Preservice Teachers’ Evolving View of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Online Learning

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to investigate preservice teachers’ evolving views towards online learning, technological efficacy, and their outlook regarding the strengths and constraints of online learning after a forced transition to online learning during the pandemic of COVID-19. 104 students from two semesters participated in the study. They took Teacher Education as a major or minor. Group 1 was from the Fall semester of 2020. Group 2 was from the following semester of Spring 2021. Group 2 had one more semester of online learning experiences. A mixed-methods design was used to analyze both quantitative and qualitative data from an online survey. Results show preservice teachers’ technological self-efficacy and interest increased over time and their attitudes towards online learning became significantly positive. This study provides a concrete understanding of preservice teachers’ evolving view towards online education, which could have a critical impact on the adoption of online learning in future K-12 settings © 2022, International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning. All Rights Reserved.