| The importance of professional development was not questioned in this manuscript. The purpose was to record each educator's perception of the effectiveness of utilizing electronic media in the delivery of professional development. Respondents were selected via convenience sampling and participation was limited to those who consented to their inclusion in the study (n = 261 with 230 having complete data).;A survey was provided to each educator after each electronic session. The researcher-developed instrument consisted of 25 Likert scale questions, two constructed response items and two demographic qualifiers. The plan for analysis of the Likert scale items included data reduction, in the form of a factor analysis, which was completed prior to an assessment of the impact of geographic location and building size. The factor analysis consisted of two phases. In both steps, Varimax Rotation was used to determine factor loadings. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to investigate the impact of the independent variables (geographic location [north/south] and building size [+/- 400 students]) on the three identified factors (quality of the professional development session, quality of instructor feedback and usefulness for future teaching).;Small northern schools reported a higher perceived quality of professional development and quality of instructor feedback than did respondents from small southern schools; however, all cell means were relatively high indicating respondents generally agreed that electronic professional development was of merit and offered high-quality instructor feedback. Additionally, four major themes were identified, via coding, for each constructed response question.;Based on this study, I would recommend professional development providers and institutes of higher education explore of the feasibility of implementing an electronic delivery option. Original and longitudinal research, incorporating true random samples, a multitude of respondents, a consistent and stable technology environment and qualified facilitators needs to be conducted repeatedly. The technology literacy levels of the participants also need to be recorded and the effect on each individual's success or failure in an online environment needs to be documented. The results of these studies will shape future electronic professional development sessions and teacher preparation programs and become the foundation upon which progressive education will be built. |
