Working Research

Utilizing Organizational Development Theory to Critically Look at Distance Learning and Teaching During COVID-19

On April 17, 2020, approximately one month after many governments implemented a lockdown, “many teachers received a couple of days of training before being asked to overhaul nearly every facet of their job. The lucky ones had a couple weeks” (Adams, 2020). Furthermore, on September 10, 2020, after many United States (U.S.) public schools returned from summer break, the U.S. discovered that “our public education system was not built, nor prepared, to cope with a situation like this [virtual teaching during the Covid-19 lockdown]” (García & Weiss, 2020). García & Weiss were describing how schools moved from teaching in a face-to-face environment to teaching virtual (i.e., asynchronous and synchronous) environment.  García & Weiss (2020) affirmed that “we [the U.S.] lack[ed] the structures to sustain effective teaching and learning during the shutdown and to provide the safety net supports that many children receive in school”. However, if one critically reviews an Organizational Development Theory called Organizational Change (OC) it will clearly illustrate the importance of time and planning when an organization is making changes to their structure, technology, and processes. The education system (i.e., organizations) shifted from in-person to online—changing their structure, technology, and process. However, did the organization complete a strategic organizational change? Holt, Love, & Jawahar Nesan, (2000) discuss how a successful change has three major phases, in which the first major phase is the preparation phase. Kotter (2007) argues, and has argued for decades, that for a successful change there are eight steps, which includes a preparation phase, an organization must take. Furthermore, Kotter (2007) argues that a successful change process usually requires an extensive amount of time—which the U.S. and other schools around the world did not have. Therefore, this paper will persuasively make three arguments: (1) For most education institutions, moving from a face-to-face learning environment to a distance learning and teaching environment during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine was an “emergency mandatory change” (EMC) mandated by governments, (2) Since most education institutions lacked time to prepare and properly implement an organization change (i.e., to move from face-to-face to distance learning and teaching), during the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., March of 2020 until the end of the academic year of 2020-2021); therefore, most education institutions and instructors, unfortunately, were set-up to fail, and (3) If an education institution did not utilize their down-time (e.g., summer break of 2020) to create a proper plan (i.e., at least, providing training to instructors and students; create a teaching, learning, and technology (TLT) center to provide support to the instructors and students; set accountability standards for education institutions and students; and create a clear learning and work schedule for instructors and students) for continuing distance learning, for the academic school year of 2020-2021, the instructors and students were set-up to fail.

Keywords: Organizational Development, Educator Training, Educational Leadership, COVID-19 Educator Preparedness, Quarantine Teaching, School Improvement, Distance Learning and Teaching During COVID-19, Organization Change, Emergency Mandatory Change (EMC)

How to Cite:

Boyle, T. B. (2025). Utilizing Organizational Development Theory to Critically Look at Distance Learning and Teaching During COVID-19. Retrieve https://www.hopemoreinternational.org/working-research.