This mixed-method study aimed to determine teachers' perceptions of Project Massive Open Online Professional Individualized Learning (MOOPIL) Virtual Professional Development and the role it played in their pedagogical practices as they transitioned from face-to-face to online instruction during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We applied a mixed-method approach to understand the experiences of educators engaged in virtual professional development, virtual mentoring and coaching, and an online learning community during a global pandemic in the Spring of 2020. Participants reported various ways Project MOOPIL impacted their experiences as educators. Teachers' personal experiences in online learning through Project MOOPIL provided insight into the comparable experiences of students who were immersed in online education as well. Teachers reported a successful transfer of knowledge from this experience to their new distance learning domains that not only catered to the needs of English language learners (ELLs) in their classes but to native English speakers as well. Furthermore, through their participation in VPLCs and engagement in Project MOOPIL VMC, participants demonstrated the ability to access and benefit from virtual collaborative support even when life got challenging. In this study, we examined virtual professional development intersectionality, distance learning, and the needs of emergent English speakers.
In this study, we investigated Texas teachers’ perceptions of instructional coaches’ (ICs) practices that improve professional learning communities (PLCs) to enhance teachers’ instructional capacities. The study’s participants included 67 teachers from rural, urban, and suburban school districts across the state of Texas. They enrolled in a virtual professional development (VPD) module related to improving instruction in high needs schools. Data were collected from participants via an open-ended survey. To answer the study research question, we employed a qualitative phenomenological research approach. Findings indicated that teachers perceived ICs can perform two main types of practices that contribute to enhancing PLC meetings: (a) practices for creating a safe PLC learning environment and (b) practices in PLCs for enhancing teachers’ instructional capacities. Our findings add to the literature providing the first empirical study in which researchers investigated teachers’ perceptions about ICs’ practices within PLCs.
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