Online teachers who practice positive psychology: A hermeneutic phenomenological study of foreign-born online teachers' experiences in lifelong learning

ABSTRACT

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and digital transformation have significantly changed how people learn (Calvo & Peters, 2014;Riva et al., 2016). The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated a sudden transition in the teaching and learning community, necessitating a shift from face-to-face or blended learning environments to online or distance education. The drastic change challenged people's mental health, well-being, and coping mechanisms. Given the possibilities that technology can offer in this context, studying human flourishing in education has become imperative. Among the over eight million teachers in the U.S, approximately 287,600 of educators in postsecondary institutions were born outside of the U.S. (Furuya et al., 2019). Yet this marginalized population remains under-researched. This study attempts to incorporate constructs from ontological and epistemological concepts in psychology to understand the experiences of foreign-born educators who practice positive psychology while teaching online courses. This dissertation utilizes hermeneutic phenomenology to examine the lived experiences of eight foreign-born instructors, guided by the research question what is it like to experience transcendence and transformation for foreign-born online teachers who practice positive psychology? Four themes emerged from the findings on lived experience (1) understanding optimism and resilience as strength, (2) meeting challenges and opportunities when in collaboration with others, (3) being flexible and adaptable to technological changes, and (4) seeking sustained opportunity for self-improvement. The findings provided insights into the challenges and triumphs of online education and may energize future strength-based and growth-oriented positive technology research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)