A COVID-19 Intervention: Using Digital Escape Rooms to Provide Professional Development to Alternative Certification Educators
Miguel Gomez
Abstract
Teachers, support staff, schools, and school districts have faced a multitude of challenges in adapting their known and familiar practices to the new realities and restrictions that have been put in place due to the outbreak of COVID-19. These challenges are daunting and difficult for many in our education system. Fortunately, a numerous amount of our educators are resilient, creative, and determined to overcome these new challenges. Using their prior experiences and wisdom, these educators can adapt and change to our new educational environment. However, one group of educators have faced these challenges without the benefit of educational experiences. Alternative certification teachers, in just their first year of teaching, with no prior educational experience, have been thrust into this new post COVID-19 landscape. Using a digital escape room as a model, the author provided these inexperienced educators with professional development in problem-based learning designed to help these teachers navigate this new educational landscape.