ABSTRACT
To examine the effects of the sudden shift to online instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the early months of 2020, we sought to get a firsthand understanding of the experiences of teachers who were required to make the change to full online teaching. Teaching online requires technological knowledge, but it also requires a different pedagogy in order to keep students engaged and motivated to learn. Many educators indicated that this was a significant challenge. Our goal was to illuminate teachers' experiences in order to include their voices in changes to educator preparation programs. A total of 699 complete survey responses were received representing educators in several grade levels working in nine states in the United States. Qualitative analysis revealed that many responses were related to extant research on teachers' self-efficacy. Thus, this paper will shed light on the experiences of educators during the first semester of 2020 including the months of January through April, and teachers' perceived efficacy. We find that teachers felt more efficacious regarding aspects of online teaching over which they felt an internal locus of control, such as delivery of curriculum and their own skill in the use of technology. For items over which they had less control, such as parental support and involvement, student motivation, and student access to adequate technology, teachers indicated much less efficacy. The majority of responses paint a complicated and somewhat dismal picture of the loss of personal connection with their students. Based on these data, recommendations for both education preparation programs, and policy are discussed such as districts and schools must provide sufficient professional learning opportunities and create a culture of collaboration amongst teachers that can assist them in building internal school capacity for good online instruction for their students. The COVID-19 pandemic should be used as an opportunity to evaluate gaps in digital equity and make positive strides to ensure all students, regardless of race, disability, economic background, or geographic location, have full access to quality online education. © 2023, Athens Institute for Education and Research. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the emergency transition to online instruction due to COVID-19 on faculty self-efficacy for online teaching. A survey was constructed by adapting items from multiple previously vetted instruments into a retrospective pre-test/post-test design. Data were collected in January 2022 from 83 faculty at a private, STEM-focused university in Pennsylvania. On average, respondents increased their online teaching load by approximately 25% as a result of the emergency transition due to COVID-19, after which they showed a statistically significant increase in online teaching self-efficacy with a very large effect size. Dispersion was lower in the post-COVID time period. Also, the more change to their typical course delivery mode a faculty experienced, the greater the increase in their online teaching self-efficacy. These findings suggest that the universal experience of the emergency transition to online instruction due to COVID-19 may have had an equalizing effect on online teaching self-efficacy. Age and scores on measures of teaching self-efficacy not specific to online instruction had statistically significant relationships with online teaching self-efficacy in separate pre- and post-COVID regression models;however, a Chow Test indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the two equations with all parameters taken together. Administrators should consider diversifying the modalities in which faculty teach to provide ongoing exposure to online teaching, which will support faculty online teaching self-efficacy and, thus, help prepare universities for any future unexpected transition to online instruction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the emergency transition to online instruction due to COVID-19 on faculty self-efficacy for online teaching. A survey was constructed by adapting items from multiple previously vetted instruments into a retrospective pre-test/post-test design. Data were collected in January 2022 from 83 faculty at a private, STEM-focused university in Pennsylvania. On average, respondents increased their online teaching load by approximately 25% as a result of the emergency transition due to COVID-19, after which they showed a statistically significant increase in online teaching self-efficacy with a very large effect size. Dispersion was lower in the post-COVID time period. Also, the more change to their typical course delivery mode a faculty experienced, the greater the increase in their online teaching self-efficacy. These findings suggest that the universal experience of the emergency transition to online instruction due to COVID-19 may have had an equalizing effect on online teaching self-efficacy. Age and scores on measures of teaching self-efficacy not specific to online instruction had statistically significant relationships with online teaching self-efficacy in separate pre- and post-COVID regression models;however, a Chow Test indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the two equations with all parameters taken together. Administrators should consider diversifying the modalities in which faculty teach to provide ongoing exposure to online teaching, which will support faculty online teaching self-efficacy and, thus, help prepare universities for any future unexpected transition to online instruction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT), and the unexpected transition to online teaching due to COVID-19 necessitates that teachers should have the knowledge, competent skills and strategies to integrate digital tools and platforms effectively. Literature suggests however that many teachers do not feel confident enough or lack perceived capability in teaching using advanced technologies in classrooms, and do not have positive self-efficacy beliefs towards their online teaching. Hence, the purpose of this mixed-method study is to investigate teachers' self-efficacy (TSE) in online learning environments amid COVID-19. A total of 150 K-12 teachers from six Arab countries were invited to participate in the study. Quantitative and qualitative data revealed that perceived self-efficacy of online teaching was high. Two main factors, receiving support to design online instruction and receiving professional development in online teaching, significantly predict participants' sense of self-efficacy. Teachers who have previous experience in online teaching scored higher on their self-efficacy than teachers with limited or no experience. Student engagement had the weakest correlation between the four scales with the overall self-efficacy. Parental involvement was discovered through the qualitative analysis to be an emerging factor that could enhance teachers' self-efficacy. Recommendations and limitations are further discussed.
ABSTRACT
Online learning resources (OLR) play an important role in teaching and learning in the process of online learning. Teachers will be satisfied with selectable and suitable online learning resources, which can promote their self-efficacy to facilitate online teaching and learning. This study proposed a model to examine the effects of the selectivity of online learning resources (SE-OLR) and the suitability of online learning resources (SU-OLR) on teachers' online teaching satisfaction, and the mediating role of technology self-efficacy (TECHN-SE) and online teaching self-efficacy (OT-SE) between them. The results indicated that SE-OLR and SU-OLR positively affected teachers' online teaching satisfaction; TECHN-SE and OT-SE positively influenced teachers' online teaching satisfaction, while TECHN-SE and OT-SE played mediating roles between SE-OLR and SU-OLR and teachers' online teaching satisfaction. The findings have implications for the design and development of online learning resources to improve teachers' satisfaction and facilitate students' learning effectiveness and teachers' online teaching.
ABSTRACT
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic presented new challenges in education, exposing its limitations and new and existing disparities within the system. While the pandemic has highlighted these issues, it has also provided new perspectives for educational technology and teaching and learning online. Due to shelter-in-place and stay-at-home mandates, many schools were forced to transition classes from in-person to online. As a result, many educators and students were pushed into the unfamiliarity of the virtual classroom. This qualitative instrumental case study sought to capture the lived experiences of K-12 educators who were graduates of an online educational technology program and had been teaching online due to the pandemic from March 2020 to February 2021. The purpose of this study was to describe their experiences and understand how the program may have influenced their self-efficacy to teach online. Data was collected through two methods: (a) questionnaire and (b) focus groups. Ten participants completed the questionnaire, and six of those participants self-selected to be in focus groups. From the questionnaire, four major themes emerged, and seven themes were identified from the focus group data. The two most cited themes were centered around student engagement and participants' technology backgrounds. The study's findings revealed that the program was beneficial for most participants and increased their confidence to teach online by equipping them with tools, resources, and strategies that were transferrable to the online environment.Participants primarily used technology skills, social and communication skills, and design skills while teaching online. However, the findings indicated a need to address educators' professional development in pedagogy skills and management and institution skills, which encompass student engagement and expectations respectively. The current study added to the body of research on educational technology programs and highlights the potential to develop educators' self-efficacy and knowledge domains beyond the scope of technology knowledge. It addressed a gap in literature exploring educators' experiences teaching online during COVID-19 and how skills and knowledge from the program may have assisted educators in that transition. Further research was recommended on topics, such as student engagement, equity, hybrid learning, and special education and pre-service educators' experiences teaching online. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)