The Role of Online Collaborative Tools in Planning, Instructional Coaching, Professional Development, and Observation in Fostering Collective Teacher Efficacy in School Districts

The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the relationship between the use of collaborative technology, video-facilitated observation and feedback, and virtual professional development and coaching and levels of collective teacher efficacy. The study used a questionnaire to survey 547 coaches, content specialists, and district administrators in New York State. The independent variables were usage levels of online collaborative technology, video observation and feedback, and virtual coaching and professional development, and the dependent variable was collective teacher efficacy. Participants rated the availability and use of each of the independent variables based on a six-point Likert scale. Additionally, participants completed a 21-item collective teacher efficacy scale developed by Goddard, Hoy, and Hoy (2000). Participants were drawn from school district coaches, instructional specialists, and administrators who are directly engaged in supporting teacher development in New York State school districts with student populations between 2,000 and 15,000 students. Emails were sent to potential survey participants with a link to a survey, and the findings of the survey were analyzed using bivariate correlations between the subcomponents of each variable, the overall usage rate of the variable, and the overall level of collective teacher efficacy. The results of this study found a statistically significant positive relationship between both online collaborative tools and virtual professional development and coaching and collective teacher efficacy. No relationship was found between video observation and feedback and collective teacher efficacy. The following conclusions were suggested: online collaborative tools help build opportunities for groups to collaborate and build teacher networks; online collaborative tools can help strengthen connections and communication and reduce isolation of groups of teachers, building the collective teacher efficacy components of vicarious experiences and social persuasion; video as a tool for observation and feedback does not have the current level of use required to make a significant impact on outcomes for school districts; district-created virtual professional development helps build mastery experiences and affective states for teacher groups by building the capacity of teachers’ practice; and virtual professional development and coaching is a viable alternative to in-person trainings because it has a positive relationship with collective teacher efficacy. The study provides suggestions for policy recommendations related to the review and development of structures to support and enhance online collaboration and virtual professional development and coaching. Suggestions for practice include improving district and school visions around the use of technology, providing clear expectations for online collaboration and development, and broadening teacher networks through the availability of virtual interactions. Recommendations for further study are also provided. The use of these tools became vitally important with the sudden reliance on remote instruction during the 2019 COVID-19 pandemic, which required districts to ramp up the use such tools with little time or planning. This provides districts with an opportunity to maintain this momentum and reimagine the use of technology in districts, building on the new skills and technology rolled out in response to the pandemic