Tailoring Professional Development to Educators in Accordance with Doctoral Candidates Responsiveness to COVID-19 Practice and Policy Changes in Mississippi Educational Settings
Abstract
Ed. D. Doctoral candidates (N = 45) at a regional university in Mississippi were invited to complete a brief questionnaire to share their experiences related to the topic. Responses (N = 19) were analyzed qualitatively using two cycles of coding (Saldana, 2015) and revealed similar findings across a variety of educational settings including P-12, post-secondary, and independent practitioners. Primary themes of change included Scheduling, Interaction, Sanitization, and Technological requirements. Critical aspects of workplace performance included Collaboration, Communication, and Dispositions. Due to Increased Virtual Interactions, participants reported Restructuring and Communication/Interaction as the factors most powerfully impacting their professional best practices. Participant recommendations were overwhelmingly to remain flexible, open-minded, and to be involved/work with shifting priorities during these times of transition and adjustment to societal needs in educational settings.