Do STEM teachers have the potential to become leaders in online education?

Abstract

STEM teachers would need to be familiar with the use of technology in the classroom and in fact they appeared to find online teaching very simple and natural. We have an opportunity to get a clearer idea of the challenges that STEM teachers faced as they transitioned from FTF to the online teaching precipitated by the COVID-19 epidemic, how well they were able to respond, and what changes were implemented. A qualitative design, with a case study approach, was used to find out how well they responded and what necessary changes had needed to be implemented. Nine STEM teachers took part in this study and the interview questions used by Sintema were modified and used as the main research tool (2020). Interviews were carried out in three steps. The data were divided into four stages: "#1 preparation time," "#2 early phase," "#3 late phase," and "#4 resumption of face-to-face teaching." In this study all the changes in method and characteristics elicited by online teaching of STEM were compared with those in use before the advent of large-scale online teaching. We uncovered many of the difficulties and concerns experienced by teachers who were under pressure to make the online courses significant in a short period of time. The study also discovered that the challenges that STEM teachers face are quite complex and diverse, and that STEM teachers' online teaching experiences can indeed become an important reference for teachers of other disciplines.