The production and critical analysis of the provision of an electronic professional development course for English language teachers designed to be culturally and pedagogically empathetic

A qualitative heuristic, single case study was conducted into the effectiveness of delivery and cultural empathy of an international online professional development (PD) course for English language teachers. To achieve cultural empathy, the course material was provided with acknowledgement to the course presenter’s cultural background and employed action research to allow participants to extract and experiment with pedagogic methodologies, strategies and techniques within their specific cultural and context. A personal narrative was written by the researcher to describe epistemology, socio-cultural positioning and to encapsulate the many facets within the empirical research journey impacting on the research. To provide equity and validity to the research, the researcher provided the course participants with an independent voice as a constructed narrative utilising a thematic analysis approach and verified by those involved. The discussion and conclusions emanated from triangulation of the two narratives and the relevant contemporary literature. The research’s conclusion suggested that utilising action research within an online professional development course provides a discerning tool allowing participants to make decisions on what pedagogical practices are appropriate for their cultural milieu. The research also concluded that providing professional development in an online environment requires participants to be familiar with the particular I.T.s for effective course involvement, suggesting that pre-course training in those specific I.T.s is a necessity for quality engagement.