A Study of the Perceptions of Professional Development Programs for K-12 Teachers in Transition

Author

Kimberly S. AlfredFollow

Campus Location

Dallas Campus (Online)

Date of Award

8-2023

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0377-7487

Document Type

Dissertation

Department

Organizational Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Jeff Cranmore

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

Rick Breault

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Karan Duwe

Abstract

The global pandemic of 2020–2021 forced many K-12 schools across the world to require the ability to teach both in a traditional setting and also in a virtual environment. While many leaders thought the transition from traditional to virtual instruction would be easy, it actually proved to be more difficult than first imagined. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how K-12 traditional teachers in Texas describe their professional development experience after moving from a traditional setting to a virtual environment and then back again, pre- and postpandemic. Three research questions guided this study: (a) How do K-12 traditional teachers in Texas describe their professional development experience after moving from a traditional setting to a virtual environment then back again, pre- and postpandemic? (b) What level of self-efficacy is perceived by K-12 traditional teachers in Texas after transiting from a traditional setting to a virtual, then back, pre- and postpandemic? (c) How useful was professional development for K-12 traditional teachers during transition from a traditional teaching setting to a virtual teaching setting, pre- and postpandemic? The participants were 20 teachers from different districts in Texas. Questionnaires and interviews were adopted as the instruments for the study. Data were collected through SurveyMonkey.com and either face-to- face meetings or via telephone calls. Data were manually analyzed. The findings showed six themes. The themes were (a) andragogy, (b) adaptation, (c)communication quality, (d) self- efficacy, (e) value-added, and (f) ongoing support. Recommendations for school leaders and future research are included.

Keywords: Andragogy, brick and mortar schools, online education, new normal, pandemic, professional development, saturation, self-efficacy, traditional education, traditional environment, virtual environment

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Alfred, Kimberly S., "A Study of the Perceptions of Professional Development Programs for K-12 Teachers in Transition" (2023). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 661.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/661