Portuguese Teachers’ Conceptions of the Use of Microsoft 365 during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

In 2020, education found itself involved in a whirlwind of metamorphosis, of transformations that required responses to the emergencies dictated by the pandemic. In Portugal, many schools opted for Microsoft 365 as the platform of choice for providing adequate resources for teaching and learning processes, while also ensuring remote teaching in an integrated and inclusive way. In this context, we carried out an investigation with the objectives of knowing the opinion of teachers about the use of Microsoft 365 in their classes and identify their degree of satisfaction with its use. The methodology adopted had a descriptive and exploratory nature, following a mixed paradigm. A total of 101 primary and secondary school teachers from schools in Northern Portugal participated in the study. A questionnaire and an interview were used as data collection instruments. The results showed that the most respondents revealed a high level of satisfaction with the use of Microsoft 365, and that its use was accompanied by the employment of active methodologies. Moreover, despite the lack of initial or ongoing training of teachers in the use of this technology and the students’ lack of digital competence, Microsoft 365 proved to be an adequate response to the confinement and ensured students’ learning in a safe environment.