Connecting Teachers during a Global Crisis: A Knowledge Building Professional Development Approach to Embracing the New Normal

Abstract

A global crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted almost every industry and the field of education is also affected with safe distancing measures and minimal face-toface interactions between teachers, students, and their families. However, new opportunities and technologies have emerged for teachers to utilize and work with students and their parents. We investigated a case study of a community of pre-school teachers who continued their professional discussions on a virtual and asynchronous discussion platform throughout the lockdown period caused by COVID-19. The teacher community planned for and conducted lessons using the knowledge building approach. This paper reports the considerations and implementation of a community-based professional effort through times of immense disruptions and have shown evidence that the knowledge building approach can propel a community of learners to construct collective inquiries and solutions to deal with emerging problems through the lockdown period. The knowledge building approach can potentially enculturate teachers towards noticing new and emergent ideas in their classes and thereby elevating the awareness of teachers to design and build new knowledge of their practice. Such teachers' professional culture is conducive for tackling the constant change and disruption in the educational landscape, such as the one brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.