Digital Media in Teacher Professional Development: Where Do We Stand and Where Do We Want to Go?

Abstract: Digital media-related teacher professionalization is critical in integrating digital technologies into 21st century classrooms. However, in this rapidly growing area of research, teacher educators, policy administrators, and researchers find it challenging to identify and apply evidence to solve educational problems and to discern research gaps. To provide a systematic review of the current state of research, we mapped and categorized existing research syntheses on digital media in teacher professional development (PD). We systematically searched, screened, and extracted data from 38 research syntheses published in academic peer-reviewed journals between 2004 and 2024. We found a variety of characteristics of PD, with nine research syntheses investigating digital media as content, 25 as format, and four as content and format. Methodologically, the research syntheses were quite similar, as they mostly qualitatively analyzed and identified categories to cluster the primary studies. Meta-analyses that assessed the effectiveness were found to be mostly lacking.