collaborative reflection and self-assessment for enhancing online professional development: a case for novices

The arrival of the covid-19 pandemic has brought substantial changes in the approaches to learning and teaching. hence, to educate teachers professionally and continuously, novice teachers, one of the groups who have faced traditional and novel challenges, considering their instructional practices and professional development, need to learn how to work independently and collaboratively in online settings. novice teachers in online settings require more collaboration with other experienced colleagues and, at the same time, they have to learn to conduct self-assessment strategies to gain professional agency. due to the emergence of a new paradigm shift toward a collaborative reflective practice that has guaranteed teachers’ independent and collaborative development, this study explores how novice teachers use collaborative reflective practice and self-assessment strategies in the online setting. having a qualitative study to investigate 12 iranian english language novice teachers with a semi-structured interview, the result of theme-based analysis points out that novice teachers obtained some advantages collaboratively, like being able to share their first practices, learning from others, reflecting on critical incidents beforehand, gaining courage by others’ support, and working together, and individually, such as preparing before the class starts, outlining a clear road-map and lesson plan, setting vivid aims and objectives, reflecting the existing knowledge framework, gain the required skill, reflecting, and changing practices, reaching an ideal self, managing affective factors, increasing confidence, using self-motivating strategies, and creating unlimited learning moments. this study will inform teachers, policymakers, and teacher educators to train novice teachers during teacher education to conduct collaborative reflection and self-assessment in the future.