Empowering Teachers through Professional Development Program and Online Learning Community
Abstract: Schools in the U.S. are rushing to go online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This mid-report highlights the experience of teachers at a foreign language school in the U.S. who taught for a semester fully online for the first time and attempts to seek what teachers need to teach online professionally in the long run. In this mid-report, the authors examine the effects that a change to an online teaching modality had on the teachers’ perception of their careers first, and next explores ways to enhance teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching online. Responses to the post-semester survey called attention to the demand for professional development focusing on online teaching, the necessity of organizational support in providing incentives and resources for taking such a program, and the teachers’ strong interest in participating in online learning communities to further their development as online teaching professionals. The Spring 2021 semester teaching online experience will be investigated through in-depth interviews once the semester ends and complete the examination of this school teachers' teaching experience fully online for the 2020-2021 school year.