Adaptive Professional Development during the Pandemic

Nina Bergdahl

doi:10.16993/dfl.172

Abstract

In Sweden, upper secondary school teachers made a swift transition into emergency remote teaching in 2020 due to the outbreak of covid-19. This paper reports on a Design-Based Research intervention in which professional development was designed using the Blended Learning Adoption framework, to support teachers to develop their teaching practices online. Twenty-six teachers participated in the intervention which spanned six months. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. Key results revealed that the pandemic had become an impetus for change, for many teachers, but far from all. Emerging teaching practices in synchronous online learning included: inviting special needs pedagogues in parallel breakout rooms, and grouping and re-grouping students when facilitating varied collaboration. Apart from realising new potentials of online teaching and learning, teachers identified emerging challenges such as: new ways of cheating, ethical aspects of accessing students’ private homes via cameras and a lack of guidelines on managing disengagement. Conclusively, teacher’s professional development and new experiences elicit new practices that could benefit teachers after the pandemic. Professional development during uncertain times and design principles supporting intervention ownership transfer are discussed.

Highlights

Even during a pandemic, the teachers are to design learning that is inclusive and engaging (Kirschner, 2015; Nortvig et al, 2018)
Research undertaken during the outbreak of covid-19 in March 2020 identified that teachers were left to their own devices in transforming in-person to online teaching (Bergdahl & Nouri, 2020), that many teachers were novices to online teaching and learning and faced new challenges (Bond et al 2021; Lockee, 2020; Trikoilis & Papanastasiou, 2020), highlighting a heightened need for teachers’ professional development (PD) during the pandemic
The following research questions were raised: 1. What emerging teaching practices are teachers reporting in one upper secondary school a year into the pandemic?

Summary

Introduction

The teachers are to design learning that is inclusive and engaging (Kirschner, 2015; Nortvig et al, 2018). In addition to issues of PD delivery, local, national and international reports have identified that students experienced monotonous teaching, social isolation and unavailable teachers as a result of emergency remote teaching (ERT) (Bond et al, 2021; Department of upper secondary and adult education, 2020; Grönlund, 2020; Swedish Students Council, 2020). The aim of this PD intervention was to try to develop and deliver flexible and relevant PD. The shift toward more digitalised learning is likely to contribute to the development of teaching practices even after the pandemic (Bond et al, 2021; Greener, 2021; Holmström, 2021)

Methods

Results

Conclusion