Effective practices in pre-school to grade 12 teacher online professional development: A qualitative meta-synthesis

Pre-school to grade 12 teachers need to receive ongoing professional development (PD). Some research has shown that PD can be just as effective when presented in non-traditional formats such as online sessions or through asynchronous platforms. Considering the increasing sophistication and access to the internet, and recent necessary social distancing measures that have prompted people to turn to online spaces more than ever, online professional development (OPD) can bring opportunities to teachers who would normally be limited to attending professional developments in their local areas due to time and/or the cost of traveling. This qualitative meta-synthesis examines 44 original studies to answer the question What factors define effective online professional development for pre-school through grade 12 teachers? Findings from 44 original studies were recorded and coded. Themes from these studies showed that there were consistent findings across studies such as the importance of facilitator role, quality of content, and having elements from Community of Inquiry framework can facilitate effective learning in OPD. From results from this qualitative meta-synthesis, two quality heuristics were created: The Framework for Effective Online Professional Development and its accompanying checklist tool. The conceptual framework illustrates the ideal design and rational for effective OPD and the checklist has been designed as a tool to help facilitate the effective practices outline in the framework.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Farley, Irish

Contributors dc:contributor

• Pak, Yoon
• Kang, Hyun-Sook
• Ward Hood, Denice
• Huang, Wen Hao

• Teacher professional development
• online professional development
• PD
• OPD

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 Irish Farley

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117699

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F117699