Research

When schools face an emergency, educators need more than information; they need timely, relevant professional learning that helps them respond to rapidly changing conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic provided an unprecedented opportunity to examine how educators turned to online professional development when traditional professional learning was disrupted.

A recent study, “Exploring Educators’ Engagement with Online Professional Development: COVID-Era Insights with Time-Series Clustering and Anomaly Detection,” examined K-12 educators’ use of the EdHub Library, an online PD resource developed by the University of Missouri’s Network for Educator Effectiveness. The study analyzed web analytics from March through December 2020 to identify patterns and unusual changes in educators’ engagement with online PD.

What Did Educator Engagement Look Like During the Pandemic?

Educators did not access online PD at a consistent rate throughout the pandemic. Instead, engagement shifted as their professional needs changed. Some of the highest levels of EdHub use occurred from August through October 2020, when educators were preparing for a school year shaped by remote and changing instructional environments. Another noticeable period of activity occurred in mid-March, near the beginning of the pandemic disruptions.

The analysis also revealed recurring patterns of access to resources on topics such as Remote Learning, Units of Instruction, and Administrator materials. Perhaps most importantly, anomaly detection identified instances of unusually high engagement, particularly among smaller school districts. In some cases, educators spent substantial amounts of time with individual resources; for example, they spent approximately 53 minutes on a Leading Through Difficult Times webinar and about 41 minutes on classroom observation training.

Why Online PD Matters During Emergencies?

These patterns demonstrate an important role for online PD: it can provide continuity when normal professional learning structures are disrupted. During an emergency, educators may suddenly need new knowledge about technology, instruction, assessment, student support, or organizational leadership. A self-paced online PD library gives educators the flexibility to find resources when those needs emerge rather than waiting for the next scheduled workshop.

The findings also suggest that emergency preparedness should include more than simply making resources available. Smaller and resource-constrained districts may need additional support with digital literacy, access, virtual collaboration, and PD tailored to their local needs.

Practical Implications for Schools and PD Providers

For NEE and other organizations supporting educators, several practical lessons emerge:

• Build online PD into emergency preparedness plans. A well-developed digital resource library can provide continuity when face-to-face PD is interrupted.
• Anticipate changing needs. Engagement data can help identify when educators’ needs shift and which resources become particularly important.
• Prioritize just-in-time resources. Emergency-related PD should be easy to locate, self-paced, and directly connected to immediate instructional and leadership challenges.
• Pay attention to smaller districts. Unusual engagement patterns may reveal districts or communities experiencing needs that would otherwise be difficult to detect.
• Use learning analytics proactively. Time-series and anomaly-detection methods can help PD providers recognize emerging patterns and make data-informed decisions about which resources to develop, promote, or curate.

Ultimately, COVID-19 demonstrated that online PD is not simply an alternative to face-to-face learning. It can be part of the educational infrastructure that helps schools remain resilient during disruption. Designing flexible online PD and using engagement data to understand what educators need can help organizations such as NEE prepare educators not only for today’s professional challenges but also for the next unexpected event.

About the Author: Dr. Javier Leung is an instructional designer and educational data scientist with the University of Missouri’s Network for Educator Effectiveness. His research focuses on learning analytics, educational data mining, and learning design, with particular emphasis on understanding how educators engage with online professional development. He applies data science and machine learning methods to examine patterns in educator behavior, evaluate digital learning environments, and translate educational data into practical insights for improving professional learning. His research explores how data-informed approaches can help educational organizations better understand educator needs, strengthen online PD, and support decision-making during both routine and disruptive educational conditions.