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The Impact of Online Professional Development on Physical Educators‘ Knowledge and Implementation of Peer Tutoring

ABSTRACT Physical Educators face significant challenges in including students with disabilities. To address this issue, appropriate professional development must be provided. Traditional professional development is limited by barriers such as cost, time, location and availability. The purpose of this randomised experimental design study was to determine the effectiveness of an Online Professional Development (OPD) course, built upon Adult Learning Theory and Mayer’s principles, to provide physical educators with increased knowledge about, and motivation to implement, a peer tutoring programme. Results revealed that (a) participation in an OPD course resulted in a significant increase in knowledge related to peer tutoring for physical educators who participated in the OPD course, and (b) participation in the OPD course resulted in over 70% (n = 15) of teachers applying lessons learned from the course to their PE classes. Discussion involves an interpretation of findings and an analysis of issues relating to OPD including application of OPD lessons to the class, dropout, and future considerations for OPD and inclusive physical education.