Pushing the envelope on what is known about professional development: the virtual school experience

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the ways virtual school teachers experienced professional development framed as a year-long collaborative action research endeavour. These virtual school teachers taught completely online courses for a large virtual school and did not reside within the same geographical location. Thus, the professional development was supported by the use of various synchronous and asynchronous technology tools. This study provides insights into what constitutes powerful online professional learning opportunities not only for virtual school teachers, but for their traditional face-to-face school counterparts, as well as the ways synchronous and asynchronous technology tools can be utilized to scaffold professional learning.