Academics' attitudes towards online education amidst the Covid-19 outbreak

Abstract

PurposeThe present scenario of the Covid-19 pandemic, together with technological advancements, has provoked unprecedented turbulence in the education system, notably in universities, disrupting their conventional teaching and learning processes. Despite government support, teachers and students faced numerous challenges in the online teaching and learning process than expected. Extensive research has been undertaken to investigate the context of online education from the perspective of students, but less emphasis has been given to examining the views of teachers. Thus, the study aimed to explore attitudes of academics towards online teaching during the Covid-19 outbreak.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted in Sri Lanka, with the population consisting of academics representing all state universities. An email survey was conducted randomly, and 355 academics responded to a Google form, out of which 332 refined questionnaires were used for analysis. Multi-item reflective indicators were used to operationalize the research constructs on a 7-point Likert scale. The face, content, and construct validities were ensured appropriately. The reflective-reflective two-stage hierarchical approach with disjoint option was applied to analyze the data using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) model. After rigorous and careful examination of data, the descriptive statistics revealed that the university academics are pretty distressed with their Internet connections and facilities at home to conduct online lectures.FindingsActive student participation was just above the average, while teacher's attitudes towards online education, their willingness to continue it further seem quite unsatisfactory. Teacher readiness for online education appears to be acceptable only to a certain extent. The key findings of the study disclosed that the attitudes towards online teaching are determined by perceived usefulness, teacher readiness, perceived student participation whereas active student participation, a conducive teaching environment and institutional support have no significant impact on attitude towards online teaching. Further, the study contributed to the education literature analyzing online education in the Sri Lankan context.Originality/valueThis study sparked the debate and contributed to the literature exploring the concept from the side of teachers in which attitudes of teachers towards online teaching in Sri Lankan Contest.