Page 20 - IJSA, Vol. 7, No 1, 2024

International Journal of Science Annals, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2024
рrint ISSN: 2617-2682; online ISSN: 2707-3637; DOI:10.26697/ijsa

Introduction
In these turbulent times, professional continuous especially useful for average to low-resourced contexts
development for teachers at all levels, including (Focho, 2023) where it become significantly cost-
primary, middle, secondary, and tertiary, is becoming effective to deploy such e-trainings and to larger
increasingly crucial. It enables them to sharpen their audience. As a result, it is recommended that social
capabilities, broaden their pedagogical repertoire, and media tools like WhatsApp hold promise for fostering
build upon existing knowledge to overall enhance the teacher development in similar under-privileged
teaching profession. In this sense, the landscape of contexts (Motteram et al., 2020).
education is being fundamentally changed by Further, another key advantage of professional
technology, as digital advancements progressively development facilitated by social media is its flexibility
integrate into the daily tasks of teachers in schools to tailor to the specific needs of different teachers and
(Player-Koro et al., 2018; Pypenko, 2019). In fact, accommodate an individual’s changing requirements as
technology has been a proficient vessel through which they progress through various stages of their career
continuous professional development (CPD) has (Anders, 2018). For this reason, Acuyo (2021) urges
transcended the physical confines of educational tutors to utilize the interactive functions of social media
institutions, thereby becoming more widespread. platforms to connect with fellow professionals and make
Accordingly, a consistent body of literature has been a lasting impact in the community by actively
produced in term of using CPD online for teachers (e.g., participating in online discussions.
Çelen & Seferoglu, 2020; Lantz-Andersson et al., 2018; In a more angled standpoint, different studies that have
Wong et al., 2023). Along these lines, the pandemic has been conducted on how to leverage WhatsApp for
significantly accelerated the proliferation of continuous professional developments ends. In this
technologizing CPD programs because instructors regard, Cansoy (2017) suggests that WhatsApp groups
worldwide were in need to upgrade their e-savoir-faire have the potential to facilitate professional growth by
to be able to operate in online-only environment in the offering field expertise, pedagogical knowledge,
wide spectrum of pedagogical facets. During these practical teaching insights, and emotional
times, different initiative be it self-initiated (Rahman et encouragement among educators. With its wide range of
al., 2020), government-mandated (Mutiary & Ratnam- functions, many social media-based features can be
Lim, 2023) and/or third party-led as it is the case in this utilized for educational purposes in general and
study. specifically for professional development.
In this respect, it’s attested that teacher training Another investigation conducted by Motteram et al.
encompass training instructors to hone different (2020) suggests that WhatsApp groups enhanced
competences (Hossein et al., 2024) that ranges from teachers’ proficiency in English language, offering a
creating educational tasks that cater to the specific needs forum for sharing and discussing challenges specific to
of students (Simamora et al., 2020; Thumiki & Magd, their context, facilitating the creation of teaching
2022), utilizing precise, organized content and schedule materials, and initiating meaningful discussions to
to impart course requirements to learners (Jung et al., address issues. It also highlights concerns regarding
2021; Li et al., 2017), devising online pedagogical participation, access, equity, and sustainability
materials in/for learning management system (LMS) highlighting the potential of online platforms in
(González et al., 2023; Martin et al., 2019), choosing enhancing teacher professional growth and the
suitable online technology that aligns with the desired associated advantages. In the same veins, Lee et
content and learning objectives (Adi Badiozaman et al., al. (2023) found similar outcomes in a primary school
2022; Schalk et al., 2022), creating a well-structured situated in Hong Kong amidst the COVID-19 crisis,
course with supplementary tips, instructions, and criteria determining that WhatsApp can aid in fostering
(Paliwal & Singh, 2021; Wang et al., 2021), to continual professional growth for teachers primarily that
efficiently aligning learning goals, course tasks, of English as a second language.
assessment methods, and educational activities in online On the flip side, Mohr and Shelton (2017) reported that
courses (Hung & Chou, 2015; Reader et al., 2020), and most of these training programs “typically focus on
creating online study materials, methodologies, and technology, pedagogy, and course content” (p. 134) yet
resources to enhance learning effectiveness and are also one-size-fits-all, and thus may not adequately
organization (Metz & Bezuidenhout, 2018; Phelps & address the unique requirements of individual
Vlachopoulos, 2019). instructors (Leary et al., 2020). This calls for a
Additionally, these teacher training (e)-programs were personalized online CPD that can considerably improve
conducted on educational platforms including Zoom the quality of the training and therefore augment the
(e.g., Anene & Idiedo, 2023; Lucovich, 2021) and level of benefit that instructor should obtain from such
Google meet (Noor et al., 2021) along with other initiatives. An additional key consideration is the
informal arenas including social media (Acuyo, 2021; common challenge of possessing adequate digital skills
Maloney et al., 2017) such as twitter (e.g, Colwell & to confidently navigate social media platforms
Hutchison, 2018), Facebook (e.g., Al-Jarf, 2021; Bett & (Donelan, 2016; Zhu et al., 2018), which can be a barrier
Makewa, 2020) and more importantly WhatsApp that obstructs an optimal CPD-based learning journey.
(Kihwele & Mgata, 2022). These social media- These considerations should be taken into account when
facilitated professional development programs are formulating such training programs.

18