Should Teachers be Trained in Emergency Remote Teaching? Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

In the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, many educators across the country and around the world scrambled to shift their practice from in-person to remote teaching within a matter of days. This global pandemic exposed a significant gap in teacher preparation and training for emergency remote teaching, including teaching with technology to ensure continuity of learning for students at a distance. To learn more about educators’ experiences during this crisis, we designed and distributed an online survey that received 325 responses from K-12 educators between April 4 and May 10, 2020. In this article, we share initial insights from the survey and provide recommendations for how to better prepare and support educators for teaching remotely in times of need.