Abstract
This study explored teacher experience in leading Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) in K-12 and conducting blended synchronous and asynchronous instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study’s purpose was to understand the pedagogical, technological, and organizational challenges and benefits of computing-enhanced digital learning environments, and to explore teachers' pedagogical strategies. This study employed a qualitative research paradigm using nation-wide, online samples, which included 133 elementary and secondary school teachers from Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking schools in Israel. Participants were asked to share their perspectives and experiences of ERT through open-ended questions in an online questionnaire. The bottom-up analysis of the data, based on the Grounded Theory approach, yielded 1,822 statements reflecting teachers' perceptions of pedagogical, technological, and organizational challenges (N = 580) and benefits of ERT (N = 827). The analysis also revealed a variety of pedagogical distance learning strategies used by teachers (N = 415). The study raises the need to turn a curse into a blessing by incorporating the experience of remote technology-enhanced learning and online activities into the school agenda on a regular basis. Thus, teachers and students would develop important digital competencies and be prepared for the next emergency event. The implications of our findings for educational theory and practice of educational computing are discussed.
Highlights
Maintaining learning in a time of global disruption in order to support students’ well-being has become a major challenge for the entire global education community (Huang et al, 2020)
Distance Learning (DL), which is the base of Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT), can enable education anywhere and anytime, and during an emergency event it can create a structured daily routine with meaningful and creative activities for students (Burde et al, 2017)
This study explored the different aspects of challenges and benefits in conducting online distance learning processes in times of crisis, and the pedagogical strategies teachers used during ERT
Summary
Maintaining learning in a time of global disruption in order to support students’ well-being has become a major challenge for the entire global education community (Huang et al, 2020). Due to emergencies and traumatic events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, schools are unable to carry out their activities normally. At such times, education systems should provide Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) as an alternative way of preserving the teaching-learning processes (Hodges et al, 2020; Laprairie & Hinson, 2006). Distance Learning (DL), which is the base of ERT, can enable education anywhere and anytime, and during an emergency event it can create a structured daily routine with meaningful and creative activities for students (Burde et al, 2017). As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ministries of Education (MoE) around the world have been forced to conduct schooling for students in their homes. Online learning has ensured that, despite the lockdown and inability to attend schools (Kong, 2020), education can continue with a minimum disruption of the routine learning process until it is safe again to return to face-to-face learning (Xie & Yang, 2020)
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