Online Teaching Experience Research Articles

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Undergraduate Medical Teaching

Objectives: To evaluate the tools used during online education and examination of undergraduate medical students from students and medical instructors' experience and means to improve students' and instructors' online education experience in future. Materials and Methods: Two surveys were deployed online through social media (WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and Twitter) to medical students and instructors from all medical colleges in Saudi Arabia. The surveys include demographic data, tools used in the education process during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, tools used in students' examination, and both groups' opinions about these tools. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to analyze the items included in the survey. Responses were presented as frequencies and percentages. Results: Responses from medical colleges in Saudi Arabia were collected and analyzed with a response rate of 72.2%. Data from 518 students and medical instructors showed that online education transformation had a positive feedback from both students and instructors for theoretical sessions teaching with limitations in the practical and clinical sessions. Conclusion: Online education in medical schools is new in Saudi Arabia. This mandatory shift to online teaching made us aware of the importance of restructuring and implementing the medical curriculum to support virtual education, especially in practical and clinical sessions learning.

Exploring Effective Practices in Managing Distance Learning for Teaching Art and Design in Bahrain

As universities move to virtual learning, the need to explore the most effective practices for remotely teaching art and design students became very critical. It is very important to examine the strategies universities are using to efficiently transfer skills and knowledge and meet the needs of students through an online learning environment. Art and design classes involve hands-on activities and requirements that cannot easily be met in digital environments. Therefore, the study aims to investigate the creative approaches that art and design educators adopted to transition to remote teaching. The study involved conducting an online focus group with eleven art and design educators at The University of Bahrain to investigate the experiences, perceptions, and the challenges they faced while teaching art and design remotely during the Covid-19 Pandemic. The focus group engaged the educators in a semi-structured discussion in order to gather qualitative data that would allow for a descriptive analysis of their online teaching experiences and the most effective approaches they implemented. Thus, the study is undertaken to determine the most effective practices that can be employed by educators to engage students and enhance the distance learning process in an art and design online environment. The findings suggested that the main challenges that are peculiar to art and design distance learning include difficulty in clearly seeing the value of the colors in a student’s artwork on screen and the unavailability of features that support art and design remote teaching in the currently available learning management systems.

Teaching and Learning During The Covid-19 Pandemic

During the pandemic, distance education became a necessity with ICT tools becoming essential for teaching and learning at all levels of education. The present work is a bibliographic review that sought the advantages and disadvantages of distance education during covid-19 pandemic and occurred because the mandatory application of this methodology. The transition to educational technology and distance education first showed some advantages and disadvantages while teachers need more experience in online teaching.

Online Teaching Experience during the COVID-19 in Pakistan: Pedagogy–Technology Balance and Student Engagement

This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of university teachers who participated in online teaching for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative method of data collection and inductive thematic analysis were used. The data were collected through a semistructured interview from 11 faculty members who teach in various universities in Pakistan. The analysis presented five themes of the online teaching experience: culture and gender-related issues, teaching effectiveness, challenges in online teaching, coping strategies, and faculty’s’ post-COVID-19 perceptions. The findings reflect that the faculty prioritized to focus on immediate online instructional matters in the wake of the pandemic with a lack of emphasis on global practices for online learning. Experienced and young faculty reported disparities in striking a balance between pedagogy and technology. Moreover, despite the limitations, the experience itself prepared the faculty for a blended learning approach and increased their awareness of global and future challenges. The implications were reported based on the findings.

Academic and emotional effects of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic on engineering students.

The unprecedented situation of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the closure of universities worldwide and has forced the transition to online learning. This exceptional context compels us to understand students' experience with online learning. Previous literature identifies relevant factors that intervene in the online education experience and can affect students' academic development. One of the main concerns is the students' mental health, given the lockdown restrictions under which classes have been conducted. Furthermore, the impact of the prolonged lockdown and the pandemic fatigue on university students and their academic experience is still unclear. This study delves into engineering undergraduate students’ online education experience during the COVID-19 pandemic and its emotional impact across time. With this aim, a questionnaire was distributed to second, third, and fourth-year engineering undergraduate students at two time points, approximately six months apart. The results show significant differences in students' connection with other students and teachers, workspace conditions, and boredom between time points. Besides, the findings indicate significant correlations between academic development and quality of online classes, adaptation of the course, workspace conditions, and connection with other students and teachers, and also between students' emotions and connection with other students and teachers. Finally, the study identifies best practices carried out during online teaching that will be of value for future courses and engineering education beyond the pandemic situation, amongst which those related to effective communication with teachers stand out.

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE ONLINIFICATION OF TEACHING AND LEARNING

Online education is of various types and can be defined in numerous ways. Over the last few decades, online education has gained popularity, but has also been regarded with reluctance and scepticism as to the benefits it may have. The COVID- 19 pandemic was declared on the 11th of March 2020 and forced many countries to impose lockdowns and restrictions. As such, several activities were shut down, schools and universities were closed, thus, the need for rapid solutions arose. Since the online environment was there for the taking, physical classrooms were virtualised overnight, homes became learning and teaching spaces for students and educators, whereas the latter were faced with adapting content and transferring it in order to suit its delivery via online platforms. With little to no experience in online education, educators sought to find ways to continue their work bringing emergency modifications. Although digital transformation is not a new phenomenon, the transit from physical classrooms to online ones has been and still is a rough learning curve for many educators. Apart from optimising digital technology to apply to education, another difficult task of any online teacher is to keep students motivated and involved, which can be achieved in different ways. This article discusses methods of content and course delivery, the technology-induced problems that online teaching implies, assessment, ethical behaviour in a virtual setting, and the risk of cheating in online examinations, as well as ways of preventing cheating. Nevertheless, the abrupt onlinification of education may lie at the basis of future exploration and research.

“DISTANCED” TIMES: INVESTIGATING PRE-SERVICE MUSIC TEACHERS’ EXPERIENCES ON ONLINE TEACHING AND LEARNING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The technology use is flourishing in a growing set of educational contexts. Music education is no exception, seeing more and more learning practices be actively incorporated into educational frameworks. Our study seeks to investigate the online teaching and learning experiences of music university students who are participating in the pre-service teacher education during the Covid-19 pandemic. The participants of the present study are pre-service music students (n=22) enrolled in the teaching education programme in their 2nd or 3rd year at the university. By making use of a phenomenological qualitative inquiry, data was collected through participating at semi-structured interviews via ZOOM videotelephony software in January and February 2021. The key findings indicate a neither overtly positive or negative teaching and learning experience, even if the students had to navigate an avalanche of offline learning technology requirements both as students and teachers in a limited amount of time. The results of the study indicate that teacher training programmes should consider the move to virtual teaching and learning as an opportunity for change and to go beyond the emergency online practices and develop quality online educational activities.

Shifting Paradigm in the Higher Education Sector of Pakistan during COVID-19: An Empirical Analysis of the Online Teaching Experience

The world is undergoing a dramatic COVID-19 induced transformation in almost every sector of the economy including education. The virus has drastically changed the dynamics of teaching and learning across the globe. This paper is an attempt to examine how COVID-19 has affected the higher education sector of Pakistan. An empirical analysis of the online teaching experience of both the public and private sector university faculty was conducted for this purpose. The current study aims to highlight the need for developing tools for effective teaching that have wide ranging applications in Pakistan, an exercise that requires concerted research effort. Education sector is among the worst hit sectors due to the spread of the coronavirus in Pakistan. Indeed, educational indicators for Pakistan and the current state of the education sector indicate a gloomy scenario. Instructors and students across universities, colleges and schools were ill-prepared for a situation where they had to rely on online teaching and other web-based instructional tools. In this scenario, certain areas in the education sector require extensive research, training and application, such as digital education, assessment tools and applications, project-based learning (PBL), and mobile based strategies for developing self-regulated learners (SLRs) as well as the introduction of various other tools meant to enhance student engagement during the process of learning. The study found that the faculty in the public and private sector universities was not inclined towards online teaching. The results also revealed that the private sector institutions were more facilitating than the public sector institutes. However, the role of HEC during the pandemic was proactive. There is a need to take effective measures at the local and national level to facilitate the student body as well as the instructors lest there is a severe decline in educational indicators or rise in the dropout rate.

Understanding Academic Bullying in an Online Environment as Uncaring Encounter


 Background and Objective: The shift to an online from the face-to-face system of pedagogy among Higher educational institutions in the Philippines as a mode of adaptation to the current pandemic has inevitably produced varied set-back among its members, one of which is online bullying. This study. This study, grounded on Halldorsdottir's (1996) theory, explored the structure of bullying, taken as an uncaring encounter, in an online environment within the academic setting. 
 Methods: Six participants, recruited via a combination of snowball and referral system, were selected based on the following preset criteria: (1) They are nursing students exposed to the online educational system platform for at least one semester and are currently enrolled with at least 18 units (2) They are enrolled in the institution for at least a year at the time of the interview (3) They have witnessed and /or were participants to what they deemed as bullying incident during their online educational experience at least twice, (4) They are willing to express and share their experiences. Narratives from the participants were gathered via two methods: 1) In-depth individual interviews and 2) Storytelling sessions. These narratives were later analyzed using thematic analysis to present the structure of bullying through its expressions, nature, and essence. 
 Results: From the analysis of the participants' individual experiences, four recurring patterns were gleaned, namely, 1.) Borderless boundaries: the perceived extent of bullying, 2.) Apathetic bystanders as enablers of bullying, 3.) Misplaced empowerment: role assumption in bullying, 4.) Obfuscated reality: The online environment. The essence, "Indifference: The prime ingredient of uncaring," was gathered from these patterns. The patterns gleaned from the narratives posited that bullying, seen as an uncaring encounter, in an online environment on the academic setting is borderless occurring within an obfuscated digital environment, involving apathetic bystanders where the bullied may unconsciously assume the role of the bully in a seemingly apparent role reversal. Primordial to these encounters is the assumption of being indifferent. 
 Implications: The need for policies and programs that foster empathy and compassion among all academic community members and continued support for students experiencing and witnessing bullying are implied from the findings of this study.

Faculty as reflective practitioners in emergency online teaching: an autoethnography

This study aimed to chronicle and understand the emergency online teaching experience of five faculty members in a liberal arts college located in Tokyo, Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, adopting the autoethnographic method. It explored the nature and dimensions of problems the faculty members faced, resources used to make sense of problems encountered, and actions they took to solve the problems as reflective practitioners in emergency online teaching. It also examined differences between faculty members over time. Analysis of seven weeks of autobiographic reflective journals during a 10-week academic term revealed that the faculty members encountered a range of problems during the classes, especially student-related and technology-related issues. When encountering problems, faculty members utilized references such as their past experience in face-to-face classroom teaching. Faculty members with more online teaching experience were more adaptable and flexible in mobilizing other references to solve problems. Overall, all members worked as reflective learners and practitioners who continued to reflect on the problems they faced and find solutions. These findings suggest that engaging in reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action can be effective ways for faculty members to develop their competencies to solve problems in emergency online teaching situations when responding to unprecedented challenges and issues is continuously needed.

Teaching Physician Assistant's Gross Anatomy During the COVID‐19 Pandemic

Streaming of faculty anatomy dissections was utilized to teach clinically relevant gross anatomy to first‐year Physician Assistant students during the summer of 2020 to address Covid‐19 pandemic social distancing guidelines. The online anatomy dissections by faculty replaced the traditional practice of onsite dissection laboratory periods by the students.MATERIAL AND METHODSThe PA gross anatomy course was scheduled for six weeks, Monday through Thursday. The PA students were offsite and, therefore, viewed the dissections via zoom sessions. Each online session was scheduled for three hours. At the beginning of each session, ten quiz questions relative to prior sessions were asked to enhance students’ retention and recall. Following the daily online practical quizzes, students watched step by step dissections by the faculty. These dissections were integrated with relevant power‐point slides and/or cross‐sections. During last 35 minutes of each daily session, students were divided into small groups to discuss the dissected anatomy region for that day with one faculty member per group. The PA students from the Class of 2022 completed an anonymous electronic survey at the conclusion of the course.RESULTSThe online survey of the enrolled PA students (n=60) in their first‐year training identified that the online dissections and the teaching format were extremely beneficial to their learning. Ninety percent of the students strongly agreed or agreed that online gross anatomy course augmented their learning. Eighty percent of the students strongly agreed or agreed that the streaming of anatomy dissections was helpful in learning the assigned anatomy. Ninety percent of the students strongly agreed or agreed that integrated power point presentations were beneficial, and ninety percent of the students strongly agreed or agreed that daily integrated quizzes (self‐assessment modules) were beneficial for their retention and recall. Although setting up online dissections and integrating the streaming dissections with relevant power points were time‐intensive, the teaching faculty viewed the online teaching experiences as efficient means to further develop students’ knowledge base of anatomy while addressing university and CDC guidelines.

Female Saudi University Students’ Perceptions of Online Education Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc and caused world-wide disruptions to daily activities, including education. Numerous mitigation measures were taken to slow down the rapid spread of this pandemic. The situation, subsequently, entailed utilizing technology to ensure the continuation of the educational process. The abrupt shift to online education presented significant challenges to teachers and learners alike. Uncovering students’ perceptions of their online education experience will help address and deal with these challenges. This study attempted to explore the perceptions of Saudi female undergraduate students of their online education experience amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The total of 241 female students at the College of Languages and Translation at King Saud University in Riyadh answered a multi-item online survey. The results revealed that many of the respondents were happy with their online learning experience, enjoyed learning online and looked forward to their online classes. However, when asked to compare online learning to brick-and-mortar classes, more than half of the participants stated that they prefer traditional, face-to-face learning. The results of this study also revealed that the significant problems students faced in online education related to staying motivated, technical issues and the absence of face-to-face interaction. Despite the many challenges they face when learning online, the most cited advantage for online education mentioned by the participants is that it is more convenient. The results also indicated that this education mode seemed to suit shy students more, as they stated that they participate and ask questions more in online classes.

Instructor-featured videos and the importance of social presence in online education

The recent global shift to online teaching has thrust educators in all levels and forms of education into new roles and experiences. As many have little prior experience teaching online, it is possible that there are those who feel overwhelmed and as such focus on technical aspects of online education. 
 
 By reviewing the concept of social presence in online education, this paper seeks to accomplish two tasks: first, to remind readers of the importance of interpersonal aspects of online education; and second, to recommend instructor-featured videos as an accessible and effective way of fostering social presence and helping students feel grounded, connected, and reassured.

Exploring the critical points of teaching STEM subjects in the time of COVID 19: the experience of the course "Microscopy Techniques for Forensic Biology"

Background: The University was among the first structures to be hit by the health emergency, transferring all its teaching and research activities remotely. It was not easy for teachers and students to find themselves suddenly shifted into different teaching and socializing context. Results: This article describes and analyzes the online teaching experience carried out for the course of Microscopy Techniques for Forensic Biology offered as a part of the Master's degree program in Biology at the University of Calabria (Italy). A cross-sectional survey (pilot study) was designed to investigate the accessibility of distance learning along with an evaluation of adjustments needed for the conversion from offline to online instruction. Particular attention has been paid to learning material and lesson duration, with specific emphasis on practical activities. Conclusions: The author's intent is that of opening a comparison between the strengths and weaknesses that emerged in this experience, highlighting, in particular, how the educational relationship between teacher and student has changed.

TESL Teachers’ Online Teaching during COVID-19: Preferences of Online Tools and Factors Affecting Behavioural Intention

The use of online tools has become more prominent as the global lockdown of education institutions in order to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Teachers all over the world resorted to continue the teaching and learning process online using different online tools. In this study, the preferred online tools, and the relationship between the factors of TESL teachers’ use of online tools and their behavioural intention are investigated. A survey was conducted on 56 Malaysian TESL teachers using purposive sampling technique. The data were collected through online survey questionnaires assigned using Google Forms. The findings showed the top 3 major online tools used by TESL teachers were WhatsApp (80.4%), Google Form (71.4%), while Quizizz and YouTube both achieved a 62.5% among the 56 respondents. Regression analysis showed that Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, and Facilitating Condition were positive predictors of teachers’ Behavioural Intention to use online tools, with Effort Expectancy being the factor that affects Behavioural Intention the most. Since the findings pointed out that Effort Expectancy was the main factor that influences teachers’ online teaching and learning experience, the ministry of education and online tools developers should ensure the online tools are user friendly to reduce teachers’ burden and hence, encouraging the use of online tools.

Online Teaching and Learning Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic – A Comparison of Teacher and Student Perceptions

ABSTRACT Understanding teachers’ and students’ perceptions of online teaching and learning has been an important and popular research topic. As the COVID-19 outbreak has made online learning the best available option under social distancing and quarantine policies, the conversation on the effectiveness of online learning and its potential to strive in the future continues. However, as this conversation has received relatively less attention in the tourism and hospitality literature, this study investigated the online teaching and learning experiences of university teachers and students respectively the tourism and hospitality programs. Using an online survey distributed in March 2020, data were collected from 117 academic staff members and 491 students from over 15 higher education institutions that offer tourism and hospitality subjects in China. The two data sets (teachers and students) were compared using independent samples t-test and multi-group structural equation modeling. The findings reveal the similarities and differences between the two groups in terms of the factors affecting online teaching and learning satisfaction. Managerial implications are suggested to institutions and educators to enhance teachers’ online teaching satisfaction and students’ online learning satisfaction.

Online University Teaching at the time of COVID-19 (2020): An Australian Perspective

The impacts of COVID-19 have been widespread, and the education sector has not been immune to its effects. In March 2020 Australian universities were forced into a shutdown, which prompted an unanticipated, sudden shift in education, from on-campus and face-to-face to an off-campus and online mode of teaching and learning. This paper describes the experiences of two Sydney-based university unit coordinators, from two different institutions, who rapidly shifted their units online as a result of COVID-19. In particular, it applies reflection as a research method, to share what the authors’ encountered as successful, and what was challenging about teaching online. Motivating and retaining students was a key challenge identified by the authors. Therefore, the paper discusses the authors’ application of various digital programs and tools in their response to this challenge of motivation and engagement. It is hoped that our experiences might benefit those looking to integrate programs and tools in the online teaching and learning space. Although Australia is currently one of the most successful countries in their handling of COVID-19, there is still great uncertainty about the future. Globally the pandemic shows no signs of abating, as many countries struggle to manage high levels of transmission and infection rates, which in turn have an impact on the education sector more broadly. Consequently, online learning may be the ‘new normal’ for many institutions in the near future. Therefore, it is important for educators to share their online teaching experiences that can contribute to greater understandings of this space.

Educational disruptions during the COVID-19 crisis in Small Island Developing States: Preparedness and efficacy of academics for online teaching.

COVID-19 has caused a global rush of universities to transfer their courses online to maintain continuity in student teaching and learning. The study presented in this article investigated the preparedness of academics in Small Island Developing State (SIDS) universities for shifting to emergency online teaching. To examine the impact of preparedness and other factors on the efficacy of academic staff in performing their work duties during the pandemic, the research team collected data from 75 respondents who filled in a questionnaire. In addition, they conducted semi-structured online interviews with a subsample of 5 respondents. They found that most academics had the necessary tools and infrastructure to teach online, including access to reasonably fast internet connections. However, many of them lacked adequate training in applying the use of technology to teaching, which limited their preparedness for developing e-learning activities. Thus, the study found that, insufficient competence in using educational technologies and inadequate university support impacted academics’ work efficacy significantly. This impact was less pronounced for staff who had prior online teaching experience, which suggests that their pre-pandemic experiences lessened their dependence on support for online teaching when the sudden need arose. The authors’ thematic analysis similarly found academics’ uneven familiarity with technology and the need for more “at-the-elbow” technological support during crises to be significant, as well as a need for more leadership to deal with complex situations. Based on their findings, the authors conclude that greater preparedness for online teaching – and thus improved efficacy – might be achieved through a balanced mix of independent learning (by doing) on the part of academic staff and customised and targeted formal professional learning (through training provided by the university).

Using Interteaching to Promote Online Learning Outcomes.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, educators have been forced to rapidly transition away from in-person learning environments to completely online formats. Many of these educators have had little or no training and experience teaching online, contributing to stress and anxiety. To compound this problem even further, there are a multitude of online learning technologies from which to choose that can be relatively costly and require an intensive production process. In an effort to provide immediate relief to those dealing with this problem, we detail how interteaching, an empirically supported behavioral teaching technique, can be used to cultivate an interactive online learning environment in either an asynchronous or synchronous format. Specifically, we describe some best practices and provide some examples on how to generate active student responding (ASR) as well as provide pinpointed performance-based feedback. We specifically reference the relatively easy-to-use online software Kaltura, but it is hoped that our suggestions inspire others to develop and use these strategies across a variety of platforms in effort to provide evidence-based quality education during this crisis.

MEDICATION OR BAND-AID? REVISITING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ READINESS FOR ONLINE EDUCATION

In the pandemic period we are currently in, online education has replaced face-to-face learning activities on a global scale. Institutions that pursue online education programs commonly assume that online learners are ready for this mode of learning. However, online education programs attract attention due to their remarkably high drop-out rates. This begs the question as to why some students are more able to benefit from online education, and demands to reveal the underlying reasons for such a situation. In this regard, the present study explores students’ e-readiness for the changeover phase to online education, and how this differs in terms of a range of variables. 428 volunteer undergraduate students from 59 departments across 33 universities in Turkey were recruited to the study. The data collection tools consist of a personal information form and an online education readiness scale. The results indicate that university students’ readiness levels for online education were above medium level of the scale. As for the factors which determine online education readiness, it was found that university students have a high level of internet self-efficacy, yet their motivation towards online education is considerably low. In addition, their online education readiness differs significantly in terms of personal computer ownership, internet connection at home, major, and daily internet usage duration, gender, and online education experience, whereas no statistically significant difference was identified in terms of grade year at the university. A significant interaction between gender and online education experience was ascertained as well.