English abstract
The present study aimed to examine the effects of the Virtual Professional
Development (VPD) program on teachers' acquisition of the required skills to
design Learning Objects (LOs), and their attitudes towards VPD. A quasiexperimental design was adapted to achieve the current research's objectives. The
sample consisted of a one experimental group of teachers (n= 80) who were
selected randomly from different subjects areas and with different levels of
experiences. The professional development program was delivered virtually
using Microsoft® Teams and the Scratch® virtual classroom. It consisted of 10
hours of synchronized visual sessions for five days. The design of the VPD
program was based on the findings of the preliminary study and is guided by the
five steps ADDIE model. The instruments, which included a designing skills'
checklist, project scoring rubric and attitude scale, were validated and used to
collect the required data. The overall score of Cronbach alpha value of the
designing skills' checklist was (0.92), project scoring rubric was (0.97) and for
the attitude scale it was (0.91) which are indicative of a high internal reliability.
The findings of the study found that the teachers' experiences with Scratch®
programming VPD influenced their skills in designing learning objects
positively. It was found that there is a positive large effect size (Cohen's d = 0.81)
of the Scratch® programming VPD on teachers' skills of designing learning
objects. This was indicated through the design skills' checklist and the positive
large effect size (Cohen's d = 0.57) which was showed by the project scoring
rubric. In addition, it was found that the teachers' attitudes towards VPD were
affected positively after the experiment. In the light of the research findings,
implications and recommendations for future research were outlined
