offer lessons that educators of both groups can learn from current practice. 

Paper Two: Measuring and Improving Blended Teacher Readiness 

It is especially important for researchers to systematically identify blended teacher skills. A review of blended and online teacher competencies found that many of them focused on generic skills that would apply to any teaching context. Focusing on those teaching skills specific to the blended environment, we developed an instrument spanning the following level-one categories—each with multiple level-two categories: (1) foundational knowledge, skills, and dispositions, (2) instructional planning, (3) instructional methods and strategies, (4) assessment and evaluation, and (5) management.  The survey was administered to teachers at a large school district and the resulting 2,290 teacher survey responses were used to validate the instrument. All four fit statistics cutoffs were met. However, as one participant stated, the survey was “waaaaay too long.” It also focused on the process blended teaching rather than core blended teaching pedagogies. As a result, we have developed a new, shorter instrument that is focused on pedagogical skills across the following categories: (1) foundations, (2) online integration, (3) data practices, (4) online interaction, and (5) personalization. We also developed an open book aligned with each of the categories that can be freely accessible online at  Click or tap if you trust this link.">https://edtechbooks.org/k12blended. During the panel the instrument and book will be shared as well as strategies for using them to better prepare teachers for blended environments.

Paper Three - “How do we get started?”: Strategies for integrating social presence into professional development opportunities for blended teachers

After nearly two decades of researching social presence within online learning experiences, one of the questions we get most often from professional development leaders is about how to get started preparing teachers to teach in an online or blended learning environment. These leaders realize that well-intentioned teachers who are short on time and experience too often simply forge ahead with their online teaching, needlessly reinventing the wheel. PD leaders often react tactically rather than strategically, putting money toward quick-fix technologies to help their teachers, knowing that that the solution is short-term and may not be integrated with pedagogy. Today, more and more, these leaders want to end this cycle and make a change. They are beginning to understand the importance of social presence for bringing their teachers together and helping them take time for the professional development they both need and deserve. This retrospective study examines teacher needs in two K12 case studies to enable PD leaders to design fruitful experiences that truly assist online teachers in bridging gaps and improving their teaching. The authors provide practical strategies for getting started designing and developing PD opportunities for busy online and blended teaching professionals. 

Conclusion

We hope that this panel of three research-based approaches to understanding and building professional development for K12 blended and online teachers stimulates conversation amongst participants regarding the essential questions. Our goal is to uncover and explore the current state of the field and encourage facilitators, teachers, administrators, instructional designers, and researchers to identify goals and opportunities for strengthening professional development in the future to better meet needs of teachers and situate them to be successful in new instructional environments. Participants will leave the session with an understanding of a new blended learning readiness tool and its corresponding handbook and activities, strategies to incorporate social presence into professional development for online and blended teachers, and a challenge to engage in research and practice that aligns K12 professional development with effective practices in the field and elevates K12 teacher professional development.