Effects of Professional Development and Videoconferencing on the Increase of Opportunities to Respond and the On-Task Behavior of Students with Emotional Behavior Disorders

Abstract

Aim/Purpose: This study explored an alternative means to offering supervisory coaching to teachers, professional development, and virtual teacher coaching through the use of videoconferencing. Background: Teacher coaching has been identified as an effective way to improve teacher implementation of research proven effective classroom strategies. The use of technology to implement coaching widens the audience of coaches that one coach can reach. Methodology : A single-case multiple baseline design was used to investigate the effect the intervention had on the frequency with which teachers offer Opportunities to Respond (OTR) and on the on-task behavior of middle school students with emotional/ behavior disorders (E/BD). Contribution: This paper expands the body of knowledge on teacher coaching to include the use of technology. Findings: Results indicated there was a functional relationship between virtual teacher coaching with videoconferencing and teacher rates of OTR. However, no functional relationship was observed between teachers given OTR and student on-task behavior. Recommendations for Practitioners : The use of technology to implement coaching widens the audience of coaches that one coach can reach. Recommendation for Researchers: Future researchers should consider collecting data on academic information such as the number of correct responses in addition to on-task behavior. Impact on Society : Teacher practitioners will be able to benefit from increased access to coaches, improving effective implementation of evidence-based practices. Future Research: Among other things, researchers could consider studying students with disabilities other than emotional/behavioral disorders and even students without disabilities may give important information on how opportunities to respond works with other populations.