BLACKPOOL AND THE FYLDE COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP REVIEW 2021
Questioning the efficacy of online Continuous Professional Development (CPD); practitioner reflections through experiential and theoretical lenses Richard Dunston
Abstract Continuing Professional Development (CPD), a long-established feature of modern-day practice, often divides practitioner opinion in terms of its necessity and relevance. As modern-day educators, we find ourselves in a seemingly perpetual struggle to meet the obligations of the job role as we become slaves to temporality, the importance of time, and its lack thereof, becoming more prevalent and a precious commodity for all. The need for CPD is not up for question, most practitioners would advocate for its necessity and value however, it is the very nature of the CPD that brings about the need for questioning. CPD has become more widespread over the last decade, with practitioners required to undertake development linked to their fields of expertise and wider skill sets as educational professionals. An inversely proportional relationship between time and developmental requirements has evolved, leading to an exponential shift in CPD towards more cost-effective and accessible online mediums. Experientially speaking, I must question this trend as there would appear to be more pitfalls associated with a move away from synchronous models of delivery to wider, asynchronous alternatives. These pitfalls are clearly highlighted when evaluating the effectiveness of online CPD and applying a theoretical lens, in the guise of Moore’s transactional distance theory, to establish its overall efficacy as a result of its metamorphosis and ensuing virtual rebirth.
Introduction This study is located within the arena of continuous professional development (CPD) focusing on the widening shift, on the part of educational providers, to implement CPD through online mediums, akin to distance learning models. This emerging trend is a result of the need to counter the issue of increased employee workloads (Razak et al, 2015) whilst, simultaneously, optimising the potential for coverage and accessibility of wider professional development. However, as a long-standing practitioner, I would argue that this shift towards asynchronicity may appear to be effective from a cost-effective and lean-management perspective however, removing key, intrinsic elements associated with a synchronous delivery model, and attempting to emulate them asynchronously, is simply not viable. In many cases, this renders the CPD moot in terms of its value to the practitioner and wider organisation. The aim of the study is to explore current research related to CPD and distance learning, with particular attention paid to the core conceptual framework for CPD (Desimone, 2009; Timperley et al, 2007), Transactional Distance theory (Moore, 1973 and 1993) and, to a lesser extent, Equivalency Theory (Simonson et al, 1999 and 2015). This research is considered and combined with subjective
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