YouTube as a Teacher Training Tool: Information and Communication Technology as a Delivery Instrument for Professional Development

High-stakes student testing, accountability for students' outcomes, new educational trends, and revised curricula and standards are only a few of the reasons that teachers must learn to teach complex material with skilled and intentional practices. As a result, professional development for educators is in critical demand. Nevertheless, research in the field of professional development indicates that most teachers do not experience effective teacher training (Desimone et al., 2002; Guskey, 2002). Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to examine one professional development opportunity using the video-sharing tool, YouTube, as a training modality for in-servicing teachers. For this study, the researchers conducted interviews with six teachers currently teaching in Western Pennsylvania to analyze their perceptions about the YouTube teacher training method. The results of the study indicated that the YouTube training tool is a quality training tool to assist teachers in the implementation of higher-order teaching strategies. Additionally, the results indicated that YouTube training videos could reinforce in-person training.