Staying on track in curriculum and pedagogical innovations despite pandemic disruptions through multilevel connected learning in networks

Abstract

The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged us to rethink the design and implementation of professional development (PD) activities for in-service teachers. In Ko et al. (2020), we reported on the redesign of the PD activities in a STEM Innovation Network organized in the form of a School-University Partnership (SUP) project. The redesign retained adherence to the original MultiLevel MultiScale approach to PD but adjusted to support schools and teachers in surviving the transition to remote teaching and learning. For the schools to succeed in re-engaging in the original project goals of school-based innovations in self-directed learning in STEM education, it was hypothesized that schools would need to go through three stages—re-initiation, re-coalescing, and re-activation (Ko et al., 2020)—in the recovery process. In this paper, we further investigated the extent to which different schools were able to advance through the three stages across three half-yearly periods, as well as whether and how such advances were connected to the engagement of their teachers and school leaders in the PD activities at the network level. Our findings reveal the importance of engaging both teacher and school leader level staff within a school in the project PD activities for successful recovery. Further, the tempo of recovery differs across schools. Schools that were slower at the start might be able to catch up. School leaders need to be able to motivate and create conditions for their teachers to re-engage in the innovation.