Turning challenges into opportunities during the pandemic: Remote collaborative reflection model for teacher educators

Abstract

Emergency remote teaching has accelerated the search for alternative professional development practices that could meet the immediate needs of the teachers and be effectively implemented in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. This research aims to present the Remote Collaborative Reflection (RCR) Model a group of teacher educators (TEs) developed in a collaborative reflective endeavor originating from their own professional needs during emergency remote teaching in the fall term of 2020-2021. It also reveals TE's reflections on the RCR Model in developing and implementing the RCR consisting of several iterative steps. Findings revealed that the TEs reflected on their perceived cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal gains from the RCR highlighting the challenges they faced while carrying out the model. Although the RCR was developed during the pandemic when social distancing was the norm, we believe it might also fit the face-to-face mode of professional development depending on the situational circumstances and needs of practitioners.