Managing Digital Professional Learning for Islamic Religious Education Teachers: Institutional Support, Workload, and Capability Development

Abstract

Digital professional learning is often discussed in terms of teacher readiness or platform access; however, these perspectives can overlook the institutional conditions that make participation feasible for teachers. This study examined how an Indonesian in-service teacher education program could better support Islamic Religious Education (PAI) teachers. Using a qualitative descriptive design, this study analyzed a purposively constructed corpus of 180 participants based on two open-ended program evaluation prompts. A first-cycle content analysis identified five descriptive themes, after which a management-focused second cycle reorganized relevant meaning units into four responsibilities: reliable digital services, workload-sensitive program organization, responsive instructional support, and differentiated capability development. Teachers valued digital access and flexibility, but participation became harder when the systems were unstable, deadlines collided with full-time teaching, feedback was unclear, PAI examples were limited, and technical guidance assumed similar levels of competence as the teachers. They also emphasized that direct interaction, moral modeling, and embodied religious practice are still important in digitally supported learning. Bringing these findings together with the international professional-learning literature, this study proposes a five-stage adaptive management framework: diagnose conditions, design participation, deliver reliable services, develop capability, and review and improve. The framework treats digital professional learning as an adaptive educational service rather than a technology adoption project.