Teacher professional development (TPD) started getting attention around 30 years ago. Thomas Guskey in his book “Evaluating Professional Development” (2000) stated that in the history of education, the professional development of educators had increasingly gained greater importance. Learning professionals all around the world have agreed that in order to provide meaningful learning opportunities for students, meaningful learning opportunities need to be offered also for teachers (Nel 2017; Siko and Hess 2014; Thoma et al. 2017).

Bartalo (2012) claimed that the key to providing better learning opportunities for students is by taking what we know through research and putting it into practice. One of the main goals of this Special Issue is indeed to offer the community of researchers, designers and practitioners best practices and quick solutions to address the immediate teaching and learning needs, based on several high-quality research and development papers published in ETR&D; and to provide practical information aimed at helping educators better prepare for the future of education.

In “Improving Teacher Professional Development for Online and Blended Learning: A Systematic Meta-Aggregative Review”, Philipsen et al. (2019) provide a framework for teacher professional development (PD) for online and blended learning (OBL). Philipsen et al.’s framework, which resulted from the analysis of 15 research papers published between 2004 and 2015, introduced six interrelated components: (1) Design and develop a supportive TPD program and environment for OBL; (2) Acknowledge the existing context regarding OBL; (3) Address teacher change associated with the transition to OBL; (4) Determine the overall goals and relevance of teacher PD for OBL; (5) Acknowledge teacher PD strategies associated with the transition to OBL; and (6) Disseminate knowledge, skills and attitudes about OBL and evaluate the teacher PD.

Several scholars were interested in responding to Philipsen et al.’s systematic meta-aggregative review (2019). These respondents agreed that Philipsen et al.’s paper offers several valuable ideas and guidelines for reflection on how to develop TPD for OBL in times of crisis, and covered the perspectives of practice, design, international, research, adoption and diffusion of innovation, critical pedagogy, and practice K-12; as summarized in the following table:

Respondents

Perspective

Title

Philipsen et al.’s framework value and impact

Aytac Gogus

Adoption & Diffusion

Shifting to digital: Adoption and diffusion

To plan, develop, and implement an effective and efficient TPD for OBL contributes to teachers’ adoption and diffusion

Barbara Lockee

Research

Shifting Digital, Shifting Context: (Re)Considering Teacher Professional Development for Online and Blended Learning

The impact of this study is that it resulted in a guiding framework that provides a potential model of inquiry to examine TPD for OBL strategies employed in a crisis context

Florence R. Sullivan

Critical Pedagogy

Critical pedagogy and teacher professional development for online and blended learning: The equity imperative in the shift to digital

The value of this study is in its Implicit alignment with critical methodologies

Javier Portillo Berasaluce & Arantzazu Lopez de la Serna

International

Response Article to “Improving Teacher Professional Development for Online and Blended Learning: A Systematic Meta-Aggregative Review” from an International Perspective

The findings can be clearly applied to guide an appropriate TPD for the recovery as well as for a resilient education system

Serdar Abaci, Judy Robertson, Holly Linklater, & Fiona McNeill

Practice

Supporting School Teachers’ Rapid Engagement with Online Education

TPD became immediately relevant and highly sought after, and this framework provides useful ideas and guidance for preparing K-12 teachers for OBL

Tania Heap, Ruthanne Thompson & Adam Fein

Design

Designing Teacher Professional Development Programs to Support a Rapid Shift to Digital

The findings offer insights into the design and development of curricula that help teachers become successful in online environments

Yunjo An

Practice

K-12

A Response to an Article Entitled: “Improving Teacher Professional Development for Online and Blended Learning: A Systematic Meta-Aggregative Review"

Few existing studies examined the potential differences between generalized teacher PD and teacher PD for OBL; Philipsen et al. addressed this gap

These seven responses to Philipsen et al.’s study provide practical information for Educational Professionals by connecting published research to the current global crisis of rapidly moving face-to-face teaching and learning to online delivery, which was the purpose of this special issue.