Teachers taking it online: Measuring teachers’ self-efficacy to teach online after completing a training program on distance education

Abstract

Abstract Research on the effects of ongoing professional development on distance education and teachers’ online teaching self-efficacy is sparse. This quantitative study examines secondary teachers’ self-efficacy to teach online after completing an online, six-week professional development training program on distance education. During the 2020–2022 calendar years, 51 secondary teachers from a large, urban school district in the southwest participated in this study. Data were collected using a modified version of Gosselin’s Online Teaching Self-Efficacy Inventory. Using Shapiro-Wilk tests, results indicate participation in the program had a significant impact in all five of the self-efficacy domains for online teaching, with posttest means higher than pretest means for all scales. Recommendations for further research and implications for teacher educators are provided.