

































Educational Renaissance Vol. 10 (2021)

Maint aining Fidelit y in Teacher  Educat ion Program s 
Dur ing COVID-19

Chr ist opher  Thom as Dague, PhD. Zucker Family School of Education, The Citadel

     email: christopher.dague@citadel.edu

Tam m y Graham , PhD. Presbyterian College

     email: tjgraham@presby.edu

Soo Joung Kim , PhD. Zucker Family School of Education, The Citadel

     email: skim4@citadel.edu

Feature Article

Teacher education programs across the country 
have been pressed to adapt and implement 
emergency plans of action. The Citadel is unique 
because it is a military college that also has a 
variety of graduate programs across campus. At 
the time of this writing, we have approximately 
3500 students in total. At The Citadel, applying 
emergency protocols, predominantly in reaction 
to natural disasters, has become almost 
customary in recent years ? given our location in 
Charleston, South Carolina. That being said, 
implementation of such strategies for acute 
weather conditions has proven drastically 
different than having to consider all of the facets 
and uncertainties of trying to effectively prepare 
our candidates in the face of the seemingly 
chronic existence of COVID-19. 

The purpose of this essay, told from the 
perspectives and experiences of three teacher 

education professors (See Table 1), is to detail our 
individual, professional foci and the strategies 
each of us employed, all in an effort to maintain 
and strengthen the integrity and fidelity of our 
teacher education program. 

Fidelit y of  Inst ruct ion

This first narrative comes from Christopher Dague. 
Christopher is an assistant professor of teacher and 
social studies education at The Citadel, where he has 
worked for three years. Prior to coming to The 
Citadel, Christopher worked as a high school history 
teacher and head baseball coach in North Carolina. 

Pivoting our instructional habits as a result of the 
ramifications of COVID-19 caused an immediate 
quick-acting review of our instructional design. 
Face-to-face instruction was nullified due to the 
pandemic, and a shift toward online teaching 
caused many concerns for each of us. One of the

Abst ract  

Three teacher education professors describe their respective professional experiences surrounding 
the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each detail how their professional experience and foci led 
them to make changes to best serve the students at their institution. This article intends to serve 
teacher educators by striking a balance between theory and practical application while candidly 
addressing successes and areas for improvement. 

mailto:christopher.dague@citadel.edu
mailto:tjgraham@presby.edu
mailto:skim4@citadel.edu


DAGUE, GRAHAM, & KIM| MAINTAINING FIDELITY IN TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS DURING COVID-19

Table 1: Professional Experience and Focus of 
Teacher Education Faculty

critical challenges was finding methods by which 
to make instructional activities meaningful and 
worthy of students? time. Our significant years of 
experience in the classroom ? both K-12 and in 
higher education ? allowed us to better leverage 
our new instructional reality.

Prior to coming to our institution, I served as a 
high school history teacher and head baseball 
coach for thirteen years in North Carolina. I begin 
with this because it speaks to how I still see myself 
professionally ? as a teacher. Instead of teaching 
the finer points of the French Revolution, I now 
support candidates? understandings of student 
motivation and classroom management as well as 
contemporary approaches to teaching social 
studies. Regardless of the change in content and 
professional tit le, at the very front of my mind is 
always the betterment of my students ? now and 
for their future professional endeavors.

When it became apparent that hybrid or remote 
learning was a possibility due to COVID-19, my 
focus turned to ensuring that my students would 
not lose out on vital information. With the help of 

colleagues, I took up the challenge to make sure 
that my students would not miss a step, 
irrespective of circumstances. During the spring 
semester I was teaching two courses ? one a 
comprehensive methods course and the other a 
social studies methods course (both graduate 
courses). Additionally, I served as a content 
supervisor for our social studies student teachers.

With over a decade of classroom experience, and 
as someone who researches the intersections of 
motivational theory and instructional practices, I 
felt confident that I could provide beneficial 
experiences to my students ? even if in a remote 
fashion. My initial confidence was somewhat 
thwarted when I realized that I would need to rely 
on technology with which I had limited, or no, 
exposure. Moreover, my greatest concern was 
maintaining the connections and personal 
relationships which had led to many positive 
experiences in previous face-to-face class 
meetings. After much consideration, I realized that 
in order to maintain the expectations that were 
previously developed, I needed to focus on three 
facets of the teaching and learning process that 
could transcend barriers placed on my classes and 
students, 1). Intentional planning, 2). Clear 
communication, and 3). Genuine 
relationship-building. 

Intentional Planning 

In evaluating potential issues within my courses, I 
first looked at my courses? infrastructure. I 
recognized that students? familiarity with the 
?interactive notebook (INB)? I created at the 
beginning of the semester could provide students 
with a discernible advantage in navigating 
subsequent weeks. The INB, operated through a 
cloud-based system, housed all student work, and 
contained the majority of resources (i.e. links, 
scholarship, etc.) students would need to 
complete tasks and assessments. Students also 
utilized the INB to submit assignments. Feeling 
secure about the infrastructure, I began to amend 
the course schedule ? based in part on the Carroll 
Model of School Learning (See Figure 1). 

23

Facult y Mem ber , 
Rank, and 
Exper ience 

K-12 Exper ience Professional Foci

Christopher 
Dague , Assistant 
Professor, 3 years

Teacher, 13 
years, Public 
High School

Fidelity of Instruction

Planning, Communication, 
and Relationship-Building

SooJoung Kim, 
Visiting Assistant   
Professor, 4 years

Teacher, 4 years, 
Public Middle   
School

Fidelity of Remote Learning

Student Connection,   
Student Participation, and 
Engaging Module Design

Tammy Graham, 
Professor, 13 
years

Teacher, 
Educational 
Diagnostician, 
Special 
Education 

Coordinator, 17 

years, Public 
Elementary,   
Middle, and High 
Schools

Fidelity of Clinical 
Experiences

Adaptability, Teamwork, 
and Guidelines



DAGUE, GRAHAM, & KIM| MAINTAINING FIDELITY IN TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS DURING COVID-19

Figure 1: The Carroll (1963) Model of School Learning 

After completing my initial evaluation and creating 
tentative adjustments, the next step tasked me 
with asking students directly about their needs. 
Inquiring about students? needs was necessary to 
allow for students to experience agency in their 
own education. With such agency in the 
decision-making process, I was attempting to 
serve their needs while also modeling the sheer 
importance of supporting students? autonomy ? a 
lesson I hope they will take with them 
professionally moving forward (Stefanou et al., 
2004).

 In our initial video conference, I made my 
recommendations and explained how such 
amendments might impact them. After intently 
listening to students? questions and concerns, the 
one thing I realized in my post-conference 
reflection was that I simply could not afford to 
deviate from my pedagogical philosophy. 
Students? work must maintain its rigor and 
challenge without simply increasing in the number 
of assignments and materials. The students and I 
agreed that quantity would not serve as an 
adequate substitute for quality. In fact, I took out 
several assignments while I consolidated others. I 
felt better about holding to my conviction when 
one of my social studies methods students wrote, 
?when everything went online this semester and 
my other classes were all messy trying to figure 
out the school operating platforms, this class was 
seamless. Honestly when all my other classes 
became more complicated? this one maintained 
its integrity?  Based on this and other evaluations, 

I feel confidently that intentional planning coupled 
with allowing students to share their voice and 
assert their agency proved valuable. 

Clear Communication and Genuine Relationships

I made it a point to make sure that the exchange 
that routinely occurred between students and me 
did not solely focus on content and assignments. 
Communicating and developing a clearer 
understanding of students? personal lives during 
such unsettling times was critical to maintaining 
the fidelity of the courses. Over the course of the 
remaining eight weeks of the semester, my 
students and I met weekly via video conference. 
While each class session was not as long as it 
would have been in our original format (i.e. 
face-to-face), usually lasting less than two hours, it 
was key for students to know that our time 
together was still important. While some sessions 
bore more fruit than others, our remote class 
sessions served as an opportunity to make sure 
that we were all in lockstep relative to scheduling 
and pacing as well as expectations. At times, for 
me at least, it brought a sense of normalcy and 
purpose. With so much uncertainty surrounding 
us all, the class sessions served as temporary 
relief from the chaos.

Of course, after a few weeks of remote learning, it 
became apparent that students? response rate to 
email was slowing down dramatically. As a result, I 
knew I had to be more strategic with my 
communications via email or our learning 
management system (LMS). In some cases, I 
would simply set up a telephone conference call 
with individual students to try and create an even 
more personal touch to our learning experience. 
On a fixed-interval schedule of sorts, I would reach 
out to specific students weekly in an effort to 
check-in and maintain students? sense of 
relatedness to the course and to me. 

 This leads to my final focus ? maintaining 
teacher-student relationships. The magnitude of 
building positive teacher-student relationships in 
learning environments is evident ? not only in the 
literature (see Davis & Dague, 2020;  Maulana et 

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DAGUE, GRAHAM, & KIM| MAINTAINING FIDELITY IN TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS DURING COVID-19

al., 2013; Newberry, 2010)  but as experienced in 
my own professional life. While the importance of 
teacher-student relationships is evident, our 
interactions became even more critical with the 
increasing physical disconnect. For me, modeling 
the vitality of such relationships began by focusing 
on the messages I was delivering to my students. 
Because I did not know all of the details of 
students? personal lives, I had to try to naturally 
re-cultivate connections with my students 
(Wubbels et al., 1997). We know that when 
teachers or professors ?respond to students in 
ways that are responsive to student needs, are 
emotionally warm, and provide for student 
autonomy, students tend not only to feel more 
motivated in the classroom, but also to achieve at 
higher rates? (Davis & Dague, 2020, p. 153). 

Now more than ever it was imperative that 
students witnessed my responsiveness to their 
respective needs. While I would like to say that 
every student was able to see the process 
through, I did have some students who really 
struggled to create a work-home life balance ? so 
much so that one of my students did stop showing 
up for our weekly class sessions and failed to turn 
in the prescribed assignments. Despite not having 
a 100% ?success rate,? I am proud of the work that 
was accomplished in spite of the challenging 
conditions that so many of my students were 
facing. 

Not only was maintaining fidelity of instruction of 
the upmost importance in our teacher education 
programs, an additional area of concern as we 
faced new pandemic regulations was ensuring 
fidelity of online learning for students. When 
courses that were traditionally taught in a 
face-to-face or hybrid format moved completely 
online, we aspired to help students learn as much 
in the online environment as they would have 
learned in the more traditional classroom 
environments.  

Fidelit y of  Rem ot e Learning

The second narrative comes from SooJoung Kim. 
SooJoung is a visiting assistant professor of teacher 

and literacy education at The Citadel, where she has 
worked for four years. Prior to coming to The Citadel, 
SooJoung worked as a middle school teacher in 
Seoul, Korea. 

With the sudden shift of teaching methods from 
in-person to online due to the COVID-19 
pandemic, my colleagues and I had to readjust 
quickly to help students succeed.  In my role as a 
visiting assistant professor, I teach foundational 
education courses that introduce the American 
education system and learners? development. I 
emphasize fundamental knowledge and also 
focus on the growth of my students' critical 
thinking, problem-solving, and decision making as 
preservice teachers.  As students learn best when 
they actively participate in their learning (Bloom, 
1984; Chickering & Gamson, 1987), I use 
cooperative learning strategies, hands-on 
activities, pair or group discussions, and a group 
project to promote their higher-level thinking and 
professional disposition. 

When I heard about the change of situation due to 
COVID-19, I had one thing on my mind ? how to 
maintain the continuity of instruction.  Since 
students who succeeded in face-to-face courses 
might not be as successful in online courses 
(Cheung & Kan, 2002; Tucker, 2001), I needed to 
consider practical ways to help my students 
effectively adapt to a new situation.  It is 
challenging to convert a face-to-face course into 
an online format because developing an online 
course requires careful planning and specific 
training (Khan et al., 2017).  I had experience 
teaching online, so I felt confident in changing my 
courses to online versions. To have a smooth 
transition and to keep the integrity and fidelity of 
my courses, I considered two aspects, keeping a 
connection with students to encourage 
participation and designing practical modules for 
balanced work.

Connection with Students to Encourage Participation

Being connected with students encouraged 
students? participation. Students were more 
actively involved in their activities when they 

25



DAGUE, GRAHAM, & KIM| MAINTAINING FIDELITY IN TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS DURING COVID-19

interacted with their classmates and me online. I 
provided three individual conferences or group 
meetings at the beginning, in the middle, and at 
the end of semester during my previous online 
courses. These meetings were different from 
virtual office hours. Students gave positive 
feedback stating that they enjoyed their 
discussion posts more when they met with their 
classmates and me. Interactions create a sense of 
community for participation and assist each 
student?s learning while discussing their ideas 
(Lowenthal et al., 2017; Poll et al., 2014). 

I blended both asynchronous and synchronous 
formats to create interactive discussions using 
different tools such as online discussion threads 
and real-time video conferencing.  Advantages of 
the asynchronous format are more flexibility for 
students and more reflective and thoughtful 
responses from students, while the pros of 
synchronous discussion are greater spontaneity 
and more social interaction (Rudestam & 
Schoenholtz-Read, 2010).  I wanted to take full 
advantage of both formats. First, I created an 
asynchronous discussion board and asked 
students to write a post and two responses of 
classmates? thoughts. Then, I offered a 
once-a-week real-time synchronous meetings 
during the regular class hour, since 
live-conferencing assists students in their learning 
during the synchronous sessions and also helps 
them enjoy their asynchronous activities 
(Lowenthal et al., 2017).  During weekly meetings, 
students summarized their discussions and 
reflected on their thoughts.  Most students 
reported that they enjoyed both formats. 
However, one student complained about too 
much writing, and another student commented 
on the repetition during both discussions. For my 
future online courses, I will utilize cooperative 
learning activities, ?Think-Pair-Share? or ?Jigsaw,? by 
using a particular group allocating function, 
Breakout Rooms, that allows an instructor to 
assign each student to a pair or a group and 
allocate the pairs or groups to different rooms 
(Peachey, 2017).  After a short discussion in each 
group's room, students can come back to share 

their thoughts as a whole group.  

Individual interaction was helpful to students who 
were struggling. One student who did well before 
COVID-19 did not participate in online activities. 
Two other students stopped coming to the weekly 
meetings.  I contacted them to offer assistance 
because an instructor 's concern can help troubled 
students overcome rough times and help them  
continue completing work (Chickering & Gamson, 
1987). While some students reported that their 
troubles were related to technical difficulties, 
sickness, and family business, one of them 
honestly expressed his laziness and 
procrastination. After providing individual contact, 
these students showed some effort to make-up 
incomplete work. 

Effective Module Design

Designing active modules for students? learning is 
critical to creating a successful online course. 
Students were going through a stressful situation, 
and in order to adjust into the new online learning 
situation, I did not want to over-burden my 
students with additional assignments.  As such, I 
tried to keep the workload reasonable. I also did 
not want my students to become lazy or 
procrastinate, so I tried to design practical 
modules by changing some assignments and 
assessments.  

I changed the format and length of objective 
quizzes. Instead of taking lengthy quarterly 
written quizzes (40-50 questions), students took 
quick weekly online quizzes (10 questions).  I 
intended to check students? learning more often in 
a less inundating manner. I gave them three 
attempts if they were not satisfied with their 
previous grades. Students recounted a fondness 
of the short online quizzes and an appreciation for 
several opportunities to complete quizzes. This 
aligns with the findings of several studies.  
Students prefer online multiple-choice tests to 
paper-and-pencil quizzes because they spend less 
time taking a quiz and receive feedback faster 
(Segall et al., 2005). Retaking quizzes until 
satisfactory scores are achieved can help students 

26



DAGUE, GRAHAM, & KIM| MAINTAINING FIDELITY IN TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS DURING COVID-19

improve their learning (Rice, 2003) and increase 
students' motivation to learn (Nicol, 2007).  

I adjusted class activities and projects because 
teachers need to consider their students' diverse 
situations when they prepare online lessons 
(Darby, 2020).  Since writing takes more time than 
just speaking to some students, I reduced the 
number of topics in asynchronous discussion.  I 
changed the grouping and technology options for 
group projects because some students are 
tech-savvy and well-equipped with 
high-performance devices, while others do not the 
same access or skills (Darby, 2020).  Another 
alteration of activities was students' field 
experiences. Since the closure of public schools, 
students could not have onsite visits. Instead, 
students watched pre-recorded teaching videos, 
interviewed teachers and students on virtual 
platforms, and joined the virtual classrooms 
offered by local schools.

As an instructor of foundational education 
courses in higher education, I focused on 
continuity of instruction in this sudden 
instructional mode shift due to the COVID-19 
pandemic.  To maintain my courses' fidelity and 
integrity, I considered two things.  I actively 
interacted with my students to promote students' 
virtual participation and designed practical 
modules to facilitate students' balanced work.  
Although there were some challenges, most 
students responded positively to the changes and 
demonstrated a mastery of course learning 
outcomes and goals.  

While maintaining fidelity of instruction and 
learning was imperative as we faced 
pandemic-related restrictions on campus, they 
were not the only areas that had to be considered.  
Each teacher education course at our institution 
has multiple hours of field experience 
requirements.  We ensure that our students visit 
rural, urban, and suburban schools during their 
time in the program.  During their final semester, 
our students complete an internship for a 
minimum of 60 full days.  As such, we quickly had 
to devise a plan for maintaining fidelity of clinical 

experiences.

Fidelit y of  Clin ical Exper iences

This third and final narrative comes from Tammy 
Graham. Tammy is a professor of teacher and special 
education at The Citadel, where she has worked for 
thirteen years. Prior to coming to The Citadel, Tammy 
worked as a teacher, educational diagnostician and 
special education coordinator. 

Being in the field of education for 30 years, I have 
seen many trends and many challenges.  
Admittedly I have never experienced anything like 
our current pandemic. While serving as an 
associate professor and coordinator of our 
teacher education division, I found myself utilizing 
strategies that I learned early in my career as an 
educator: being adaptable and working as a 
member of a team, following guidelines while 
being mindful of creating meaningful experiences 
for students, and sharing information with 
stakeholders.  

Adaptability and Teamwork 

While we adjusted to this ?new normal,? I 
communicated often with my dean, the Director of 
Field Experiences and Internships, and other 
teacher education faculty members to determine 
needs and to brainstorm relevant ideas for 
meeting these needs.  It was very important to 
consider the stress that other teacher education 
faculty members might be experiencing, but it was 
also important to share leaderships 
responsibilit ies with capable team members to 
ensure trust and motivation (Fernandez & Shaw, 
2020).

One area of concern for my colleagues and me 
was field experiences; undergraduate and 
graduate students expressed concern as well.  
How could students complete their required field 
experience hours when schools were participating 
in distance learning?  To assist with professor and 
student anxiety, it was determined that a staff 
member with K-12 teaching experience would be 
responsible for researching and vetting virtual 
field experience opportunities, thus lessening the 
stress for everyone involved.

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DAGUE, GRAHAM, & KIM| MAINTAINING FIDELITY IN TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS DURING COVID-19

Another area of apprehension for professors and 
students that required flexibility and teamwork 
was student-teaching internships. Internship 
candidates are expected to complete a minimum 
of 60 full days of internship. Would that even be 
possible when schools were participating in virtual 
learning, and if so, how could interns teach their 
students and assist their cooperating teachers?  
How could they be effectively evaluated by college 
supervisors and cooperating teachers?  It was 
determined that the Director of Field Experiences 
and Internships, with support and input from me, 
would draft a plan for completion. 

Effectively completing field experiences and 
student-teaching internships would not have been 
possible for our students if we had refused to 
adapt to the situation and work together as a 
team.   While it was necessary for us to be flexible 
and work together, we also realized the 
importance of modeling these traits for future 
educators.  We want our students to be flexible 
team members when they are teachers, as 
adaptability has been related to resiliency, 
well-being, and organizational commitment of 
teachers (Collie & Martin, 2017), as well as teacher 
effectiveness (Collie & Martin, 2016)

Guidelines and Integrity 

In addition to increasing our adaptability, it was 
imperative that our programs continued to meet 
all requirements from our state department of 
education, the Council for the Accreditation of 
Educator Preparation (CAEP), the various Specialty 
Program Associations (SPAs), and our institution. It 
was equally important that our students had the 
opportunity to complete meaningful experiences 
that facilitated learning and reflection.  

Staying informed of any state regulation changes 
for testing requirements, field experience hours, 
and internship guidelines was non-negotiable. 
While the state department of education 
graciously allowed quality virtual field experiences, 
ensuring our students completed the required 
number of field experience hours while also 
having meaningful experiences was challenging. 

Some students observed the real-time virtual 
classrooms of teachers to whom they were 
previously assigned; however, that was not an 
option for all students. Those who were unable to 
participate in real-time experiences participated in 
the virtual videos that were vetted by our staff 
member. The staff member checked with each 
professor to see what types of experiences were 
relevant to his or her course, searched meaningful 
experiences meeting the professors? criteria, 
matched the experiences to indicators in our 
state?s assessment rubric, organized the 
experiences by subject area and grade level, and 
listed the approximate length of each video. 
Students were provided the opportunity to reflect 
on their experiences via video sessions, online 
discussion boards, and field experience 
presentations or narratives.

Ensuring our student-teaching interns received a 
relevant internship experience was also a 
challenge. Thankfully, the internship candidates 
had opportunities to deliver face-to-face 
instruction before the pandemic. Once all schools 
went to distance learning, I communicated with 
the Director of Field Experiences and Internships 
on an almost daily basis as she drafted the 
previously mentioned plan for interns while we 
waited for guidance from our state department of 
education.  Once we received instructions from 
the state, we compared the draft plan to state 
guidelines to see if changes were needed.  Finding 
no areas of needed revision, we proceeded with 
the plan.

Interns adhered to state requirements by 
following the same schedules and protocol as 
their cooperating teachers.  This experience was 
unique for each intern, with guidelines depending 
on their assigned school and school district. 
Candidates assisted teachers as they planned 
online lessons, prepared video-taped lessons, 
created and administered appropriate activities 
and assessments, checked enrollment, and 
provided feedback to students. Weekly internship 
seminars hosted by the Director of Field 
Experiences and Internships were moved to a 

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DAGUE, GRAHAM, & KIM| MAINTAINING FIDELITY IN TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS DURING COVID-19

virtual format.  While the seminars provided extra 
pedagogical, planning, and management support 
to interns, the interns also had the opportunity to 
discuss any concerns about their virtual teaching 
experiences.  Cooperating teachers and college 
supervisors worked together to effectively rate 
intern lessons and provide valuable feedback.  

While I realize there is always room for 
improvement, when anecdotally rating our field 
experiences and internships, I am comfortable 
that we provided the best experiences possible at 
the time by following state, accreditation, and 
institutional guidelines while being mindful of 
providing experiences from which the students 
could learn and apply to their future careers.  

Stakeholder Support

During a crisis it is essential to communicate 
effectively and regularly with all stakeholders 
(Fernandez & Shaw, 2020).  Arranging the 
numerous changes for field experiences and 
internships was crucial, and it was also important 
to communicate these changes to students, 
faculty, and school partners.  Not only did we 
need to provide support to students enrolled in 
our courses and interns placed in local schools, it 
was also necessary to share the information with 
cooperating teachers and educators who paired 
with us for dual credit courses.  

When thinking through the changes, we realized 
everyone was likely to become overwhelmed if 
receiving multiple emails from different people.  
As such, a thoughtful process was employed.  
Professors shared altered field experience 
guidelines with their students, while the Director 
of Field Experiences and Internships 
communicated internship changes to 
student-teaching interns and their cooperating 
teachers and college supervisors.  The professor 
partner for dual credit courses shared field 
experience information with partnering high 
school teachers, to ensure high school students 
participating in these courses had the same 
opportunities as our college students and to 
hopefully help lessen the stress level of the 

teachers.  While multiple people were involved in 
the planning process, a purposeful select few 
participated in the communication process.  

  The COVID-19 pandemic has presented many 
challenges to teacher education programs at 
institutions of higher education (IHEs).  In this 
situation and in all others, it is essential that we 
employ adaptability and teamwork while following 
regulations, maintaining the integrity of our 
programs, and providing support to our 
stakeholders.

Conclusion

Did every plan we implemented work? Of course 
not. While we recognize there is always more that 
could have been done, we are pleased with how 
we responded and worked together to best 
support our students in such an incredible time of 
crisis. In reading the words that detail our 
experiences, there is an evident theme ? we put 
the needs of our students at the very front of 
decision making. This speaks volumes to exactly 
what teachers and teacher educators do daily ? 
they put their students first. In part, our hope is 
that our ?student-first mentality? was modeled 
effectively enough that our candidates will carry 
that torch in their future classrooms. Based on our 
experiences in this new instructional reality, there 
are several aspects of the teaching-and-learning 
process that we will carry with us moving forward. 

- Be both systematic and flexible in course 
planning: Just as we would teach our 
candidates to plan and even over plan for 
their future classes, we found it was even 
more important to do so in these unsettling 
times. Additionally, it was imperative to 
create avenues for flexibility when students 
demonstrated a need. With this in mind, we 
recommend that teacher educators rely on 
the cornerstones of effective planning ? to 
include ?the nature of the subject matter, 
the learners, the context, and the teacher?s 
role? (Darling-Hammond et al, 2005, p. 184). 

- Focus on the whole student: As we would 
teach candidates to consider all of the 

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DAGUE, GRAHAM, & KIM| MAINTAINING FIDELITY IN TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS DURING COVID-19

needs of their learners, we recommend 
that teacher educators focus even more 
intently on student engagement. In higher 
education, it is easy to fall into a pattern of 
being over reliant of direct instruction and 
lecturing. While the ?sage on the stage? 
might prove efficient when covering 
content, we also know that the ?banking 
model? described by Freire (2009) can 
impede student participation and 
engagement. Thus, utilizing more authentic, 
student-centered practices can promote 
?students? sense of intellectual control? 
(Davis, 2003, p. 213).

- Be an effective team member: During a crisis, 
it is ineffective for one person to 
micromanage and try to have an answer to 
all problems without seeking assistance.  It 
is time for teamwork, thinking ?outside of 
the box,? and delegation.  While a leader 
may initially identify major problems and 
priorities, it is important for him or her to 
then delegate and share leadership 
responsibilit ies with capable team 
members (Fernandez & Shaw, 2020).  As 
such, it is imperative that everyone be 
willing to be an effective member of the 
team to benefit the whole.

References

Bloom, B. S. (1984). The 2-sigma problem: The 
search for methods of group instruction a 
effective as one-to-one tutoring. Educational 
Researcher, 13(6), 4?16. 

Carroll, J. B. (1963). A model of school learning. 
Teachers College Record, 64, 723-733. 

Cheung, L., & Kan, A. (2002). Evaluation of factors 
related to student performance in a 
distance-learning business communication 
course. Journal of Education for Business, 77 (5), 
257?263.

Chickering, A., & Gamson, Z. (1987). Seven 
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