Preparing Teachers to Teach in K-12 Blended Environments: A Systematic Mapping Review of Research Trends, Impact, and Themes

Abstract

Despite evidence concerning the widespread growth of K-12 blended teaching and the impact that emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the spread of K-12 online and blended teaching, we could find no systematic reviews focused on preparing K-12 teachers for blended teaching. Previous literature reviews, such as those from Halverson et al. (2012) and Drysdale et al. (2013), have noted the lack of research focused on K-12 blended teaching contexts. This systematic mapping review (Grant & Booth, 2009) of 88 K-12 blended teacher preparation articles focused on identifying trends in author impact according to citation count and number of publications, journal impact according to number of publications, prevalence of research methods, and prevalence of research themes according to research questions and findings. The analysis provides a valuable snapshot of current literature, sets a foundation for a deeper thematic analysis of K-12 blended teacher preparation literature, and identifies some potential areas for future K-12 blended teaching research.