30 InternationalJournalofInformationandCommunicationTechnologyEducation,10(4),30-40,October-December2014

YouTube as a Teacher
Training Tool:
Information and Communication
Technology as a Delivery Instrument
for Professional Development
Jenna Copper, Slippery Rock, PA, USA
George Semich, Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

ABSTRACT
High-stakes student testing, accountability for students’ outcomes, new educational trends, and revised cur-
ricula 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.

Keywords: Information and Communication Technology, Professional Development, Teacher Training,

Video, Youtube

INTRODUCTION in order to create a life-long learner, teachers

An admirable goal for any teacher is fostering
life-long learning for their pupils. Life-long
learners look for experiences to broaden their
character and knowledge throughout their life-
times. It should come as no surprise, then, that
themselves must provide an example. Even if
teachers have no desire to broaden their own
learning, the fact of the matter is that they no
longer have a choice. High-stakes student test-
ing, accountability for students’ outcomes, new
educational trends, and revised curriculums and

DOI: 10.4018/ijicte.2014100103

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InternationalJournalofInformationandCommunicationTechnologyEducation,10(4),30-40,October-December2014 31
standards are only a few of the reasons that
teachers must learn to teach complex material
with skilled and intentional practices. As a re-
sult, professional development for educators is
in critical demand. With the development and
adoption of the Common Core Standards and
increased emphasis on students’ development
of higher-order thinking skills, the demands for
higher-order teaching concepts and strategies,
concepts and strategies that foster students’
high-order thinking skills, are greater than
ever (Common Core State Standards Initia-
tive, 2010).
Also, with an increased emphasis on tech-
nology to do the “heavy lifting” in delivering
content, teachers will need to become more
adept in the use of these new technologies.
Prensky (2008) described the role of technology
as supporting the new teaching paradigm. This
paradigm involves students teaching themselves
with the support of their teachers. It also places
the burden on teachers to both understand and
embrace new technologies in their classrooms.
Thus, the focus of this study was to examine
one professional development opportunity using
the video-sharing tool, YouTube, as a training
modality to in-service teachers.
THEORETICAL CONTEXT
Higher-Order Teaching and
Professional Development
The Common Core State Standards Initiative
(2010) was created in the wake of No Child Left
Behind. Central to this moment is an increased
demand for English and content area teachers
to develop and improve students’ critical think-
ing and reading skills in accordance with the
classroom text (Common Core State Standards
Initiative, 2010; IRA & NCTE, 1999; National
Assessment of Educational Progress, 2009).
While teachers are charged with the task of
addressing these rigorous standards, they sadly
are left with little direction for how to do so.
Professional development has been docu-
mented as a way to improve teacher effective-
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ness and learner outcomes (Abdal-Haqq, 1996;
Borko, 2004; Desimone et al., 2002; Guskey,
2002). However, it does not come without
challenges. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Act of 2001 required school districts to grant
time for high-quality professional development
(NCLB, 2001). Nonetheless, as Borko (2009)
pointed out, “NCLB does not, however, address
questions such as what constitutes high-quality
professional development or how professional
development should be made available to teach-
ers” (p. 3). In the past, school districts placed
little emphasis on the quality of professional de-
velopment; however, the changing educational
climate and the emphasis on creating lessons
that encourage and develop higher-order think-
ing skills brought professional development to
the forefront (Corcoran, 1995). In fact, research
continually shows that professional develop-
ment is a significant factor in the success of
teaching and learning in schools (Corcoran,
1995, Desimone et al., 2002; Guskey, 2002; Vra-
sidas & Glass, 2007). Still, for teacher training to
be meaningful and change-provoking, research
suggests that professional development must
be ongoing and high quality to make a differ-
ence in teachers’ skills and effectiveness in the
classroom (Vrasidas & Glass, 2007; Desimone
et al., 2002). Nevertheless, research in the field
of professional development consistently yields
that most teachers do not experience effective
teacher training (Desimone et al., 2002; Gu-
lamhussein, 2013; Guskey, 2002;).
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES
With the demands of the classroom, teachers
may find it difficult to effectively advance
their own practices and content knowledge
through professional development. According
to Abdal-Haqq (1996), “Teachers, researchers,
and policymakers consistently indicate that the
greatest challenge to implementing effective
professional development is lack of time” (p.
1). This phenomenon is well documented by
the National Education Commission on Time
32 InternationalJournalofInformationandCommunicationTechnologyEducation,10(4),30-40,October-December2014
and Learning, NECTL, (1994) in Prisoners
of Time, a work commissioned by the Federal
government. The report found that the time
constraints consistent with the 6-hour a day,
180-day school year create an environment of
limited learning and teacher preparation time
(NECTL, 1994). With these constraints, teach-
ers lack the time necessary to complete their
jobs to the highest degree (NECTL, 1994). As
a result of these findings, the NECTL (1994)
developed a series of goals to be reached by
the year 2000. The fourth goal read, “Teacher
Education and Professional Development:
The nation’s teaching force will have access
to programs for the continued improvement
of their professional skills and the opportunity
to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to
prepare students for the next century” (NCETL,
1994, p. 12).
Although largely outdated in terms of
educational and technological progress, the
relevancy of this text in today’s educational
environment speaks volumes. Despite changing
demographics, technological advancements,
and educational trends, little has changed in the
allocation of time in the learning environment.
As a result, teachers continually are fighting
the battle with time for the completion of their
day-to-day lessons, unit planning, student dis-
cipline, classroom management, etc. With all of
these demands, little time is left for professional
development consideration during school hours
(Bubb & Earley, 2013). Therefore, profes-
sional development is best addressed during
the summer months, before or after school, or
at school-wide designated times (Abdal-Haqq,
1996; Bubb & Earley, 2013). Still as Francis-
Poscente and Jacobsen explained, “Geographic
and temporal limitations often prevent suburban
and rural teachers from being able to attend
meaningful and transformative, face-to-face
professional development opportunities” during
those times (p. 320).
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INFORMATION AND
COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY IN
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Innovative approaches to professional develop-
ment have evolved similarly to the advancement
of technology in our society. With the many
benefits of technology to improve and supple-
ment the learning process, professional develop-
ment has reflected these gains. Information and
communication technology (ICT) is a way to
bridge the pedagogical gap that exists because
teachers do not have access to professional
development applications during convenient
times in their packed schedules (Jung, 2005;
Vrasidas & Glass, 2007).
There are two overarching uses of ICT in
professional development: teacher training in
the use of ICT and ICT as the training method
(Jung, 2005). According to Jung,
ICT can promote international collaboration
and networking in education and professional
development. There’s a range of ICT options
– from videoconferencing through multimedia
delivery to web sites - which can be used to
meet the challenges teachers face today. In fact,
there has been increasing evidence that ICT may
be able to provide more flexible and effective
ways for lifelong professional development for
today’s teachers. (p. 94)
In conjunction with these hypotheses,
Jung developed a conceptual framework for
the use of ICT in teacher training and profes-
sional development. This guide documents
the four types of support ICT can provide for
professional development broken down into
two categories: “Learning how to use ICT” and
“Learning VIA ICT” (Jung, 2005, p. 95). The
four subcategories of ICT in teacher training
are: “ICT as main content focus,” “ICT as core
delivery technology,” “ICT as part of content or
methods,” and “ICT as facilitating or network-
ing technology” (Jung, 2005, p. 95).
InternationalJournalofInformationandCommunicationTechnologyEducation,10(4),30-40,October-December2014 33
INFORMATIONAL AND
COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY AS THE
DELIVERY INSTRUMENT
Information and communication technology
as part of the delivery in teacher training has
developed with the advancements in technology.
Most noticeably, ICT offers teachers a way to
connect to teacher learning communities via
the internet (Vrasidas & Glass, 2007; Jung,
2005). Due to the nature of their busy schedules,
teachers can access professional development
from any computer or internet-capable device
with access to the internet at any time, which
supports their lives inside and outside of the
classroom (Seppälä & Alamäki, 2002; Vrasidas
& Glass, 2007). The Literacy Information and
Communication System’s website, funded by
the United States Federal Department of Edu-
cation, provided a discussion summary from a
workshop titled, “Using Video in Teaching and
Staff Development.” The discussion included
ideas for video use in professional develop-
ment, such as:
using the videos in workshops, presented in seg-
ments, with discussion on each part of the lesson.
Other strategies discussed include organizing
video-based study circles, hosting asynchronous
online discussion of video, incorporating video
into online courses and webinars (webcams and
use of archives afterward), using video record-
ings of conference sessions and workshops in
follow up professional development activities,
and using interactive television (ITV) for meet-
ings. (Literacy Information and Communication
System, 2011, p. 1)
Mobile devices can even support this
platform by offering what Seppälä and Alamäki
(2002) identified as most important for flexible
yet effective training: convenience, expediency,
and immediacy. Because professional develop-
ment is most successful when it is able to be
accessed continually and at specified times
according to necessity and schedule of the
teacher, ICT is a possible solution not only for
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teachers to receive high-quality, ongoing train-
ing (Desimone et al., 2002; Jung, 2005), but also
for school districts to provide this training in
cost effective ways (Vrasidas & Glass, 2007).
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study was to examine the
success of information and communication
technology in the form of YouTube videos as
potential training tools for professional devel-
opment and teacher training in higher-order
teaching.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Three central questions guided this qualitative
study:
1. What were the views and perceptions of
the teacher participants relative to how
the ICT YouTube videos training strategy
could prepare them to use strategies for
developing higher-order thinking skills?
2. To what extent did the teacher participants
deem the ICT YouTube video training strat-
egy as a successful training mechanism for
professional development and/or teacher
training?
3. What were the views and perceptions of
the teacher participants relative to how
the ICT YouTube video training strategy
compares to other professional develop-
ment and teacher training strategies?
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
This study was a follow up to a study con-
ducted in 2012 by the researcher (Copper,
2013). The initial study examined secondary
English teachers’ perceptions of the Literary
Theory Implementation (LTI) Model as an
educational tool to improve students’ critical
thinking and reading abilities. An unexpected
finding of the preliminary study was the suc-
cess of the YouTube training videos in training
34 InternationalJournalofInformationandCommunicationTechnologyEducation,10(4),30-40,October-December2014
the participants to use the LTI Model (Copper,
2013). As a result, this study was conducted
with the intent to provide insight to the suc-
cess of the LTI Model based on the YouTube
training videos and to determine the potential
of YouTube training videos as teacher training
and professional development tools.
METHODOLOGY
Design
A qualitative, participatory action research
design was selected for this study because the
research was educational in nature and utilized
educators and their experience with a strategy
to improve a particular issue (Creswell, 2007).
The design utilized a collaborative approach in
which the researchers used a semi-structured
interview protocol to examine the utility of a
particular professional development and teacher
training strategy. The researchers chose action
research also for a feature of democratic impulse
which according to Meyer (2000) places an
emphasis on the participants seen as equals (in
this case, teachers in related fields as opposed
to hard sciences), and the researchers were
viewed as facilitators in both the implementa-
tion and evaluation phase of the process. In
fact, both researchers have a background in
teaching English and working in public edu-
cation. Further, as noted in the purpose of the
study, the researchers sought to inquire and
subsequently analyze the perceptions of these
teacher participants relative to the value of
YouTube videos in terms of potential training
tools in the classroom. This approach would
support an action research design based on
phenomenological inquiry. Given the nature of
this type of qualitative methodological design,
the number of teacher participants was limited
in size to six participants since the scope of the
study was relatively small and saturation would
in all probability be met by such a low number
(Charmoz, 2000).
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Participants
Six educators currently practicing in grades
7 through 12 in Pennsylvania were selected
for this study as a means of purposeful sam-
pling. Purposeful sampling was important to
the success of this study because the intent
of a purposeful selection is to “…purpose-
fully inform an understanding of the research
problem and central phenomenon in the study”
(Creswell, 2007, p. 125). Hence, the research-
ers purposefully selected these individuals
because their insights and reflections based on
their experience with YouTube training videos
were used to assist the researchers in determin-
ing the success of YouTube videos as teacher
training and professional development tools.
Specifically, participants were selected to act
as a representative for a particular role.
The roles are documented as follows:
1. A secondary social studies teacher with a
background in theory
2. A secondary English teacher
3. An elementary teacher
4. An English as a Second Language (ESL)
teacher
5. A pre-service English teacher
6. A special education teacher with a grade
6 through 9 English certificate
These individuals were purposefully
selected so as to represent a range of educa-
tional backgrounds present in the secondary
environment. Their varying experiences served
to provide adequate data to answer the research
questions and to provide a point of saturation.
Procedures
For this study, six participants who currently
hold a Pennsylvania education certificate and
an educational position within a public school
district were purposefully selected by the
researchers. These participants were emailed
three hyperlinks to training videos linked to
the researchers’ private YouTube Channel. The
three training videos were approximately three
InternationalJournalofInformationandCommunicationTechnologyEducation,10(4),30-40,October-December2014 35
minutes each for a total of nine minutes and
provided training to the model, The Literary
Theory Implementation (LTI) Model. After the
participants completed the nine-minute training,
the researchers conducted in-depth interviews
with the participants following a semi-structured
protocol. The researchers used an RCA digital
recording device to record the interviews. The
transcripts of those interviews and the .wav files
are held under lock and key to ensure that the
participants’ identities are confidential.
Data Analysis
The researchers collected data using a semi-
structured interview protocol. Once the data was
transcribed, the researchers analyzed the data
via a coding system with the intent to identify
common themes based on the research questions
(Brazeley, 2007). Each research question was
given a particular color; information relevant
to that research question was highlighted in
that particular color. The researchers used this
coding method to identify emerging themes
based on the research questions.
LIMITATIONS
Because this study was limited to teaching
professionals in the geographic area, gen-
eralizability may be somewhat limited. The
same concern may be that the study mostly
was targeted to secondary teachers since both
researchers have experiential background and
have worked with secondary teachers.
RESULTS
Summary of Findings for
Research Question 1
In order to demonstrate the training necessary
to teach higher-order concepts, respondents
were asked questions about the importance of
preparation and quality training. Additionally,
respondents evaluated the connection between
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higher-order concepts and the YouTube video
training tool.
Summary of Findings for
Research Question 2
In accordance with second research question of
this study, respondents were asked to identify the
strengths and weaknesses of the YouTube video
training strategy for professional development
and teacher training.
Summary of Findings for
Research Question 3
For research question three, the respondents
were asked to discuss weaknesses in other
areas of professional development and teacher
training and then compare the YouTube video
training to those examples.
DISCUSSION
Several patterns and themes emerged in the
analysis of the data.
Theme 1: Convenience
The theme of convenience emerged in all three
research domains. Five of the respondents
indicated the benefit of the convenience of the
YouTube training. This is a significant find-
ing because several respondents reported the
demands of their schedules and the difficulty
finding time to attend professional development
and teacher training opportunities, which is
consistent with the research indicating the dif-
ficulty for teachers to find time for professional
development (Abdal-Haqq, 1996; Bubb &
Earley, 2013; NECTL, 1994). Because teachers
lack the time necessary to attend quality profes-
sional development and teacher training, this
study found that ICT in the form of YouTube
videos can be used to provide quality instruction
at their convenience (Jung, 2005; Vrasidas &
Glass, 2007). Additionally, the English teacher
explained that the YouTube videos are also free,
which makes them more practical.
36 InternationalJournalofInformationandCommunicationTechnologyEducation,10(4),30-40,October-December2014
Table 1. Summary of findings for research question 2
Summary of Participants’ Perceptions for Research Question 1
Participant Preparation for developing instruction to
foster higher-order thinking skills
Pre-Service Practice before using the new strategy
Teacher
Special Having something modeled; video
Education provided details and strategies to make it
Teacher easy to implement
Content Area View examples in action; Mostly
Teacher demonstration with a little background and
justification on why it works
English Teacher Concrete examples; explanations of
what has been tried and were successful;
definitions of terminology
English as More than one training; a review; distinct
a Second examples from the field
Language
Teacher
Elementary Direct, one-on-one instruction; modeling
Teacher of specific examples; time to practice;
YouTube videos were effective to teach
LTI Model
Additionally, the accessibility of the
YouTube videos provided added convenience.
Three respondents believed the ability to view
them anywhere via the internet was beneficial;
this notion is supported in the research as well
(Seppälä & Alamäki, 2002; Vrasidas & Glass,
2007). The pre-service teacher, content area
teacher, and English teacher identified their
cell phones as an additional means to access
the video, which would aid in accessibility and,
therefore, convenience. In today’s digital world,
this idea is not new. Seppälä and Alamäki (2002)
also support the benefit of mobile devices as
a way to provide professional development.
Theme 2: Consistency
In order for professional development to impact
practice, research suggests that the training must
be ongoing and of high quality (Desimone et al.,
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Benefits of the YouTube video training for
teaching higher-order concepts
Easy to follow; watch over and over when
you want to help prepare; visual and auditory
delivery is helpful; was successful in teaching
the complex LTI Model
Ability to fast forward and revisit specific parts;
listen to the same wording; watch it right before
implementing as a reminder; videos explained
LTI Model well
Watch it as a refresher before using, watch it
many times in preparation to successfully teach;
LTI Model was well explained and simple to use
and no additional training would be necessary
Visual aids increase comprehension; can move
quickly or slowly; rewind for clarification;
videos fully explained the LTI Model
Ability to go back and review on own time;
convenience; not dependent upon someone else
for delivery; YouTube videos provided enough
instruction to use LTI Model
Appeal to visual learners; ability to rewind and
review until the concept is understood; YouTube
videos were very effective to teach LTI Model
2002; Vrasidas & Glass, 2007). The respondents
in this study overwhelmingly referred to the con-
sistency and availability of the videos as a way
to refresh and retrain. All respondents favorably
reported on the rewind and rewatch capabilities
of the videos. This supports the related research
because the respondents described the ideal of
being able to watch the videos over and over
again at any time according to their comfort and
discretion (Desimone et al., 2002; Vrasidas &
Glass, 2007). Two respondents also identified
the YouTube videos as a possible way to supple-
ment in-person training. While three out of six
respondents found the ability to ask questions
in an in-person training to be favorable, two of
those three respondents criticized that in-person
training lacks follow-up support, which could
be provided by YouTube videos. The suggestion
to use YouTube videos as a follow-up option
would make the in-person training ongoing
InternationalJournalofInformationandCommunicationTechnologyEducation,10(4),30-40,October-December2014 37

Table 2. Summary of participants’ perceptions for research question 2

Participant Strengthens of the YouTube video Weaknesses of the YouTube training strategy
training strategy
Pre-Service Explained the topic well, can be taken Cannot receive immediate feedback for
Teacher anywhere, can share with colleagues easily, questions; cannot control the speed of playback
can replay, can ask questions through
comment box on YouTube
Special Provided good example; being able to fast One cohesive video would be helpful
Education forward and review and consistent wording
Teacher are helpful; good for visual and auditory
learners
Content Area Very direct and time efficient; accessibility Unreliable internet access is the only problem; if
Teacher is great; can view any time of day; all you you needed clarification on something, a link to
need is the internet; great use of media to the author would be helpful
make teaching easier
English Teacher Visual learning competency; learn at None
own pace; ability to rewind; have access
anywhere with internet
English as Review is possible and easy; do not have to If you have specific questions, there is no one
a Second rely on someone else; on your own time to ask
Language
Teacher
Elementary Visual learning tool to appeal to visual You cannot ask questions on the spot
Teacher learners; the ability to rewind and review;
the audio is helpful

and continuous at the discretion of the teacher,
thereby improving the overall quality of the
training experience for the trainee (Desimone
et al., 2002; Vrasidas & Glass, 2007).
Theme 3: Quality
All of the respondents described the LTI Model
as simple and easy to implement due to the
high-quality nature of the YouTube videos.
Discussing the quality of the YouTube videos
training, all respondents felt that they could
use the LTI Model on their own. The LTI
Model teaches a strategy (i.e., how to imple-
ment literary theory and multiple perspectives
in a K-12 environment) that has been deemed
difficult to implement by researchers (Apple-
bee, 1993; Mendelman, 2007; Richardson &
Morgan, 1997; Rozema, 2001; Wolfe, 2010).
The participants in this study represented a wide
range of backgrounds, yet they all reported
competency with the model after the training,
directly attributed to the quality of the YouTube
videos. Comparing the YouTube training videos
to other training modalities, three out of the six
of the respondents specifically identified the
opportunity to ask questions to be a significant
benefit of in-person training. In the same regard,
four respondents specifically desired a way to
ask questions and receive feedback for their
YouTube training. Two participants suggested
the benefit of using the YouTube videos as a
supplement to in-person training. One of the
respondents explained, “I could definitely see
the potential to use the YouTubes [YouTube
videos] as a way to refresh the in-person train-
ing. I always forget about what I learned when
I get back to school. It would be great to have
the YouTubes available for additional training
and remembering at the time when I need it.”

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38 InternationalJournalofInformationandCommunicationTechnologyEducation,10(4),30-40,October-December2014
Table 3. Summary of participants’ perceptions for research question 3
Participant Weaknesses of other types of professional
development
Pre-Service Lectures and speakers level of engagement
Teacher is unpredictable; Webinars no visuals can
make it dry
Special PowerPoint presentations and lectures
Education make it hard to retain training when you
Teacher need to use it later
Content Area School-sponsored in-services, presenters,
Teacher content area experts, and Master’s degree
classes vary in effectiveness depending on
the person
English Teacher Travel and expense of attending
conferences and workshops and quality
speakers
English as Training does not pertain to a specific
a Second content area; quality of the delivery varies
Language
Teacher
Elementary Lecture and online learning can be very
Teacher weak when visuals are limited and not
available for review
Theme 4: Appeal to Visual
and Auditory Learners
One of the significant findings of this study is
the impact of the visual and auditory sensory
appeals of the videos. Four out of six respon-
dents described themselves as visual learners;
therefore, the visuals in the video in addition to
the auditory direction aided these individuals
in their understanding of a seemingly difficult
concept. This finding is supported by a study
conducted by Shams and Seitz (2008). The
results indicated that “multisensory training is
can be more effective than similar unisensory
training paradigms” (Shams & Seitz, 2008, p. 5).
CONCLUSION
The YouTube video training was deemed a
quality strategy to assist teachers in the imple-
mentation of higher-order teaching skills. Re-
search suggests that ongoing and high-quality
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Other professional development compared to
YouTube video training
YouTube is better because you can see it and
hear it, and you can access it from anywhere at
any time, but unlike in-person training questions
cannot be asked
YouTube is good for visual learners because
they can see an example being used instead of
someone telling them how it is used
YouTube is quicker and more efficient; it is
available when you need it; lacks person-to-
person interaction
Far more convenient and inexpensive
Do not need to be an expert; all material and
language are consistent; time efficient
YouTube is superior for convenience; YouTube
made the concept self-explanatory so learning
was self-directed; cannot ask questions, like an
in-person training
professional development components are the
key ingredients to invoking teacher change
(Desimone et al., 2002, Vrasidas & Glass,
2007;). The participants reported the quality and
consistency of the training and an appeal to vi-
sual learners, which made it effective. Although
the YouTube video training strategy provides
limitless accessibility and, therefore, is ongoing,
feedback is limited; this factor contributed to
the identified weaknesses for the participants.
The respondents did not feel that this limitation
hindered their ability to implement the given
model; yet, several respondents described pos-
sible remedies that could improve this issue
in the future. First, the YouTube videos could
be linked to an email address of the trainer to
give viewers the opportunity to ask questions
through email. Perhaps even easier, the trainer
could include a cue in the video to instruct
viewers to leave questions in the comment
section of the YouTube page for the trainer to
answer in the same forum. Finally, the quality
InternationalJournalofInformationandCommunicationTechnologyEducation,10(4),30-40,October-December2014 39
and consistency of the YouTube training videos
could reinforce in-person training if used as an
agent for continuous support.
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Jenna Copper is a high school English teacher at Slippery Rock Area High School. She earned her Ph.D.
in Instructional Management and Leadership from Robert Morris University. Jenna received her Master
of Education degree in Secondary Education English and Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature
from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. She is the creator of the Literary Theory Implementation
(LTI) Model, an educational tool designed to help teachers implement multiple perspectives through liter-
ary theory in their classrooms.
George Semich serves as Program Administrator for the Doctor of Education Program in Instructional
Management and Leadership at Robert Morris University. George earned an Ed.D. from Nova Southeast-
ern University in Higher Education/Administration, an M.Ed. in Communications from the University of
Pittsburgh, and B.S. in Comprehensive English from California University of Pennsylvania. He has worked
in public education for over thirty one years and also served on the Library Board of Trustees and the
Planning Commission in Moon Township.

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