Enhancing Self-Initiated Professional Development (SI-PD) Through Technology During COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic which has affected people around the globe, Self-Initiated Professional Development (SI-PD) has gained much attention by professional workers. This can be seen where teachers had suddenly compelled to start active learning that predominantly online to replace face-to-face learning. Temporary solutions to ensure that learning is not disrupted, they are being devised for distance professional development using tools like Google Meet, Zoom, podcast, social media and Webinars. They also collaborate with their colleagues and share online learning resources. It is important for teachers to stay motivated by participate actively with metacognitive skills for monitoring, evaluating and reflecting their professional development process according to their preference. Besides that, they need to develop new required skills to keep up with the rapid changes and global challenges. Thus, this is the perfect time for teachers to revolutionize their paradigm of professional learning to be more meaningful and effective. As the traditional professional development paradigm has flaws such as treat teachers as passive learners, no ongoing support and one-size-fit all format, they can begin taking steps to change them. This period has proven the importance of teachers to be lifelong learners as they need to be self-motivated, choose to engage in intentional learning, upskilling and retraining for both their professional development and personal enrichment. This concept paper outlines some suggestions how technology could aid the development of teachers’ professionalism, so they can implement SI-PD more effectively and achieve desired goals.