Purdue preparing teachers for a post-pandemic world where online learning remains prevalent

A new online teacher professional development program underway at Purdue will train teachers how to better engage and support students who are learning online. (Julia Cameron/Pexels)

One of these days, the spread of COVID-19 will be corralled, but a Purdue program to train teachers how to better engage and support students online is likely to keep spreading.

That’s the intent of a new online teacher professional development program underway at Purdue, funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Indiana Governor’s Office through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

“What we’re doing is going to be extremely useful in the future, too,” said Tim Newby, a learning design and technology professor in the College of Education. “Online is going to be more relevant post-pandemic than it was pre-pandemic. Down the road when they have a snow day? No big deal.”

The Purdue program, through a series of free online modules and micro-credentials, will train teachers to teach effectively and comfortably in online and hybrid environments. These assets will form a foundation for how to plan, prepare, set realistic expectations, overcome access challenges, select proper tools, and communicate online.

The modules will provide teachers with access to resources, highlight examples of effective online teaching and learning in diverse formats, and guide them through designing effective online learning experiences. The modules also will cover how to move from in-person classrooms to teaching online in both emergency and planned situations. More advanced modules will be developed in line with the Indiana State Virtual Instruction License, allowing teachers to add this licensure.

In addition, the Purdue team will create modules focused on helping students and parents plan and prepare to learn effectively online and to overcome challenges of online learning at home.

The program will include free K-12 teacher access to the Purdue Repository for online Teaching and Learning (PoRTAL), a collection of open, meaning freely available, peer-reviewed educational materials and tools. PoRTAL was developed by partners across campus, including Teaching and Learning Technologies, the Center for Instructional Excellence, Purdue Online, Purdue Libraries, and the Learning Design and Technology program in the College of Education. Amid the pandemic, with the mass exodus to online learning, the number of people using the repository doubled last year, said Jennifer Richardson, a learning design and technology professor. A K-12 version also will become available to better serve teachers as part of the grant.

PoRTAL was one of a number of developments at Purdue in the past few years with  teacher training in mind. The new program also will leverage aspects of that effort such as digital badges to mark competencies ranging from online survival technologies and strategies for K-12 teachers to student engagement and assessment. The College of Education and Purdue Online are also rolling out a web portal for accessing online teacher professional development courses that can lead to badges and certificates covering a variety of skills.

Newby emphasized that teachers are driving all of this. “This is going to be a cooperative effort,” he said. “We're involving teachers through the whole process. We're really trying to listen as hard as we can to the teachers. They've been on the front lines.”

COVID-19 has been like a giant learning experience in online teaching and learning, in which teachers and students everywhere have been forced by circumstances to participate. One result is a substantial body of knowledge – and some strong opinions – about what works and what doesn’t.

“If we ignore those experiences, that would be crazy,” Newby said. “We don't want to reinvent the wheel over and over again. We just want to find the best wheels and use them.”

The Purdue team will tap the knowledge of teachers around the state and from as wide a perspective as possible, covering the entire K-12 spectrum and incorporating, for example, specialists such as teachers of special education and English as a second language. Team members also are surveying schools to find out what’s being done to meet the challenges posed by the pandemic, what’s working and what’s needed. Tippecanoe School Corporation teachers will evaluate the modules’ design and content and provide feedback.

Writer: Greg Kline, 765-426-8545, gkline@purdue.edu