Obstacles to Enhancing Professional Development with Digital Tools in Rural Landscapes

Abstract

This case study examines the use of online tools, including blogs, as a means of enhancing face-to-face professional development in writing instruction for teachers in rural districts. Since many rural districts serve large physical areas that are geographically distant from larger metropolitan areas and/or colleges and universities, teachers in these districts may have fewer professional development opportunities. This study examines the use of digital tools to offer continued support when a physical presence may not be feasible. Over the course of a year, middle and high school English language arts teachers in three rural districts in South Carolina received approximately 60 hours of face-to-face professional development in writing instruction. To increase communication and collaboration between teachers and professional development providers, as well as to offer ongoing support for teachers throughout the year, Google Sites with blogs were established for each district. Teachers reported primarily using the sites to download and review professional development materials. Results revealed only partial participation in blogging across districts. Blogs were used in several ways: to report implementation of strategies modeled through professional development, to reflect on assigned readings, to express positive responses to the professional development, and to voice concerns over implementation. The authors discuss possible obstacles to both participation and collaboration via blogs, as well as the challenges rural settings may pose when using digital technology more broadly to support professional development.Rural schools continue to be an important part of the educational landscape of the United States. With more than half of all school districts (57%) located in rural areas, over 12 million students, or approximately 24% of our nation's schoolchildren, attend rural schools (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2013). According to the most recent data available, rural high schools have a graduation rate of 77.5% on average, as calculated using the Swanson model, which accounts for year-to-year retention of individual students (Strange, Johnson, Showalter, & Klein, 2012). Some states-including South Carolina, where this study took place-do not release figures that allow the Swanson index to be calculated. It is believed that inclusion of data from these states would likely lower the overall rural graduation rate calculated via the Swanson index (Strange et al., 2012).Strange et al. (2012) note, education frustrates some who wish it would conform to its image of simplicity (p. 21). In fact, rural districts are complex and diverse, serving an increasingly varied student population with growing numbers of English learners and students who are living in poverty (Johnson, Showalter, Klein, & Lester, 2014). Rural schools often have the advantage of smaller classes and a strong sense of community, but they also face issues of underfunding and a lack of resources (Bouck, 2004). Scholars have raised concerns about structural and social inequalities that may lead to continued challenges in rural schools (Lindahl, 2011; Roscigno, Tomaskovic-Devey, & Crowley, 2006), but these concerns have gone largely unnoticed in public discourse.The difficulty of providing effective professional development for teachers compounds the distinct challenges facing rural schools. Barley and Beesley (2007) found effective professional development to be a main factor in the success of high-performing, high-needs rural schools, but more research is needed to understand how to provide such professional development to rural schools (Arnold, Newman, Gaddy, & Dean, 2005). Geographically dispersed schools and the varying and specific needs of rural teachers based on their unique contexts make providing professional development particularly perplexing (Peterson, 2012; Wilson & Ringstaff, 2010). No two rural districts, even within the same region, are the same. …