Abstract
This paper reports on an online distance learning course that emphasizes the improvement of the self-efficacy beliefs of in-service elementary school teachers in teaching biological concepts. The course utilizes digital educational content and Open Educational Resources (OERs) and focuses on the interaction, peer support, and peer teaching into an online learning environment. In the design framework of the course, we investigated the educational needs of teachers and took into consideration the findings of other studies. A total of 251 teachers were enrolled in the online distance learning course and 142 completed it. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected in November 2020 through the bio-STEBI-A instrument and the posts in the forums of the course. The quantitative results revealed an improvement in both subscales of bio-STEBI-A, which were also confirmed by the qualitative ones, that underline the course, thus contributing to the improvement of self-efficacy beliefs of in-service elementary school teachers in teaching biological concepts. Recommendations are made for future research.
Highlights
Effective teaching is a great challenge for all subjects and all levels of education and is directly related to the teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, which affect their teaching behavior, their teaching practices, and the learning outcomes (Bandura, 1997)
This paper reports on an online distance learning course that emphasizes the improvement of the self-efficacy beliefs of in-service elementary school teachers in teaching biological concepts
After an invitation to the in-service elementary school teachers, who filled in the bio-STEBI-A questionnaire, we explored their interest in participating in an online course that utilizes digital educational content and Open Educational Resources (OERs) in the teaching of biological concepts in Primary School and 349 of them expressed interest in attending it (Tzovla et al, 2021a)
Summary
Effective teaching is a great challenge for all subjects and all levels of education and is directly related to the teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, which affect their teaching behavior, their teaching practices, and the learning outcomes (Bandura, 1997). Studies report improvement of teachers’ self-efficacy they participate in professional development courses (Mulholland et al, 2004; Kreischer-Gajewicz, 2019), which over the last decade have increasingly been offered in the form of online distance learning courses (Aji & Khan, 2019; Mertasari & Candiasa, 2020; Yoo, 2016). These courses are facilitated by the digital revolution and enhance opportunities to teachers for utilization of technology platforms, mobile devices, social media, and access to digital educational content and OERs
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