Examining online teaching practices in a K-12 setting

Background Although advances in distance learning have shown signs of a reconfiguration of the teacher's role in online environments, a large number of online teaching practices still do not show many signs of this shift. Given the need for a change in pedagogies, investigating how exemplary teachers transfer their thinking, pedagogical knowledge, and beliefs to successful online teaching is critical to understanding new online learning and teaching practices. The research on online teacher roles and practices, however, has been limited in terms of bringing teachers’ voices into the research process and empowering them as autonomous professionals who constantly engage in a dialogue about solving complex problems and making decisions about online teaching. Purpose and Research Questions The purpose of this research was to look at exemplary online teachers’ transition to online teaching with a focus on their successful practices. The research investigated two central questions: (1) What are the successful practices that exemplary online teachers employ in their online teaching? (2) How do exemplary online teachers make a transition to online teaching in such a way that they create successful practices? Research Design The study followed a qualitative multiple-case study approach examining six different cases of exemplary online teachers and their teaching contexts within a large research university in the Midwestern United States. Using multiple cases allowed for comparison of similar and contrasting online teaching situations and conditions within the university's different colleges. Participants, Data Collection, and Analysis The data sources of the study consisted of (1) semistructured interviews conducted with six online program coordinators to collect contextual information and gather nominations for successful online teachers in each college, and (2) ethnographic interviews conducted with 6 online teachers nominated as exemplary to gather teacher-expressed needs, knowledge, and successful practices. Within- and cross-case analyses were conducted to generate codes and identify the similarities and differences across the cases as well as common themes. Conclusions/Recommendations The findings of this study indicated that when teachers described their successful practices, they often linked them to their changing roles and new representation of their “selves” within an online environment. Their portrayal of the teacher self, both built on a plethora of previous experiences and reformed with the affordances and limitations of the online environment, went through a process whereby teachers were constantly challenged to make themselves heard, known, and felt by their students. This study showed that it was critical to listen to teachers’ voices and give them a participatory role in the creation and use of their knowledge and experience in order to form their online teacher personas. As a result, programs that prepare faculty to teach online may need to encourage teachers to reflect on their past experiences, assumptions, and beliefs toward learning and teaching and transform their perspectives by engaging in pedagogical inquiry and problem solving.

Aim/Purpose: This study aims to examine the challenges faculty members face with online teaching practices in public universities in Karachi, Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Faculty members’ pedagogical experiences were examined by following the approach of the technology acceptance model (TAM) framework presented by Davis in 1986 and 1989. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected educational activities and disrupted the traditional norms of education at colleges and universities in the world, and, as a result, teaching and learning have shifted to online. Accordingly, the outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic has unexpectedly forced educators and educational leaders to analyze pedagogical measures to offer quality education to students and make changes to their curriculum and instruction. Methodology: This study used a mixed-method research design with closed-ended surveys and interviews. The researchers distributed online questionnaires and conducted phone call interviews, followed by simple random sampling approach to strengthen data collection and analysis. The research data were analyzed through descriptive statistical tests, including mean, standard deviation, and Pearson correlation, and thematic analysis. Contribution: By examining the challenges faculty members face with online teaching practices, this study contributes to the literature knowledge to advance the Practical-Knowledge gap (the lack of empirical studies in the context of practice and theoretical perspective) by knowing faculty members’ experiences and attitudes regarding online teaching in public universities in Karachi, Pakistan. The adopted framework of the technology acceptance model provides confirmation of reliability in the context of higher education institutions, which can help explore pedagogical challenges and practices of teachers who teach online in other provinces in Pakistan, cultures, and countries. This study provides suggestions to online teachers in Pakistan to sort out their challenges. Findings: The findings highlight a favorable attitude of faculty members’ usage of virtual platforms for teaching. Likewise, faculty members encountered several challenges that caused restrictions in accomplishing competent teaching and learning. Furthermore, faculty members lacked sound experience in conducting online classes and were not given adequate technical assistance or ICT infrastructure to cope with the technical challenges. Recommendations for Practitioners: It is recommended by this study that teachers should be given adequate professional development opportunities to develop technical and ICT infrastructure competencies to facilitate them to successfully teach online. Recommendation for Researchers: Another study should be conducted at the national level to reinforce the understanding and generalization of this study’s results. Furthermore, this study assessed public universities faculty members’ experiences through self-reported surveys and interviews. However, future researchers should employ other means and methods of examination such as private universities, public universities, primary schools, middle schools, secondary schools, and observations or focus group discussions to broaden the understanding of online teaching practices and challenges in Pakistan. Impact on Society: By examining faculty members’ experiences and challenges of teaching online, this study will help educators and educational leaders to raise the quality of online teaching in Pakistan by knowing the appropriate solutions and recommendations. Future Research: This study examined the adoption of three ICT indicators through pedagogical practices such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude to use. For future studies, researchers and practitioners should evaluate other indicators such as students’ learning outcomes.

Effective online teaching and learning practices for undergraduate health sciences students: An integrative review

NOTE: This is a repeat of the session with the same title offered on Tuesday, but with a different set of faculty panelists. The framework for both sessions is the same, but there will be unique perspectives and ideas shared, so there is benefit to attending both sessions. As Mason expands our fully-online programs and courses, we (faculty) need to learn about best practices for online teaching, and how to apply these best practices and strategies to our own online teaching in our courses and disciplines. Online teaching takes much time and effort, particularly when teaching online for the first-time or when teaching a new course online. What can we do to better support each other, and particularly support faculty who are new to online teaching? Communal learning, such as mentoring, coaching, and faculty learning communities, all can have positive effects on online teaching development (Wright, 2016), with new & experienced faculty sharing ideas, strategies, practices and experiences in a supportive environment. In this session, we will provide participants with an opportunity for communal learning, by featuring a Mason faculty panel who will share their “online teaching survival tips”, i.e., practical tips, strategies and solutions for a successful online course and online teaching experience. The multidisciplinary panel consists of Mason faculty with a range of online teaching experience, from very experienced to those who have just started teaching online. This session will consist of three components:(1) Q & A Discussion with Mason Faculty Panel; (2) Breakout sessions to discuss online teaching strategies & practices; and (3) Participant Feedback on Stearns Center Online Teaching Resources. Mason Faculty Panel (communal learning): Panel members will share & discuss their online teaching tips guided by the format of how an online course progresses through the semester, i.e., tips for the start of a course; tips during a course; and tips for wrapping up/ending a course. “Online teaching survival tips” will emphasize strategies for managing time and workload while teaching online. The panel also will address specific questions from the session participants about online teaching strategies. Breakout Groups will allow participants to discuss and share online teaching strategies and practices with panelists. Participant Feedback (conclusion & next steps): The session will conclude with panelists and participants discussing what resources are recommended to better support online teaching at Mason. What can Stearns Center-Digital Learning do to support faculty teaching online? And how can online faculty support each other? Participants will be provided with link to survey to share their recommendations for Stearns Center resources for online teaching. CITED Wright, M. 2016. Evidence-Based Principles for Online Faculty Development. EDUCAUSE Review® (November 14, 2016). https://er.educause.edu/articles/2016/11/evidence-based-principles-for-online-faculty-development (accessed 2/26/2020).

ObjectiveIn this study, the authors aim to compare perceptions of remote learning versus in-person learning among faculty and trainees at a single institution during the COVID-19 pandemic and to evaluate the impact that a brief faculty training on best practices in online teaching would have on faculty attitudes towards remote learning.MethodsThe authors conducted an attitude survey on remote learning among trainees and faculty members approximately 3 months after the transition from in-person to remote learning. The authors then conducted a faculty training on best practices in online teaching followed by an evaluation survey. Study findings were examined descriptively and by Fisher’s exact testing.ResultsThe response rates for the attitudes survey were 68% among trainees and 61% among faculty. Trainees and faculty perceived in-person learning more favorably than remote learning across a variety of domains, including overall enjoyment, interpersonal connection, ability to communicate, and concentration. Despite these trends, only 10% of trainees and 14% of faculty felt that all lectures would be most effectively delivered in-person when this becomes possible again. The response rate for the faculty training evaluation survey was 16%. Compared to non-attendees, faculty attendees reported more confidence in their ability to teach remotely (89% vs 56%, p=0.02) but not increased optimism (89% vs 63%, p=0.06).ConclusionsThe study findings suggest that both trainees and faculty perceive remote learning negatively compared to in-person learning but still feel that some lectures should be delivered remotely even after a return to in-person learning is possible.

Background:COVID-19 pandemic has affected the educational process greatly in the academic year 2019–2020. Therefore, this warranted an urgent and effective shift and intervention toward the online teaching practice.Aim:We have aimed in this study to assess the impact of the necessary shift of the educational process of the basic sciences toward the online distant learning in the female campus; Faculty of Medicine in Rabigh, King Abdulaziz University.Subjects and Methods:Promptly shift toward the online teaching practice through virtual classrooms for the 2nd and 3rd year students was accomplished during the second term of the academic year 2019–2020. Following that, we analyzed the efficacy of this shift qualitatively through focus group discussions with the students and the staff members. For objective assessment, we analyzed and compared the students' results of the second term of the academic years 2018–2019 and 2019–2020 regarding the same modules.Results:The results of the students were not negatively affected during the pandemic hit. Conversely, the results improved in the basic science modules, and no significant difference was found in the clinically-oriented genetic module.Conclusion:The significant move toward the online virtual classrooms did not affect the teaching and learning process negatively. Contrarily, the online teaching and learning practice have proved to be a decent alternative if applied on a sound basis during emergencies and thus is promising as an adjuvant method in the educational process in the ordinary circumstances.

The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that distance teaching and learning at educational institutions since 2020 has become common place. The Ministry of Education in Bhutan has taken the initiative to educate students using learning television and Internet-based online education instead of traditional classes. Thus, the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) and its ten constituent colleges have been swift in transitioning to online teaching through Moodle and varieties of other applications such as ZOOM, Big Blue Button and Google classroom since March 2020. Since then, offline and online blended teaching began at the College of Science and Technology (CST) under RUB in January 2021. In this paper, we focus on offline and online teaching and learning practices for assembly language programming with the 8085 microprocessor. A Zoom meeting is used for the online practical. Firstly, a tutor gives an 8085 assembly program lesson, which is common to both offline and online teaching practices. In the case of the offline practice, students assemble the assembly program into Hexadecimal code, by looking up a table of the 8085 instruction set. Finally, the Hexadecimal code is input and executed on an 8085 microprocessor trainer, and students confirm the output from the trainer. Here, the trainer is a small computer composed of a microprocessor, peripheral/communication interfaces, timer, memory, input device and output device. In the case of the online practice, on the other hand, students input the assembly program directly on a Web-based 8085 microprocessor simulator. We developed an 8085 microprocessor simulator using JavaScript. Then, students confirm the output from the simulator on a Web browser. The students took 6 offline learning practices and 4 online out of a total of 10. According to a questionnaire survey about the comparison of the offline and online practices from the students, they say offline practices are much better than online ones, because direct communication is important to understand the learning contents. We conclude that there is room for improvement in the online teaching methods.

When the Covid-19 pandemic started in March 2020, the educational process had to be redesigned to meet current needs. At the Faculty of Education of the University of Ljubljana, pre-service engineering and technology teachers (3rd and 4th years of undergraduate two-subject teachers’ study programme) are obliged to complete a teaching practice in educational institutions and submit a teaching practice diary. Due to the closure of primary schools, the teaching practice was transformed to distance/online practice. This empirical study examines a recently developed intuitive model for distance learning, which took place during the teaching practice. Teaching practice diaries served as an instrument for gathering data. The sample size encompasses 56 lesson plan activities for the compulsory primary school Design and Technology subject for students aged 12–15 years at 15 primary schools in different parts of Slovenia carried out during online teaching practice by 11 pre-service technology teachers in the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 academic years. The research methodology is focused on lesson-type determination and model elements analysis in lesson plan making and implementation activity. Distance learning model elements are evaluated with regard to online/offline learning tools from e-learning platforms to engineering education field-specific tools (e.g., technical drawings and electric circuits). Online teaching practice was as new for pre-service technology teachers and teacher-mentors as online learning was new for students. The advantages and disadvantages are highlighted. Furthermore, the distance learning model from the first Covid-19 wave teaching practice was adapted to challenge the second Covid-19 wave. The pandemic has enabled the rise of blended learning, which has been gaining focus in secondary and higher education levels in recent years; however, it encountered obstacles when entering the primary school domain. How to encompass blended learning into the evolved distance learning model will be shown.

Recent decades have shown a great increase in online and blended learning and teaching practices in higher education. The purpose of this book chapter is to explore and assess the existing literature on best practices in online and hybrid teaching and learning in the field of health education/promotion. Additionally, emerging practices Post-COVID-19 related to online and hybrid teaching as applicable to the field of health education/promotion were also explored.In order to collect the materials for the study, a Boolean search of CINAHL, MEDLINE, and ERIC, Education Research Complete databases was carried out using the terms and headings such as “online teaching,” “hybrid teaching,” “health education,” “health promotion,” and “public health” for the time period 2010–2020. The criteria for inclusion of the studies were: (1) publication in English language, (2) full-text peer-reviewed publications between 2010 and 2020, and (3) location of studies anywhere in the world Exclusion criteria were publications in languages other than English and studies published prior to 2010. Using the key terms “online teaching” and “public health” yielded 10 results and “online teaching” and “health education” yielded 19 results. This review highlighted the scant published literature (as gauged by studies published in the last decade) on efficacy and application of online and hybrid teaching and learning in the field of health education/promotion.We encourage health education professionals to conduct experimental and quasi-experimental studies for assessing efficacy of online and hybrid teaching and learning particularly using evidence-based frameworks such as Quality Matters (QM) or Online Learning Consortium (OLC) quality scorecard as mentioned earlier.

Online learning and teaching is rapidly increasing worldwide, including New Zealand’s schools, tertiary organisations and training companies. Extensive professional and organisational development is urgently needed to enable high quality education and training. We have evidence that our courses in best practices in online teaching and learning are impacting schools and tertiary education, including nurse education. This paper highlights aspects of our courses that appear to result in improvements in online and blended learning.

This Research to Practice Full Paper presents a reflective study showing the online teaching and advisory practices during Covid-19. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, distance learning and active practices to engage online learners are now centre focused on educational institutions' everyday praxis. Tertiary educators have often struggled during enforced lockdowns to convert courses from face-to-face delivery to pure online delivery. This change has presented challenges in curriculum development as academics strive to achieve best practice. It is also challenging to design a pedagogically sound and engaging course for diverse students from a broad spectrum of educational backgrounds. Online classes often require unique infrastructures such as devices with specific tools or hardware requirements. This paper presents a reflective study showing the online teaching and advisory practices during Covid-19 by the first author while teaching and supervising Master of Science (MSc) dissertation students online at a top-ranked UK university (i.e. University of Liverpool). The first author has been involved in the programme for more than ten years. This university is called University A (Uni A) throughout this paper. The paper demonstrates Uni A students' journey from finding the dissertation advisor to completing the research project. It also discusses the class structure, the university policy and guidelines, teaching practices, and how student progress is managed and assessed. The paper then contrasts the first authors experience at Uni A with that of all authors (including the first author - who has been working at both universities) experience supervising postgraduate and honours students at a top New Zealand University (i.e. Victoria University of Wellington). This university is called University B (Uni B) throughout this paper. The lessons learnt from teaching a stream of students enrolled in a pure distance learning degree (i.e. deliberate online degree) at Uni A offers insight into how Uni B might better restructure its predominantly face-to-face degrees to support both online and in-person best practices.

As online education continues to proliferate that there is a need to understand how institutions can better support faculty in the transition to online education. Building on work that has suggested the importance of learning spaces for faculty to engage in discussion and reflection on their move to online education, this paper employs Bakhtin's notion of ideological becoming to provide a theoretically grounded understanding of how the design of such spaces can better facilitate this move. The paper reveals how learning spaces designed to develop critical awareness empower faculty to navigate discourses of online education, enabling them to build on their existing knowledge and skills as educators. The findings reveal how engaging faculty in critical dialogue can enable a cumulative shift in thinking from discussions dominated by authoritative discourses of online education that create an initial confusion between performance and pedagogy to the development of critical awareness that enables them to challenge dominant discourses and reconnect with the self as an experienced educator. The paper provides an important insight into an approach that might enable institutions to better support faculty buy‐in and acceptance of online education. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic Institutions struggle to understand how best to engage faculty in the transition to online education. A number of frameworks and models have been proposed to facilitate the transition, but these mostly take a managerial perspective. The transition to online teaching is most effective when supported by opportunities for faculty to engage in critical reflection and discussion. Less is known about how opportunities for critical reflection support the transition process and there is a need to theoretically ground such understanding. What this paper adds The paper draws on Bakhtin's notion of ideological becoming to explore how learning spaces for educator discussion and reflection can be used to facilitate the transition process. The findings show how learning spaces can be designed to enable faculty to develop the skills to navigate and challenge dominant discourses of online learning. The development of critical awareness among educators can also facilitate the development of educational practices for both classroom and online teaching. Implications for practice and/or policy The transition to online education is not an individual activity, but a collaborative and dialogical process. Faculty need time and space to critically challenge dominant discourses of online education and to re‐establish their existing skills and experience within an online context. This should not be a one‐off event but an ongoing process and conversation in a constantly changing and evolving higher education context. At the policy level, we should not expect online educational practice to be based on one approach or model, but to celebrate individuality and innovation.

The sudden switch to online teaching enforced by the covid-19 pandemic has impacted teacher education at universities, particularly micro-teachings and teaching practice, as technology has become an inherent part of these processes. The growing body of literature on online teaching and teacher education during lockdown conditions mainly addresses challenges in teacher education and educator perceptions. However, very few studies deal with the perceptions of student- teachers. To fill this gap, a group of teacher educators conducted a research study with 63 students enrolled in a master’s Degree in Teaching efl for Secondary Schools offered at Masaryk University, Czechia. To carry it out, qualitative coding procedures were employed on a dataset of 120 lesson reflections written by students completing their teaching practice via online courses which were ordinarily conducted in person. The purpose was to find out how student-teachers perceived technology use when teaching online. The main findings show that, despite constant comparison between the face-to-face and online classrooms and an initial reliance on the success of technology to determine a lesson’s success, the majority of student-teachers normalized technology as a platform for teaching, using technology-specific language for teaching strategies and classroom events. These findings suggest that online teaching and learning should be seen as an integral part of teacher education.

The sudden switch to online teaching enforced by the covid-19 pandemic has impacted teacher education at universities, particularly micro-teachings and teaching practice, as technology has become an inherent part of these processes. The growing body of literature on online teaching and teacher education during lockdown conditions mainly addresses challenges in teacher education and educator perceptions. However, very few studies deal with the perceptions of student- teachers. To fill this gap, a group of teacher educators conducted a research study with 63 students enrolled in a master’s Degree in Teaching efl for Secondary Schools offered at Masaryk University, Czechia. To carry it out, qualitative coding procedures were employed on a dataset of 120 lesson reflections written by students completing their teaching practice via online courses which were ordinarily conducted in person. The purpose was to find out how student-teachers perceived technology use when teaching online. The main findings show that, despite constant comparison between the face-to-face and online classrooms and an initial reliance on the success of technology to determine a lesson’s success, the majority of student-teachers normalized technology as a platform for teaching, using technology-specific language for teaching strategies and classroom events. These findings suggest that online teaching and learning should be seen as an integral part of teacher education.

Background and objective: Online instruction is very different from teaching in a face-to-face setting and educators may lack formal pedagogical training specific to online instruction; in addition, online instructors may feel isolated and have less access to direct support than their counterparts on campus. The objective of this study was to promote best practice in online education through faculty support and professional development; a structured online training process was created.Methods: Design: Instructors that teach in the online venue need teaching and training to feel comfortable with the technology and online pedagogy strategies that support best practice in online education. A structured training process was created to support novice online educators. Setting: Nursing faculty and Masters of Science in Nursing education track students co-taught one online class together. Participants: Faculty and senior level Masters of Science in Nursing education track students were asked to reflect on their one-year teaching and training experience as educators. Methods: Qualitative analysis using Denzin’s interpretive interactionism was used to elicit meaning from participant experiences.Results: Four themes emerged from the data; online pedagogy, knowledge acquisition, mentor-mentee role, and online nurse educator. These themes align with the scholarship of teaching, discovery, application, and integration, respectively. The Training Model for Online Nurse Educators was developed to show this relationship.Conclusions: Using Boyer’s model of scholarship as a framework for online training can prepare instructors for the online nurse educator role. Online instructional delivery is a mainstay in education necessitating nurse educators who are prepared to apply best practice strategies in online education.