The Relationship Between the Characteristics of International Baccalaureate Educators and Their Perceptions of Online and Face-to-Face IB Professional Development

The purpose of this study was to assess to what extent there is a relationship between the characteristics of International Baccalaureate (IB) educators and their perceptions of online and face-to-face professional development. The researcher surveyed IB educators who were attending IB workshops held at a large private university in a metropolitan city in the Southwest. The researcher used correlation analysis to determine if gender, number of years working in IB schools, the IB Programmme(s) taught, and the number of face-to-face vs. online workshops taken had significant positive or negative correlations on the perceptions of face-to-face and online professional development.

The overall results of this study indicated that IB educators have a more positive perception of face-to-face professional development when compared to online professional development. IB educators’ perceptions of face-to-face workshops became increasingly more positive with the more years of experience they have. Additionally, IB educators’ perceptions of face-to-face workshops became increasingly more positive when the number of online or face-to-face workshops they have taken increases. Finally, IB educators’ perceptions toward online workshops became increasingly more negative with the more years of experience they have and the more face-to-face workshops they have taken.