Creative Engagement in Online and Hybrid Teacher's Professional Development Programs

Abstract

This chapter briefly introduces a few critical aspects of online and hybrid Teachers’ Professional Development (TPD) program design, based on our experiences concerning the facilitation of hybrid TPD programs for Southeast Asian mathematics teachers. These hybrid programs were provided locally in Indonesia and some parts of these programs were facilitated online from other countries, including Finland.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected all areas of education. Teachers’ Professional Development programs needed to be transformed in several ways too. SEAMEO for QITEP in Mathematics or commonly abbreviated as SEAQiM (https://www.qitepinmath.org/ en/) is an Indonesia-based regional organisation that focuses on providing various TPD programs for mathematics teachers in Southeast Asian countries. Often international facilitators contribute to these programs and the potential for working together with overseas specialists has been expanded in the pandemic era. Online and hybrid formats support the collaboration with remote contributors. However, one of the main challenges of the online and hybrid TPD programs has been how the technological environment can support creative engagement during training sessions.