Adult learners, remote learning, and the COVID pandemic: Restructuring educational doctorate courses in crisis

Abstract

This essay serves as the narrative of an early career Assistant Professor as they recall their struggles, vulnerabilities, and insecurities while navigating the need to shift their educational leadership doctoral students to emergency remote learning amid a global pandemic. Using the foundations of transformational experiences for adult learners, the need to sustain the students’ communities of practice, and positive school leadership, the author develops and executes their action plan to meet the needs of their adult learners and support them in the online environment during the COVID-19 crisis. By applying this framework as practicing EdD scholars, we serve as a model for future directions in the teaching spaces of the Education Doctorate by bridging the gap between theory and practice in our higher education teaching spaces.