Online teaching self-efficacy of physical therapy educators in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background: Following COVID-19, higher educational institutions are advancing towards distance learning, which is a new experience for many educators. Self-efficacy is a cognitive trait related to perseverance and determination in overcoming the challenges. Objective: To assess the level of virtual teaching self-efficacy of physical therapy academicians. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. All physical therapy educators who were offering online courses during the pandemic received a link to a web survey through Google forms. The Michigan Nurse Educator's Sense of Efficacy for Online Teaching instrument was implied to assess self-efficacy for teaching methods. Using a 32-items MNESEOT scale, study respondents were asked to rate their responses to questions about teaching methods on a Likert scale ranging over 'nothing' (1) to 'a great deal' (9). Mean scores were computed for every participant for different domains of instructional strategies, classroom management, student participation, and computer skills. Results: Faculty who were asked how effective they felt teaching online stated that they were most effective when using computers and instructional strategies (7.0), followed by classroom management (6.9) and student engagement (6.6) with a mean score of 27.50±4.7. Participants generally reported that they could prepare, conduct, and evaluate online courses to an extent greater than "some" to "quite a bit." Conclusion: It is concluded that the self-efficacy of study participants in online instruction was quite high.