Transition to Online Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia — A Study

Abstract

This paper aims to understand the transition from purely classroom teaching to online teaching method during the COVID-19 pandemic at the International Indian School Jubail in Saudi Arabia. As the teachers were familiar only with the traditional face-to-face classroom teaching style since 1987, the study addresses this transition, the benefits and disadvantages of online instruction, their suggestions, opinions, and their level of preparedness for an alternate teaching method in the future when the pandemic ends. The survey instrument, a self-designed Google Forms questionnaire, was administered online due to the pandemic restrictions from 23 July to 30 July 2020 and data consisting of 299 participants was gathered. The study was descriptive in nature and qualitative data analysis revealed that while teachers trust the traditional classroom teaching method, they began to perceive the distinct benefits of online teaching. Majority of the respondents showed a high level of comfort after four months of online teaching. One fascinating finding of this study was that the respondents having more years of teaching experience needed lesser effort though they found themselves less comfortable with online teaching, probably because they were more satisfied with their prior experience of classroom teaching. Nonetheless, an interesting finding showed that most respondents demonstrated a positive and favourable attitude towards blended teaching and supported technology-enhanced teaching practices. A good proportion of these respondents recommend blended teaching as a future teaching method and are ready to adopt it after the new normal is resumed. The experience of online teaching has given clarity to teachers about usage of a variety of effective online teaching tools to support their new teaching environments and an insight into the future possibilities of adopting online education.