Teaching Action Research to International Educators: Transitioning Professional Development Online

Introduction

Action research has frequently been used as a means to make change in education. This type of research provides educators with the opportunity to learn, reflect and find solutions to educational challenges. In 2019, the Arizona State University (ASU) Building Leadership for Change (BLC) team designed a professional development (PD) model to train 60 international educators from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in leadership development and pedagogy using action research as a strategy to promote change.

The importance of having a professional development model is to help support educators to critique, improve and implement a new idea or strategy and customize their learning to their own context (Burns, 2011). Action research for educators is a process of inquiry that focuses on teaching and learning to explore a topic, involves data collection and analysis followed by implementing change (Mertler, 2014). The emphasis of using a model for professional development in this chapter provides insight into how to train educators in establishing the foundation for using action research while enhancing professional practice.

In July 2019, a group of educators traveled to the United States to participate in a yearlong program that consisted of 1500 hours of academic engagement. The main goal of the program was for the international educators to transfer the knowledge and skills gained from training and K-12 school experiences in the United States into an action research plan. Created around educational challenges in Saudi Arabia, the action research plan served as a capstone project to advocate for change. The BLC team responsible for creating and delivering the PD model consisted of experts within the fields of K-12 education and English language instruction who collectively have extensive experience in educational coaching and mentoring at national and international levels. The PD model was designed using the Whole Teacher approach (Chen & McCray, 2012), which emphasizes qualities essential to educator practice. Additional considerations for the needs of the educators and delivery methods were strengthened by a conceptual framework grounded in (a) transformational learning theory, (b) language acquisition and learning methodologies, and (c) a personalized system of instruction (PSI). These components and elements were believed to offer the international educators with the greatest opportunities to grow professionally.

In March 2020, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated transitions to online learning for adults and children. In the case of higher education institutions, the pandemic prompted the “forced adoption of technology driven instruction” (Lederman, 2020, para. 1). Knowing that online education has been at the forefront of instructional design in supporting the overall needs of 21st century learners all around the world, the BLC team explored: What adjustments need to be made to transition a face-to-face professional development training into an online setting? Shifts in program implementation involved drawing upon the successes of the face-to-face professional development model prior to the pandemic and reinforcing the strategies for adult learners within more individualized online settings. This heightened reflection of strategic change and adaptation of the existing model reaffirmed the strength of the conceptual framework, the needs of the educators, and the delivery methods as the driving forces behind the online PD model. When planning in the future, educators should consider the fundamental principles behind meaningful professional development, and how those principles are not abandoned but refocused to meet the needs in an online learning environment.

This chapter will outline how the university team at ASU adjusted the focus of the face-to-face PD model to teach action research into an online environment to support and address the needs of the international educators. Detailed information about the components and elements of the PD model, including its design and implementation, will be summarized and discussed. Practical recommendations will illustrate how refocusing the elements of the face-to-face PD model for an online environment resulted in educators exceeding program expectations. Furthermore, the chapter focuses on using professional development as a conduit to support the educators in developing action research plans. Evidence from meeting agendas, action plan tracking spreadsheets, and personal communication were analyzed to substantiate claims made about the success of the PD model, as the program moved to an online learning environment during the pandemic.