ACADEMIA Letters
Digitizing Teacher Education and Professional
Development during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Ahmed Abdelhafez, Minia University, Egypt
In this article, technological fixes of teacher education and professional development during
the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed. Four areas are addressed: providing remote teaching
support, strategies for adapting to change, alternative practicum experiences, and supporting
education for early childhood. The article serves as a summary and review of some of the
most recent literature.
Providing remote teaching support
During the COVID-19 pandemic, four strategies proved effective in providing remote teaching
support. They included virtual professional learning, video conferencing, global webinars,
and safe texting. In addition, the Michigan experience for supporting educators through the
transition to online learning was found productive.
Virtual professional learning. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers were
forced to move from face-to-face classroom instruction to designing and developing virtual
learning. Hulon et al. (2020) used The Technological Knowledge, Pedagogical Knowledge,
and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework (Koehler & Mishra, 2005) to serve as the rationale for supporting in-service teachers in virtual professional learning sessions by providing
digital training. The sessions focused on pedagogy for virtual learning as well as specific technologies to support students. Hulon et al. (2020) found that the teachers wanted convenient,
flexible, and relevant virtual options; professional learning in instructional design principles;
and virtual options with multiple entry points and various levels of expertise.
Academia Letters, February 2021
©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0
Corresponding Author: Ahmed Abdelhafez, amma2030@googlemail.com
Citation: Abdelhafez, A. (2021). Digitizing Teacher Education and Professional Development during the
COVID-19 Pandemic. Academia Letters, Article 295. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL295.
1
Video Conferencing. Video conferencing is a safe alternative to support online teaching
and learning during the lockdown of educational institutions (Maher, 2020). It allows teachers
to interact with each other as a large group and in small groups analogous with the process that
would be undertaken in a face-to-face class. The use of break-out rooms via Zoom allowed
for students to interact and share in pairs.
Global Webinars. Global webinars for teachers worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic have come right when needed the most. The use of webinars has proven to be an
effective way to reach teachers globally (Shin & Borup, 2020). They, augmented through
blog posts and social media, can be an important part of the whole solution that can be farreaching, instant, and impactful at times of lockdown. Shin & Borup (2020) found that the
vast majority of participants in their study viewed that the webinars addressed the challenges
they were facing in their online teaching; they will change how they teach online as a result
of the webinars they attended, and they would recommend the webinars to other teachers.
Safe Texting.Safe texting is another strategy for supporting remote teaching and learning
by providing increased accessibility, support and connection for preservice and in-service
teachers (Carr, 2020). Staff members can use safe texting platforms like Remind, Bloomz,
and Group.Me in a multitude of ways to communicate with preservice teachers and in-service
alumni including announcements, checking in and questions, encouragement, and student-tostudent communication.
Supporting Michigan Educators.Debruler et al. (2020) developed a set of courses to support the teachers and build their skills through the transition to remote teaching and learning
during the pandemic. Through their platform Michigan Virtual, they developed a six-course
series incorporating: (1) Getting Started: Introduction to the basics of remote teaching with a
readiness checklist, rubric, and video examples of remote teaching, (2) Communication Online: The importance of developing and sustaining relationships via online communication,
with an extensive list of tools to explore and a reflection through Flipgrid, (3) Digital Content:
Lesson planning versus instructional design, including finding and vetting digital content, and
creating digital content, (4) Digital Assessment: Remote learning assessment possibilities.
(5) Adapting to Meet: Introduction to flexibility for remote learners and accessibility, and
(6) Social Emotional Supports: Social emotional learning support for students, families, and
educators during distance learning.
Strategies for adapting to change
With the obligatory transition to online educational provision due to the emergent COVID19, educational institutions have been doing their best, but messages are frequently mixed and
Academia Letters, February 2021
©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0
Corresponding Author: Ahmed Abdelhafez, amma2030@googlemail.com
Citation: Abdelhafez, A. (2021). Digitizing Teacher Education and Professional Development during the
COVID-19 Pandemic. Academia Letters, Article 295. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL295.
2
teachers are often unsure about how to proceed. In this part of the article, three strategies are
discussed as ways to cope with the changes including: emergency transitioning, communities
of practice and using digital learning plans.
Emergency transitioning. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a rapid and unprecedented
shift to online delivery of university courses around the world. Canipe & Bayford (2020)
introduced some innovative practices to help teachers transition to remote teaching and learning. These practices included: the use of online simulations and videos, lesson planning with
GoogleDocs, the use of individual meetings on Zoom, and the use of weekly guides to manage
time online for both students and instructors. In another research effort, Song et al. (2020)
examined professional learning under the COVID-19 pandemic through a self-study of five
teacher educators’ experiences of transitioning to emergency remote teaching. They found
that the participants not only used the learning community as a platform to provide social and
emotional support to each other, but also sought out ways, such as adding extra time for small
talks during the weekly class meetings and sending personalized emails to each student, to
ease the social and emotional stress among their students.
Communities of practice. Carey et al. (2020) presents the use of community of practice
theory to design and implement a Twitter chat for facilitating and supporting instructional
transitions to remote learning under emergency conditions. Twitter offered a platform that
teachers already used to connect and find mutual support. Gandolfi & Kratcoski (2020) examined the use of communities of practice as a means of technology integration and educational
reform especially in a time of crisis such as COVID-19. Social media was used to reach out to
partners to develop an “emergency” community of practice - a group sharing a common domain, practices, and social connections focusing on remote learning. In another study, Janes
& Carter (2020) examined the community of practice model using Microsoft Teams to empowering techno-resiliency and practical learning among teachers. The study used Microsoft
Teams as a collaborative tool and enabled more than 280 teachers to increase their remote
teaching skills in less than six weeks.
Using digital learning plans. Using digital learning plans is another strategy highlighted
as a means for teachers to adapt with the changes in teaching and learning due to COVID19. To prepare for effective eLearning, Koehler & Farmer (2020) suggest that teachers create
a “digital learning plan” prior to implementing eLearning. Much like the procedures and
expectations that regulate practices and activities in a face-to-face learning environment, a
digital learning plan structures the eLearning space by establishing expectations and procedures regarding how, where and when students will engage in eLearning and how content and
technological support will be provided.
Academia Letters, February 2021
©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0
Corresponding Author: Ahmed Abdelhafez, amma2030@googlemail.com
Citation: Abdelhafez, A. (2021). Digitizing Teacher Education and Professional Development during the
COVID-19 Pandemic. Academia Letters, Article 295. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL295.
3
Alternative practicum experiences
Student teaching is the seminal component of teacher preparation. When it becomes interrupted, e.g. during a pandemic, teacher educators are challenged to create alternative learning
opportunities. In this part of the article, the transitioning to online student teaching and other
remote strategies is discussed. These attempts seek to create meaningful learning experiences
for student teachers during school lockdown. Piccolo et al. (2020) examined factors impacting
elementary education student teachers transitioning to online student teaching. They found
that student teachers learned to identify related factors, such as classroom issues, within their
control and those factors not in their control.
In another study, Mollenkopf & Gaskill (2020) examined how to create meaningful learning experiences for pre-service and in-service teachers facing interruptions in field experience placements during the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, one professor used written
and video-based case studies in place of cancelled field placements. Survey responses indicated that students believed course adjustments were useful and provided meaningful learning
experiences for them.
Supporting education for early childhood
Shifting from traditional face-to-face learning in classrooms to remote learning at home necessitated the participation of families at home in the education of their kids in general, and
those kids in the kindergarten stage in particular. Vu et al. (2020) used a blended learning
model, which included asynchronous and synchronous sessions. The asynchronous learning
offered the kids control over their learning. In addition, it was convenient and flexible for their
parents to help them with assignments during the school lockdown. The students completed
their paper-based assignments and activities (as they usually did in class), took photos of their
assignments (with the help of their parents’), and then uploaded the pictures onto SeeSaw
where the teacher graded them.
In another study, Fox (2020) investigated the bidirectional benefits from school to home
literacy practices in the early childhood virtual classroom. School literacy practices were
shared with parents and caregivers as they assisted children with schoolwork in the home.
With purposefully designed shared activities, these activities became bidirectional as teachers gain information about families’ funds of knowledge and home literacy practices. When
classroom instruction was delivered electronically, the technology provided a bidirectional
window into both the school and the home. Based on the findings, Fox (2020) argued that
teacher training programs could implement a more culturally relevant curriculum by includAcademia Letters, February 2021
©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0
Corresponding Author: Ahmed Abdelhafez, amma2030@googlemail.com
Citation: Abdelhafez, A. (2021). Digitizing Teacher Education and Professional Development during the
COVID-19 Pandemic. Academia Letters, Article 295. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL295.
4
ing courses and assignments that acknowledge the cultural characteristics, experiences and
perspectives of children and families as important components of a child’s classroom experience.
Conclusion
To conclude, although the COVID-19 pandemic has had tremendous negative impacts on how
teachers learn and professionally develop, it hastened the coveted digital transformation. It
also disclosed the promises of technological solutions to mitigate the losses caused by the
repeated interruptions caused by the pandemic. Certain strategies such virtual professional
learning, video conferencing, global webinars, and safe texting proved particularly useful to
provide teachers with the much needed support. In addition, the use of communities of practice, digital learning plans, online student teaching, and the partnership of families at home
were effective tactics to cope with the inevitable change.
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Academia Letters, February 2021
©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0
Corresponding Author: Ahmed Abdelhafez, amma2030@googlemail.com
Citation: Abdelhafez, A. (2021). Digitizing Teacher Education and Professional Development during the
COVID-19 Pandemic. Academia Letters, Article 295. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL295.
5
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Academia Letters, February 2021
©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0
Corresponding Author: Ahmed Abdelhafez, amma2030@googlemail.com
Citation: Abdelhafez, A. (2021). Digitizing Teacher Education and Professional Development during the
COVID-19 Pandemic. Academia Letters, Article 295. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL295.
6
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Academia Letters, February 2021
©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0
Corresponding Author: Ahmed Abdelhafez, amma2030@googlemail.com
Citation: Abdelhafez, A. (2021). Digitizing Teacher Education and Professional Development during the
COVID-19 Pandemic. Academia Letters, Article 295. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL295.
7