A Vision for K-12 Online and Blended Learning in Teacher Education

Charles (Chuck) Hodges and I began this line of inquiry in response to a 2022 special call for papers entitled “A 2025 Vision for Technology and Teacher Education” by the Journal of Technology and Teacher Education. The editors call was simple. Given what had happened from 2020 to 2022 in the world and, in particular education, short articles focused on something teacher education could tangibly do to reform by the year 2025. In response, we put forth two goals and six specific objectives aimed at addressing the challenges in education that surfaced by the pandemic.

1. Scholars need funded efforts to develop promising practices and frameworks that teacher education programs can use and be evaluated against.
  - Validated, research-based standards must be developed.
  - Metrics and instruments must be created or refined to further assess and support growth of pre-service teachers knowledge, skills, and attitudes of teaching in K–12 online and blended learning.
2. Teacher education programs, specifically for online teaching, need to provide teachers with experience in designing, delivering, and facilitating instruction, as well as learning themselves online.
  - There must be sufficient course work to give pre-service teachers access to knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to K–12 online and blended learning.
  - Teacher candidates should have experiences as online learners.
  - Teacher education programs must include field experiences in online and blended learning.
  - Have accrediting bodies and state agencies require that all pre-service teachers have meaningful and useful preparation to deliver online and blended learning.

This podcast that Chuck created using Google NotebookLM of our 2024 Journal of Technology and Teacher Education article provides a good overview of the issue.

Finally, below are all of the references to our writing on the topic thus far.

Hodges, C. B., Barbour, M. K., & Ferdig R. (2022). A 2025 vision for building access to K-12 online and blended learning in pre-service teacher education. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 30(2), 201-216. https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/221153/ [Access on ResearchGate]

Hodges, C. B., Barbour, M. K., & Ferdig, R. E. (2022). Preparing K-12 teachers for the reality of an increased need for online and blended learning. In L. Langran & D. Henriksen (Ed.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education Interactive Conference (pp. 64-69). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education. https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/221569/ [Access on ResearchGate]

Barbour, M. K., & Hodges, C. B. (2023). Digital teacher education for a better future: Recommendations for teacher preparation for an online environment. In M. Brown & O. Farrell (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2023 European Distance Education Network, Dublin, Ireland. https://ubiquityproceedings.com/articles/10.5334/uproc.92 [Access on ResearchGate]

Barbour, M. K., Ferdig, R. E., & Hodges, C. B. (2023). Getting teachers truly prepared for preK–12 online and blended instruction. In R. E. Ferdig, R. Hartshorne, E. Baumgartner, R. Kaplan-Rakowski, & C. Mouza (Eds.). What preK-12 teachers should know about educational technology in 2023: A research-to-practice anthology (pp. 395-403). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education. https://www.learntechlib.org/p/222690/ [Access on ResearchGate]

Hodges, C. B., & Barbour, M. K. (2023). Shaping the future of teacher learning. In G. Durek (Ed.), Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Educational Technology and Online Learning (pp. 160-165), Cunda, Turkey. https://www.icetol.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/icetol2023_full_paper_proceedings.pdf [Access on ResearchGate]

Barbour, M. K., & Hodges, C. B. (2024). Pre-service teachers’ preparation for teaching online: Past practices and future needs. In T. Martindale, T. B. Amankwatia, L. D. Cifuentes, & A. A. Piña (Eds.). Handbook of Research in Online Learning (pp. 307-338). Brill Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004702813_013 [Access on ResearchGate]

Barbour, M. K., & Hodges, C. B. (2024). Preparing teachers to teach online: A critical issue for teacher education. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 32(1), 5-27. https://www.learntechlib.org/p/223927/ [Access on ResearchGate]

Barbour, M. K., & Hodges, C. B. (2024). Preparing teachers for effective K-12 online learning in the age of disruptions: A call for transforming teacher education. Open Praxis, 16(4), 583–594. https://openpraxis.org/articles/10.55982/openpraxis.16.4.727 [Access on ResearchGate]

Barbour, M. K., & Hodges, C. (2025). History repeats, we forget: Short memories when it comes to K-12 distance learning. Education Sciences, 15(4), 482. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15040482 [Access on ResearchGate]

Barbour, M. K., & Hodges, C. (2026). No more excuses: Mandating online learning competencies in all teacher preparation programs. Computers & Education, 253 (105686). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2026.105686 [Access on ResearchGate]