A Tale of Two Delivery Methods: Comparing Face-to-Face and Virtual Professional Development

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding Issues in Online Instructional Design (Table 11)

Abstract

Educator professional development (PD) is a requirement for maintenance of professional licensure. The COVID-19 pandemic eliminated the opportunity for face-to-face PD across the globe, forging the way for virtual PD. This study examined participants’ satisfaction between two cohorts with varied demographics; the 2019 face-to-face cohort (n=65) and the 2020 virtual cohort (n=51). Likert-item post-test data from both cohorts measured participants’ satisfaction on four scales between groups. T-tests revealed statistically significant differences, with participants attending the live PD expressing higher satisfaction. Since the pandemic, the likelihood of virtual PD will increase. The findings point to the need to refine and address virtual PD needs to ensure participants receive quality PD as well as technological capacity of the providers.

Authors

• Karen E. McIntush, University of Houston

• Karla Adelina Garza, Texas A&M University

• Luis Ponte, Texas A&M University

• Andrea McMurray, Texas A&M University

• Donna M. Druery, Texas A&M University

• Beverly J. Irby, Texas A&M University

• Fuhui Tong, Texas A&M University

• Rafael Lara-Alecio, Texas A&M University