Journeying through Digital Transformation: Experiences of Teachers and Administrators in the Adaption of Digital Professional Development in Public Schools

This study examined teachers’ and school administrators’ experiences of Digital Professional Development (DPD) in selected rural public schools in Bohol, Philippines. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was used, in which survey responses from 348 educators—305 teachers and 43 school administrators—preceded the analysis of 19 written accounts from 13 teachers and six school administrators. A 100-item, four-point questionnaire measured engagement, challenges, and coping and adaptation. Responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests (Mann–Whitney U, Kruskal–Wallis H, chi-square, and Spearman correlation), while the written accounts were examined through thematic analysis. Overall engagement was high (M = 3.19), with very high perceived relevance (M = 3.35) and participation rated lowest among the dimensions (M = 3.07). Challenges were also high (M = 3.06), led by workload and time demands (M = 3.16) and technological and access barriers (M = 3.11), and coping and adaptation were high (M = 3.23). Overall engagement differed by role, age group, and educational attainment and was associated with service and DPD-attendance categories, while gender differences were not significant (p = .504). Engagement was positively related to challenges (rₛ = .205) and to coping and adaptation (rₛ = .629), both p < .001. Six themes emerged: useful learning in everyday work; infrastructure, time, and confidence gaps; collegial help, practice, and resourcefulness; uneven institutional support; practical, sustained, and equitable DPD; and gradual progress and adaptation. Recognized usefulness thus coexisted with continuing barriers to participation and application. The integrated evidence supports practical training, protected learning time, reliable resources, and continuing peer and institutional assistance, which informed a proposed six-month action plan built around a six-hour practical training activity. Because the evidence is self-reported and integration was conducted at the group level, the findings establish neither causal effects nor improvements in learner outcomes.