Principal perceptions of online teacher education programs and participants: A case study with autoethnography

Abstract

This study investigated the ways in which rural principal perceptions of online teacher education programs and participants impacted hiring practices in rural schools. The qualitative study focused on the hiring practices of rural school principals in relation to applicants who had been trained online, and placed those hiring practices within a transformational leadership framework. A survey of school principals in a sparsely populated area of the western United States was followed by semi-structured interviews of purposefully selected participants to provide insight into survey results. The researcher’s own autoethnographic journal of experiences as a distance learner and developer of online teacher education courses was then integrated into the case study findings to provide texture and vertical alignment for the study. Rural principals clearly understood the importance of access and opportunity online, and were found to have more positive perceptions of online teacher education programs and participants than had been previously found. Positive teacher attributes identified by principals in other studies were categorized and confirmed in this study, with an additional distinct category of rural teacher traits revealed. These distinct teacher traits of interest to rural principals were a match for the autoethnographic indicators of online learner success; providing a backdrop for the more positive perceptions found. The transformational leadership lenses of moral purpose, authenticity, an ethic of care, and imaging and intuition, were of importance to principals as they made the decision to hire, creating a theoretical framework within which the findings could be understood.